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A Further Perspective
The Puzzle of Petraeus
So much here is not adding up.
It doesn’t make sense, like the failure to reinforce Benghazi for 9/11 and like a number of other scandals connected with this administration. The pieces of the jigsaw don’t fit together.
First, the letter. General Petraeus’s letter of resignation stated in part:
Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position as D/CIA. After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation.
I am more familiar with British than American military traditions and codes of conduct, but I imagine they are highly similar. And one of the most binding codes I know is that, in a sexual scandal, come what may, an officer and a gentleman does not mention a woman’s name or reveal information which allows the woman’s identity to be guessed.
General Petraeus seems something like the Platonic ideal of an officer and a gentleman, and yet the identity of the woman involved very quickly became public knowledge. Why did he have to mention it? Yet, typically of this murky affair, we are not yet sure who did first mention it.
General Petraeus has embarrassed and humiliated:
a) Himself;
b) His wife and family;
c) The woman in the affair;
d) His corps;
e) His service;
f) His country.
He has also, in a sense, given aid and comfort to the enemy, not merely the Taliban or whoever the CIA is fighting against, but all the enemies of America who will rejoice in its humiliation and in what may be, to them, further proof of its decadence. This is not so much because he has had an affair — many men have — but because he has shown himself apparently unable to handle the consequences sensibly. As a criminal lawyer, I have learnt to be surprised at no human behavior, but everything about Petraeus that we know suggests that this behavior is grotesquely out of character.
There is the whole odd question of why, if his unbending sense of honor made him confess to the affair, did he embark on it in the first place, and, instead of queerly resigning, confess in such a way as to do his family and the others involved the greatest possible damage?
There has never been stronger stench of conspiracy and cover-up. “Watergate” and “impeachment” suddenly hang heavy in the air.
Among the things that don’t make sense is that Petraeus’s disgrace, and the hurt caused to others – including the United States of America - was unnecessary. Petraeus’s letter of resignation could have stated: “I … asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position” —and left it at that. Let others make of it what they would. There are all manner of possible reasons why a man might choose to resign from such an onerous task, and one, moreover, for which he was not trained.
Furthermore, why did Petraeus choose to confess and end his career now, rather than either sooner or later? Was he being blackmailed? Obviously the huge question that dominates the political horizon is: was he politically knifed in the hope it would silence him on Benghazi? But he can still — and must — be compelled to testify.
Then again, while there may be security reasons to prohibit people with access to top secrets from having affairs, people with real power — and Petraeus was one of the most powerful man in the country — are not as a rule penalized for it. Eisenhower reputedly had an affair with his driver when he was Commanding General in Europe in World War II. JFK’s affairs were notorious. McArthur had a mistress. Indeed, I can recall no previous cases of anyone at the top of American political or military life being brought down by having an affair, at least in modern times.
Bill Clinton, of course, survived a series of sex scandals as president, culminating in a direct, public lie to the American people, captured forever on television. All the excuses were trotted out for him by the Democrat-aligned media that will not be made for Petraeus. Teddy Kennedy was ruined politically by Chappaquiddick, but that was because it proved him to be a coward as well as a liar. Going back in history a little, Nelson, Wellington and Napoleon were not, of course, American, but their names remind one that great military leaders throughout history have been human. It is said, though I am not sure whether or not this is fiction, that Caesar’s legions had a song:
Home we bring your bald whore-monger,
Romans, lock your wives away…
Historically, cover-ups have a way of becoming worse politically than the original scandal. Suddenly, this scandal may be too big for even the mainstream media’s Obama lackeys to ignore.
About the Author
Hal G.P. Colebatch’s “Immram,” Counterstrike, is being published by Australian publisher Imaginites.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (23) | Leave a comment
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spike59| 11.13.12 @ 6:33AM
Historically, cover-ups have a way of becoming worse politically than the original scandal. Suddenly, this scandal may be too big for even the mainstream media's Obama lackeys to ignore.
-----------------------------------------------------------
you underestimate the ability, and inclination, of the MSM to cover for The Chosen One
----------------------------
Darin| 11.13.12 @ 6:39AM
All true, but today the MSM is not the only game in town. Like Sherrif Arpaio exposing the Obama birth certificate as a fraud, others will dig into this. And since it involves foreign affairs, pay attention to British MI6 or Israeli Mossad.
TLP| 11.13.12 @ 12:44PM
What's the problem?
Did he Pull his Pants down and tell some Gal to Kiss his Willey?
Did he RAPE anybody?
Did he have an 11 Year Extra-Marital Affair during his first 12 Years of Marriage?
Did he LIE to a Federal Grand Jury?
Was he using one end of this Broad as a Humidor for his Cigar, while he used the other end for something else?
Were his Actions any more BLACKMAILABLE, then those of PRESIDENT Bill Clinton, and his Phone Sex Partner?
General Petreous needs to be left alone so he can go back to doing the work of the American People.
I'm sick the Fck to Death of the Double Standard.
TLP| 11.13.12 @ 12:45PM
Petraeous Fckd Up. He also saved our Ass in Iraq.
JFK Fckd Around. Right?
He gets a Pass.
Bill Clinton is a RAPIST. He's a Pathological Liar, and a Serial Misogenyst. He Violated our Campaign Finance Laws, and he gave out a Waiver to his Best Buddy - Bernhard Schwartz - and his Company - Loral Space - so that he could sell The Red Chinese, the Super Secret Navigational Technologies that they now use, as we speak, to Target our Cities with their ICBMs.
Last I looked?
Bill Clinton was STILL the Toast of the Town, and the other cause of any Erections Chris Mathews might have.
I'm not gonna throw one of our Greatest Generals under the bus for falling prey to some Young Piece of @ss, with a Nice Rack, and a Pretty Face.
That's why we call'em B*tches.
From Lilith, to Matahari, to Kim Khardashian.
I'll say it, again: I'm sick the Fck, of the Double Standards.
Freedomfighter_99| 11.14.12 @ 2:28AM
re: TLP; "... Young Piece of @ss, with a Nice Rack, and a Pretty Face..."
Ooooh, TLP, I'm going to have to argue those last two points. "Buttercup" has a great set of "guns" but I'd hardly call those 32A's a "rack".
spike59| 11.14.12 @ 5:44AM
i'm sick to death of moronic posts from someone who assumes that those denouncing Petraeus for his behavior 'gave a pass' to JFK, Clinton, Kennedy, etc...especially when the moron in question actually DOES want to give a pass to Petraeus...go infest Kos or PuffHo; that's where the 'amnesty for perverts on the public payroll' crowd hangs out
Liberty4x4| 11.13.12 @ 6:28PM
Twenty-two dead navy seals in Afghanistan, 2 navy seals dead in Benghazi, and now the commander who was most responsible for subverting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. There is a pattern here and I believe it is directed and intentional. Our president seems to have a passion for Islam and complete disdain for America. Figure it out.
Appleby| 11.13.12 @ 7:02AM
And again we are brought low by a man who cannot keep his pants zipped up. Are there NO men left who can keep their hands off women who don't belong to them?
Stormzeye| 11.13.12 @ 9:57AM
It's so very clear Madame Appleby, that you do not understand men. No man, given the opportunity, when away from his wife for long stretches of time and found to be attractive by an alluring woman will ever "keep his pants zipped up"....btw, this has nothing to do with sex. It's all about blackmail.
SUBVET| 11.13.12 @ 11:31AM
Applequeen.............SHE had nothing to do with it hugh ?
Ya know I have read your posts over the last year and have concluded that you are a lonely miserable sole.
PJ| 11.13.12 @ 7:25AM
Of course he was blackmailed! The incumbent & gang probably have more devasting dirt than the sexual indiscretions.
Rick Z| 1.31.13 @ 1:54PM
Of course he was blackmailed!
I can think of no other explanation for his preemptive action. Now, they have nothing on him. It's all in the open.
frenchdavisdesign| 11.13.12 @ 9:24AM
When Democrats are in serious trouble and are facing congressional hearings, etc. we always seem to get a "Sex Scandal" to divert our attention from the real issues.
gene| 11.13.12 @ 10:20AM
The media won't ignore it?
The MSM have ignored the deaths of hundreds of people murdered by Assault Rifles sold by this Administration to Mexican Drug Cartels.
If they can ignore MURDER, this other crap will be no problem at all.
Occam's Tool| 11.13.12 @ 12:15PM
"A soldier who won't F%$^ won't fight!" George S. Patton.
Petraeus thought with his little head and got nailed in more ways than one. Check out Truman on this issue sometime. Money and Sex will get you every time.
JFGalt| 11.13.12 @ 12:44PM
2 terms to remember:
Honeytrap - from the cold war. A way to trap a target into becoming your puppet through the use of a person of the opposite (or same) sex to compromise you via a sexual relationship.
Sexicide - suicide of reputation or situation by means of the exposure of a compromising sexual liason.
KyMouse| 11.13.12 @ 1:53PM
"An officer and a gentleman"?
When asked to define a gentleman, someone said, "A gentleman is one who does not say or do anything to embarrass another person."
By that standard, a gentleman should do nothing that embarrasses his wife or his children. One might say, "A gentleman takes care not to do anything that would embarrass, harm or humiliate the people whom he claims to love, and who depend on him."
Hardcard| 11.13.12 @ 3:28PM
It's reported Gen. Petraeus made a trip to Bengahzi after 9-11 "to conduct an investigation"of the incident, this was a trip to continue the cover-u, either to recover physical incriminating evidence or to read somebody the riot act about the cover story. The General was sent by his blackmailers to wipe the fingerprints so to speak.
Frog in Uniform | 11.13.12 @ 3:31PM
It is quite obvious he was being blackmailed. And probably axl roded and plouffed as well. In my country, any member of the intelligence gathering community, including the director of the DGSE (our intelligence service) is under permanent scrutiny, so the bad surprises are never actually surprises but chess pawns that may or may not be used. I guess Gen. Petraeus had more difficulties living with the Benghazi tragedy, knowing what he knew, than with the alleged sex scandal, and the Messiah's henchmen took that in consideration.
Dai Alanye | 11.13.12 @ 6:28PM
We should take note that just about every person in this expanding scandal and its attempted cover-up is a Democrat or the appointee of one. In rough order of importance: Petraeus, Obama, Holder, Sec Def Panetta, Gen'l Allen, Jill Kelley and her crazy sister Natalie Khawam, Sens. John Kerry and Sheldon Whitehouse, lawyer Gerald Harrington, and certainly others whose names we don't yet know.
Even the ghostwriter for Broadbent, Washington Post editor Vernon "Clueless" Loeb is probably a Dem. [Who knew that biographers needed ghostwriters?]
In fact, the only one whose party I don't yet know is Broadbent herself, and I'm not giving odds she's a Republican.
Occam's Tool| 11.13.12 @ 7:52PM
Mr. Colebatch, I believe that you are quoting Suetonius' 12 Caesars with your final quip about Caesar. Incidentally, those lines were quoted by him supposedly as accurate, and that's about the best source we have regarding those lines, I understand. I shall leave it to Stuart Koehl to now endorse my comments or beat me savagely in correction. Stuart?
Occam's Tool| 11.13.12 @ 7:54PM
From the Wiki on this: (12 Caesars):
Ne provincialibus quidem matrimoniis abstinuisse vel hoc disticho apparet iactato aeque a militibus per Gallicum triumphum:
"Urbani, servate uxores: moechum calvom adducimus.
Aurum in Gallia effutuisti, hic sumpsisti mutuum."
That he had love-affairs in the provinces, too, is suggested by another of the ribald verses sung during the Gallic triumph:
Home we bring our bald whoremonger;
Romans, lock your wives away!
All the bags of gold you lent him
Went his Gallic tarts to pay.
Ch. 51
Freedomfighter_99| 11.14.12 @ 2:46AM
Why mention the reason for his resignation, indeed. Excellent point! Who decided the PUBLIC had to know all the details? Might it have been the same crew who decided the PUBLIC had to know all the details of the Ryan divorce? Or Blair Hull's?
Now who could that be..........