Gen. Stanley McChrystal to Speak Dec. 2 at Cal Poly

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal will appear as part of Cal Poly Arts’ lecture series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, in the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly.

McChrystal, a four-star general, is the former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan and the former commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees the military’s most sensitive counter-terrorism units.

He will speak on America’s global role and its security issues in a lecture titled “The State of International Affairs and the Security Challenges Facing America.” His one-hour speech will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.

He assumed command of all International Forces in Afghanistan in June 2009. President Obama’s order for an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan was based on McChrystal’s assessment of the war there. McChrystal’s leadership of JSOC is credited with the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein and the June 2006 location and killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

McChrystal retired in June following publication of a controversial article in Rolling Stone Magazine in which he expressed criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of the Afghanistan war.

Tickets for the event range from $25 to $100 and may be purchased at the Performing Arts Center Ticket Office, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. To order tickets call 805-756-2787, fax 805-756-6088 or visit www.calpolyarts.org.

The event is sponsored by Thoma Electric, Inc. and Leadership SLO. Additional support is provided by the SLO Chamber of Commerce and the Cal Poly Office of Student Affairs.

For more information on all Cal Poly Arts events, including audio and video samples, visit www.calpolyarts.org.

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