General David Petraeus is roughly one thousand times the man I
am. He is braver, tougher, more self-sacrificing, smarter, more
unselfish, more patriotic, far more disciplined, apparently able to
keep up sexually with a woman twenty years younger than he is who
is also an Ironman woman superstar. He is almost a superman. But
not quite.
Now, let me get this straight: I do not think a man usually
should have been fired for having sex with a woman not his wife. To
me, that is just what men and women do. It is a part of life. But
this is a highly unusual situation in every way.
Let’s look at it from the point of view of how General Petraeus
represented himself to President Obama and to the White House. When
a man or woman is considered for high office, he or she is asked
the following question (I know because I was considered for a
modest government position several years ago and I was asked it, or
a paraphrase), “Are you now doing or have you ever done anything
which, if known, would cause embarrassment to the Administration,
to the President, or to the nation? If you are doing so in the
future, will you tell the responsible officials in the
government?”
Obviously, David Petraeus lied in answer to that question. He
was having an affair with a married woman while married himself. It
now looks as if he might have had more than one affair going
simultaneously. He did not divulge it when it happened and he did
not divulge it until the FBI forced his hand.
This is a disgrace to him and to his office. It also shows he is
a liar and liable to blackmail. I may be wrong here, but
is it not a felony to lie to the FBI?
The whole affair came to light because Director Petraeus
apparently gave his girlfriend, Paula Broadwell, access to his
password for his computer, or allowed her to get it through
negligence. On the computer there were classified documents.
General Petraeus either did not know this had happened, which would
be a disgrace, or knew about it and covered it up — also a
disgrace.
The Director of Central Intelligence is one of the most
important jobs in the world. To have the incumbent handle it so
carelessly is deeply disturbing. It is, sadly, of a piece with his
lethal miscues in Libya. What could he possibly have been thinking?
What kind of incompetence is going on here? This is terrifying.
Then there is a further issue. The second woman in this case, a
State Department official, reported the threatening e-mails from
Paula Broadwell months ago. The FBI apparently found out about the
affair months ago, and that the security of the office of DCI had
been breached. It is inconceivable that no one at the FBI told the
White House or the A.G. about these serious concerns before this
week. It just could not have happened that way. That is not how the
world works
That means the White House and/or the A.G. knew for some time
before the election that a scandal of major proportions was about
to hit the CIA. The President knew before the election, in other
words, and so did David Petraeus, that this furor was about to
break.
How did they keep it secret? What did Attorney General Holder do
to keep the lid on his FBI? What kind of possibly corrupt bargain
did Mr. Obama make with Gen. Petraeus to go easy on him over
Benghazi if Gen. Petraeus would keep quiet about his impending
disgrace? What promises, winks, and nods were given and
received?
It now looks as if the cover-up over CIA incompetence is a
bigger story every day. Of course, the MSM will barely touch it
because it reflects poorly on their man. But it’s a depressing
story of old time corruption from the administration that made the
now laughable promise of “hope and change.”
Now what? Thank heavens the GOP still has the House. There is a
lot of investigating to be done. I am not sure we can count on
Harry Reid.
