Military blogger Yon threatens to sue McChrystal

Military reporter and blogger Michael Yon is threatening to sue Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal for libel, he writes on his Facebook page:

I have in my possession compelling evidence of General McChrystal's smear campaign. It's been sent to my attorney. The sad part is that McChrystal is incompetent even with a smear campaign. Official statements by his people -- in writing -- have been defamatory and libelous. A writer must be able to spot libel just as ...a soldier must be able to spot IEDs. It's part of the job. If you can't spot it, you will get hurt. Further evidence of McChrystal's incompetence is the ease with which he jerks a writer from the field and gets a laser on himself/staff for lying. And then his own staff commits defamation and libel. They fight like children. They are giving me their ammo. It's saddening. We cannot win such a complex war with people like that in charge. This is not a winning team.

"Writers who are afraid to take on the powerful are useless here," he continued further down in the comments. Haven't had time to figure out the backstory here. Yon's site is here.

(Via I/P).

More from Small Wars Journal.

UPDATE: A U.S. military official involved with the matter who asked not to be named offers a response, below the jump:

"Yon started his embed in Kandahar on 3 February with invitational orders lasting 87 days, much longer than a typical embed," a U.S. military official who asked not to be named said. "As his agreed-upon time in Afghanistan began to wind down, he let it be known that he intended to remain embedded through August of this year. Given a finite ability to host embedded reporters, this decision amounted to a choice to deny some of his colleagues an opportunity that he had enjoyed from more than two months, and which he can always request to repeat. The ripple effects of that choice in one way or another would have impacted 26 journalists currently scheduled to embed later this month (who are still waiting to be matched with available slots), 76 who have been wait-listed because of a lack of slots, and hundreds more who are hoping to embed in Kandahar later this summer. The responsible PAOs therefore decided to disembed Yon against his wishes, which coincides with the period when the verbal attacks against General McChrystal started."

"Prior to that, Yon's reporting of coalition operations had been critical, but not in a way that raised any serious concerns here in Kabul," he continued.
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