One is his allegation involving McChrystal. A spokesman for McChrystal said the general “is not and never has been” a member of the Knights of Malta, an ancient order that protected Christians from Muslim encroachment during the Middle Ages and has since evolved into a charitable organization. These days, the Knights, based in Rome, sponsor medical missions in dozens of countries. McChrystal’s spokesman, David Bolger, said Hersh’s statement linking McChrystal to the group was “completely false and without basis in fact.”…

Hersh said Thursday that he couldn’t remember every detail of his speech because it was “a rumination” rather than a scripted talk. But, he said, “no one said the whole war was waged as a crusade. My point is that some leaders of the Special Forces have an affinity for that notion, the notion that they’re in a crusade.

“I’m comfortable with the idea that there is a great deal of fundamentalism in JSOC. It’s growing and it’s empirical. . . . There is an incredible strain of Christian fundamentalism, not just Catholic, that’s part of the military.”

He called his “angry black man” comment about Obama a “figure of speech, a cliche” that his audience, consisting primarily of American expatriates, laughed at. The speech was sponsored by Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, which has a campus in Qatar.