11/11/12

Gen. Petraeus Walks the Plank from C.I.A. Top Deck

The Obama administration failed to provide any support to Special Operations Counter-Insurgency Expert former General Petraeus and in effect asked him to walk the plank the day after the Presidential election. Getting rid of a probable future Republican Presidential candidate that is not up to the moral standards of Bill Clinton and other Democrats was a convenient purging of the system.

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General Petraeus was put through the public stocks in a manner of speaking for this Veterans Day because the F.B.I. discovered that the former four star had an extra-marital relationship with a journalist. First rule of the spook business-Don't talk to journalists!
A more recondite administration might have readily salvaged the job of the counter-insurgency expert who needed time to adjust to the realities of the covert operations world. A good dressing down by the President in the Oval Office could have solved the problem, ended the relationship and began the reconstruction of amended relationship for the Petraeus family. As it was the task was completely bungled. The General was not even given the opportunity to leave the job to 'attend to family interests'.
Chiaroscuro constructions sheltering the covert operations world seem to have moved from the gray area to the realm of the scarlet letter.  With an administration that has trashed traditional morality in military affairs and even those of support for gay marriage in Massachusetts and New York, the display of Puritanism is rather remarkable.

The C.I.A. since 9-11 has devolved into being like a Soviet-era K.G.B. Directorate along with the F.B.I. and Homeland Security under the Boss of Bosses at National Intelligence Director James Clapper (who sounded the gong for General Petraeus).
Plainly Ms. Broadwell used exceptionally poor judgement in sending harassing e-mails to a woman in Florida yet an eventual disclosure of the Petraeus affair would not have completely gutted Petraeus' job as  C.I.A. chief. Many Americans believe the morality of the media is like unto that of rabbits of various bunny ranches in pursuit of stories or advantage and that the morals of congresspersons is little better. Exposing the nation to intelligence failures by deleting an expert in counterinsurgency theory doesn't seem terribly intelligent when that situation could have been repaired.
Military officers have strict moral codes against adultery that evolved historically I supposed to prevent dueling and fragging among the troops. The General probably followed those mores and folkways and even laws well, and certainly needed to be an advocate of them. The media don't seem to understand that the General's condemnation of adultery while in the service was a part of his role as a General Officer and not something that he should have been fired for. Perhaps the Republicans will find some way to forgive the General for his offense against common sense and rehabilitate him enough to bring him into Party work some day.

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