Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics

THE RESURRECTION OF GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS

DCIA_David_PetraeusWe have long discussed the sweetheart deal given General David Petraeus, who violated core professional and national security rules only only to avoid any jail time. It is part of what I have called our Animal Farm system where some people are more equal than others. Now Petraeus is under consideration for the positions of Secretary of State. It is an ironic twist since his predecessor in such a position was accused of recklessly compromising national security — the very allegations raised with regard to Petraeus.

220px-david_petraeus_and_paula_broadwellPetraeus resigned after the disclosure of his sordid affair with Paula Broadwell, who wrote his biography, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. As we discussed, the affair was uncovered after Broadwell allegedly began sending harassing emails to a longstanding family friend of the Petraeuses, Jill Kelley. It was later learned that Petraeus violated national security rules in giving his mistress access to classified information. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information. Like Sandy Berger and others, Petraeus avoided jail time.

Now he is a candidate for the Secretary of State despite his disgraceful departure from his prior position as CIA director. Patraeus has always been an insider operator in the Beltway. His resurrection will likely infuriate many in the national security and military areas who view his part treatment as an example of the separate system for the powerful and the elite. Consider it the second edition of Animal Farm.

83 thoughts on “THE RESURRECTION OF GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS”

  1. More than anything else, the rehabilitation of Patraeus illustrates just how irredeemably corrupt Washington has become while highlighting the need to purge our country of the corrupt political class across the board meaning in both parties and the bureaucracy.

    1. He showed his diaries to a serving officer with security clearances, for which he was hit with an indictment. That you cannot distinguish this man’s case from the Clinton’s is a testament to your lack of acuity, and the moderator’s.

  2. He showed his office diary to a woman who had security clearances.

    He’s among the most accomplished military officers of his generation. You are a law professor, i.e. a specimen drawn from a destructive occupational group. You also teach ‘constitutional law’, a nonsense subject.

  3. With Trump in charge we are living in the Twilight Zone. Everything that was up is now down and vice versa. If we thought something was good – respect, multiculturalism, universal education, health care, now all of that is BAD, BAD, BAD. What seemed repulsive in the past – racial and gender insults, torture, preference for white males, nuclear war, air water and soil pollution – no longer bad. Now those things are fully approved. Science Fiction writers could not have come up with a more terrorizing theme.

    1. Did you say “The Twilight Zone”? Let’s get down to business. Meet the dummy. You made me what I am.

    2. Doglover – I agree we are living in the Twilight Zone, however Obama is in charge. Trump is not President until Jan. 20. You don’t happen to be issac do you?

    3. Right. You might want to read Jill’s comment above. But in case you can’t be bothered,

      You will object no doubt and insist that Obama didn’t condone torture at secret rendition sites, you will object no doubt and insist that Obama didn’t condone murder (assasination of a 16 year old American Citizen with NO judicial review), you will object, no doubt, to the fact that Obama used drones to kill thousand of Muslims with no judicial review including in countries where we were not officially at war, you will object, no doubt to the intimidation of freedom of the press under the Obama administration, related, you will object no doubt to Obama’s unprecedented wars on whistleblowers – the fact that Obama used the Espionage Act of 1917 more than all other presidents combined will no doubt escape you entirely, you will object, no doubt to austerity for the many, lavish riches for the few over the last 8 years, you will object no doubt to mass surveillance under the Obama administration that outdoes anything even remotely comparable to any president including Lincoln during the Civil War.

      Nothing was upside down or inside out when it was Democrats, right? We have finally achieved Universal Education (the most expensive rent extraction theft scheme in the civilized world to correct which Obama has done NOTHING, NADA, RIEN) Obama permitted drilling for oil along the Atlantac coast and in places in Alaska where even George W. Bush had refused it, but it’s only now – with Trump – that we no longer have to ignore air, water, soil pollution because Obama couldn’t have done anything wrong now could he?

      All of your objections to the above will now be focused on Trump and you will suddenly be clear sighted – A MIRICLE! A TRUE MIRICLE! – you can see!, after eight years of rankly hypocritical tribal blindness.

      The only response to such ludicrous objections now is: I rest my case.

      1. I objected when Obama facilitated the terrorizing of Libya, Syria, etc, tortured, murdered and allowed air, water, and soil pollution. I also object to Universities extracting far too much money from students and public sources. Their product isn’t worth what they charge. It is online education that should be free to anyone who makes the effort to become informed about the world and humanity.

        1. Alright then why frame it with Trump in the center? Why hyperventilate over Trump and leave Obama and Clinton out of the picture? They are all working for the same people. They are all way over to the right of center, they are all following orders at least as far as the grand scheme goes. None of them are nice, all of them are cut throats; Trump is probably more honest about it than Obama who plays Mr. Reasonable (but there is nothing reasonable about sending drones to Weddings and killing innocents including children).

          Until we know who the enemy is, there is nothing we can do but flail. Trump is a symptom, not a cause.

  4. Good start Turley.

    It was one hundred percent a certainty that Trump was the absolute master hypocrite while he was running. Now that he is beginning his ‘new broom’ routine I suppose he will rise above one hundred percent, perhaps one thousand percent by January. Here’s to all the dupes that actually believed this carnival barker, buffoon, and scam master.

    Yes the left will have a problem defending Clinton while attacking Trump but Clinton is out the door, never to be seen in Washington again-I hope. And the mere fact that Trump is entertaining Petraeus is all the proof necessary that he is a hypocritical scum bag that has absolutely no interest in ethics, morality, or what the consequences may be of his actions.

    Something to keep an eye on is Trump’s attacks and threats on the media. When he becomes President in a few weeks he will already have made some incredibly stupid moves, like his education person. Add on the moves he is going to make and the fact that he simply cannot walk and chew gum at the same time, the media is going to have a field day with him. Given that Trump is ninety percent megalomaniac it will be interesting to watch this ‘Apprentice’. His latest response to a very necessary vote recount-the system is in dire need of repair and this will aid in proving that/regardless of it not changing the outcome-by stating that there were millions of illegal votes for Clinton(none for him however)is a clue that this sit com will be a yuge success. He may end up like Reagan who thought he was a tail gunner in WW2 when he simply edited movies in Culver City. Trump may think that this is all some big TV show. One thing is for sure, Trump will make yuge profits, until America wises up and tosses his sorry a** out the door. In the timeless words of Chester A. Riley, “What a revolting development this is.”

      1. Trump beat Clinton by a landslide half way through the campaign in the stupidity department. That is to say if the voters were normal balanced people instead of angry, mixed up, looking for a target regardless types. The one thing that cannot be hidden behind ‘draining the swamp’, defeating the status quo, and all the other ‘get out of stupidity free cards’ is that Trump tapped ‘bio feedback wise’ into the pulse of mindless anger and frustration and rode the wave. If Americans had any idea of what caused this mess-Bush-+-decades of Cadillac fins and free popcorn, then the candidates would not be such losers. Perhaps it is time to reduce the office of the Presidency and evolve into a Parliamentary system. This might encourage more parties and more representation. As it is now, one more option than a dictatorship is almost indistinguishable from a dictatorship.

  5. I’m rooting for Private Gomer Pyle. Gomer tells the truth. Passes FBI & polygraph test with flying colors.

  6. Olly,

    You are correct to say we need to do a lot more than lean on Trump, but we must lean on him, now and with great vigor. Democrats always said they were going to hold Obama’s feet to the fire, which was a bunch crap.

    If Republicans and citizens in general do not come down hard on Trump, he will know he can do whatever he wants, just like Obama does. That’s the message of servile obedience, not one of citizenship. So yes, we need to organize but part of that organization needs to push right back, right now on the oligarchy, including on Trump. These people have done so much harm. It’s past time that they not be allowed to do harm any longer.

  7. Jill,
    There will be the establishment folks that will support/oppose Trump purely on party identity. That’s a given. Then there will be those that support/oppose Trump on ideological principles, that is also a given. It’s this latter group that will never give Trump a pass. He will be dogged by Progressives because he isn’t progressive enough and he will be dogged by “Constitutionalists” because he’s not respecting the rule of law or the separation of powers.

    It’s a very, very big swamp. If people were really serious about it being drained, they wouldn’t lean solely on the President to do so.

  8. I find this a poor choice for any position. He could appear as an expert witness at Hillary’s trial.

    1. Why? He’s a highly skilled figure and the charges against him were Mickey Mouse. It’s a reasonable inference they were politically motivated by the Holder-Lynch lawfare factory.

  9. Why wasn’t Patreaus court-martialed for adultery? That’s the usual course for those of lower rank. Yes, and in prison for passing classified information. I suspect he had lots of blackmail level info that got him a get-out-of-jail-free card.

    Want to get rid of Trump? Consider his replacement. We don’t really know what Trump will do. He’s already back-tracked on a number of campaign promises, good moves all. Much better than the Pence we know.

    1. He wasn’t court-martialed because he was out of uniform at the time it was discovered and because an interested party would have had to file a complaint against him if he had been in uniform. Lt. Kelly Flinn was indicted (and accepted a general discharge rather than go to trial) because she was having an affair with the civilian husband of a lady airman on her base, and that woman filed a complaint. Both Paula Broadwell and Gen. Petraeus were married to civilians, neither of whom availed themselves of any channels a civilian might have for filing a complaint (because neither of them wanted a divorce). The repercussions for Broadwell have been that her most recent promotion was revoked and she’ll likely have to retire from the Army earlier than she’d have preferred because not up then out.

  10. If not for the I’m to big to fail attitude I would have supported him for Secretary of Defense. Given a thankless job in a war we should not have been in and put there by a power mad dictator and his power mad SecState he did a superb job under the restrictions. BUT one cannot go after another for clearly criminal acts and excuse someone else. Violations are violations regardless of rank military or civilian.

    He is not qualified to be SecState under any definition.

    I’m thinking with Romney about to lose his ‘nod’ and good riddance his an unacceptable RINO anyway Petreaus is proving a useful diversion while a real candidate is considered. The post is too important and given eight years of mishandling by two incompetents will need a lot of swamp draining. The search for competent replacements will continue for as many layers as there are embedded cronies.

    For sure we need to remvoe the war mongers of the left currently in that post.

    But not with Petreaus.

    That includes his follow on who was fired and in that case the I’m Too Big Too Fail attitude smacked of a 100% pure REMF (Rear Echelon Mother Feather.) That replacement General that was fired would make a swell candidate for DNC chairman replacing Brazile. But nothing else I can think of as an award.

    Come to think of the Pentagon would make a great place to do some swamp draining and some refilling with fresh clean personnel. I’m in favor of military cuts at the top and re-instating the A10 squadrons instead. Assuming they would leave their new high paying jobs with the airlines etc. the infantry was left abandoned by the US Air Force again with nothing to replace close air support and that is the swamp I would specifically target.

    The grunts are going to need that support before this mess is cleaned up. Penalize those who caused it. The job is only half done getting rid of Clinton Cronies and future DNC chair wannabes (incluisive of their RINO division.) What? You think the right wing of the left was going to get a free pass?

    1. Putin has scrubbed his military of cobwebs and cleaned up the vendor relationship. The amount of sorties he has been able to execute daily in Syria is impressive. We should take a clue from that. Indeed, bring back the A-10!

  11. The oligarchy has won the election! Donald is the swamp monster!

    He is not draining the swamp. He’s not bringing in new people. He’s resuscitating some of the worst undead possible for his administration. This is exactly the kind of cabinet Hillary would pick.

    Republicans, I am asking you to start screaming right now. You will get help from the hypocrites in the Democratic party, people who would never complain about these types if they were HIllary’s peeps. But, they are Donalds’ so Democrats will be upset! Use their hypocrisy for the good! (And I’m quite serious about that.)

    Democrats are ready to be offended by wars, torture, murder, drones, lack of press freedom, wars on whistleblowers, austerity, mass surveillance now that it won’t be Obama or Clinton engaging in those actions. They will scream about these things, not sincerely, not out of principle, but because it’s your side doing the dirty work. Take advantage of the extra, if insincere, voices and try to get the govt. you hoped for under Trump, instead of the one the oligarchy is giving us.

    1. Jill –

      Kinda makes you wonder if his detractors were right whenever they pronounced him a fraud and con man. He is doing everything that would justify those charges.

  12. Interesting contrast between careers of generals Petraeus & Mattis (possible SecDef).
    P’s career one long ticket punching tour starting w/marrying the daughter of West Point Superindent. Then every military or civilian academic course tio burnish credentials.Multiple good desk jobs for contacts. No direct hostile front line experience but known as pointless martinet in stateside commands.
    Mattis-no service academy,just up through the ranks,no ticket punching but the minimum.Seems to have spent his time training troops in difficult envirinments.Many testify to his presence in active battle zones dealing with NCO’s face to face w/bullets flying. Also an avid auto-didact,at one time had 7000 books in personal library,pared down to 1000 after retirement,donating rest to Marine libraries. Even prepared required reading lists for each individual level of command from corporals b/c he felt they should truly understand the mission-purpose,problem,plans

    http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/ltgen-james-mattis-reading-list

    1. Thanks for this info, no sarcasm.

      Is Mattis clear the US Constitution allows solely US Congress to declare war, also forbidding Congress to delegate this authority to any other person or bureaucracy?

      The Founding Fathers hated the Monarch’s ability to declare war for any personal and/or perverted reason, and deigned to specifically give said power solely to the people’s elected representatives in Congress.

    2. P’s career one long ticket punching tour starting w/marrying the daughter of West Point Superindent.

      Sorry you’re occupational life has been a failure, but gratuitously disparaging Gen. Petraeus doesn’t make your life better and only helps you feel better if you’re an ass.

      1. Toads – Eisenhower never held a command under combat. That used to drive both Montgomery and Patton crazy. Bradley just kissed the a** in front of him.

        1. Who cares? He had combat experience during the 1st World War (rank, Lt. Colenel, dropped to Major at demobilization). He superintended a massive (and quite successful) amphibious invasion. Your disparagement of Bradley is dishonorable.

          1. Toads – Eisenhower had no combat experience in WWI and D-Day was designed by hundreds of other people. Bradley had combat experience, but he was not the equal of Patton or Montgomery.

            1. Just because one didn’t engage in combat, doesn’t have a damn thing to do with qualification to command an invasion. The facts speak for themselves. Not impressed with Monty’s or others petulance. If no Ike, Monty in charge? Patton??….he wanted to take on Russia post Germany defeat…thank god he couldn’t. The Russians (Soviets, Commies, etc.) had the ability to keep on going through us. Guys like Patton, Monty and MacArthur were great for the moment, but showed great warriors have great troubles in peacetime.

              The same may be true for Petraeus but his violations in handling classified material pale compared to HRC’s

            2. Seemed like his men supported and had respect for Bradley though. My father spoke highly of him often. Even though Patton was much more celebrated, I don’t think he carried much respect, especially after the hospital incident. My father said that story went around pretty quickly.

              1. slohrss29 – read Eisenhower’s Generals. It is amazing Patton and Montgomery did not turn their armies on each other. Bradley was responsible for the slow response at the Battle of the Bulge. His command was put under Montgomery after that.

            3. Yes, but he bravely fought to defeat the Bonus Expeditionary Force in 1932 at Anacostia, DC.

    3. CIA scum also tend to lack any front line combat experience. Unlike military personnel, most CIA cowards enjoy diplomatic immunity.

      1. xenonman – depends on the job they are holding down. If they are working out of an embassy they have immunity. Otherwise I don’t think so. Some county is looking for several of our CIA agents.

  13. I hope Trump sits down with him, and in his street smart insight, will determine that this guy is a softie, and a man of very weak character.

    1. A softie? He retired a full general after successfully implementing the surge in Iraq. That’s not the career profile of a softie.

  14. Having created the ISIS debacle in the Middle East, maybe he’s poised to correct it ? Otherwise, worthless !

  15. Brilliant move! No, not the one where this is believed to be seriously considered. Actually the one where the Left will be intellectually challenged to denounce the choice without making a case to indict Clinton. Yeah, that one.

    1. Yeah–good call! That makes for a big “Scooby Doo ‘Huhhhh????'” The left might be reduced to the fetal position coming to grips with this one.

    2. Oh my gosh, you’re right. The Left cannot criticize Petreus’ eligibility without condemning Hillary by the same sword.

      But as for the actual consideration of Petreus, that’s a bad decision, as is Romney.

      1. You smart folks are being logical and consistent. However, if the Dems, and their sycophant MSM, have shown us anything, they have become the zen masters of hypocrisy. They can defend Hillary and attack Patreus w/o an ounce of guilt. You see, that would require a conscience.

  16. Anyone convicted of a crime regarding mishandling classified information should be ineligible for a government position. Period.

  17. Dead on.

    Americans hate to admit that they are”little people”, but in the eyes of Washington, most of us don’t count.

    And they are supposed to serve us.

    2. That fact will never change as long as we have a “secret” government (“intelligence community”), which remains unknown and unaccountable to all.

      1. I do love the way it’s a felony for anyone to leak the CIA budget…

        /sarc off

        It’s more than reasonable to include in so-called “defense” spending much if not all Homeland Security, actual military budgets, CIA, and at least a half dozen other government agencies I can’t recall because I’m sick. I suspect the sum total amount equals more than the rest of the world combined for similar purposes.

        They should immediately drop the “defense” moniker, bring back the “Department of War,” and use it exclusively for such purpose.

        Flush, once and for all, Woodrow Wilson’s utterly failed doctrine of spreading democracy around the globe.

        1. We will never have any real change in this situation until we have more Edward Snowdens who are not afraid to disclose classified material, and armed citizens brave enough to demand entry to CIA premises..

    1. Nixon was never offered any public offices. Nixon’s offenses were also an order of magnitude worse than those of Petraeus (though wildly exaggerated by his enemies).

      1. Nixon was forced out of office in a Silent Coup. see the book with that title. Bob Woodward and John Dean were integral players.

        1. Yes, but by the time of his death, he was mainly regarded as an “Elder Statesman”, not a crook.

      2. No, but he began to act virtually as a foreign policy “consultant” to all his successor Presidents, until he died in 1994.

  19. JT Your going to pitch a bitch about this guy and it was OK for Hilly to run for President? Give me a break.

    1. Turley never “approved” HRC running for President. I respectfully suggest you get off your lazy behind and check the approximately 25 articles he posted accusing her of committing major felonies you lazy, worthless, ignorant, mush-brained twat.

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