CIA chief Petraeus resigns over extramarital affair

[longyi]

Patreus didn't volunteer to resign as everyone thought, the FBI was onto the case.....


F.B.I. Said to Have Stumbled Into News of Petraeus Affair


WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. investigation that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as C.I.A. director on Friday began with a complaint several months ago about “harassing” e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus’s biographer, to an unidentified third person, a government official briefed on the case said on Saturday.

When F.B.I. agents following up on the complaint began to examine Ms. Broadwell’s e-mails, they discovered exchanges between her and Mr. Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair, said the official, who spoke of the investigation on the condition of anonymity.

The person who complained about harassing messages from Ms. Broadwell, according to the official, was not a family member or a government official. One Congressional official who was briefed on the matter on Friday said senior intelligence officials had explained that the F.B.I. investigation “started with two women.”

“It didn’t start with Petraeus, but in the course of the investigation they stumbled across him,” said the Congressional official, who said the intelligence officials had provided no other information about the two women or the focus of the inquiry. “We were stunned.”

Mr. Petraeus said in a statement that he was resigning after 14 months as head of the Central Intelligence Agency because he had shown “extremely poor judgment” in engaging in the affair.

The government official dismissed a range of media speculation that the F.B.I. inquiry might have focused on leaks of classified information to the press or even foreign spying. “People think that because it’s the C.I.A. director, it must involve bigger issues,” the official said. “Think of a small circle of people who know each other.”

continue: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/u...ed-into-news-of-david-petraeus-affair.html?hp

 

[longyi]

Woman Linked to Petraeus Is a West Point Graduate and Lifelong High Achiever

WASHINGTON — Paula Broadwell, whose affair with the nation’s C.I.A. director led to his resignation on Friday, was the valedictorian of her high school class and homecoming queen, a fitness champion at West Point with a graduate degree from Harvard, and a model for a machine gun manufacturer.

It may have been those qualities — and a string of achievements that began in her native North Dakota, where she was state student council president, an all-state basketball player and orchestra concertmistress — that drew the attention of David H. Petraeus, the nation’s top spy and a four-star general, as the two spent hours together for a biography of Mr. Petraeus that Ms. Broadwell co-wrote.

Ms. Broadwell’s name burst into public view on Friday evening after Mr. Petraeus resigned abruptly amid an F.B.I. investigation that uncovered evidence of their relationship.

But Ms. Broadwell was hardly shy about her interactions with Mr. Petraeus as she promoted her book, “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus,” in media appearances earlier this year. She had unusual access, she noted in promotional appearances, taping many of her interviews for her book while running six-minute miles with Mr. Petraeus in the thin mountain air of the Afghan capital.

Ms. Broadwell said in an interview in February that Mr. Petraeus was enjoying his new civilian life at the C.I.A., where he became director in September 2011. “It was a huge growth period for him, because he realized he didn’t have to hide behind the shield of all those medals and stripes on his arm,” she said. Ms. Broadwell was 39 at the time.

Her biography on the Penguin Speakers Bureau Web site says that she is a research associate at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. She received a master’s in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

A self-described “soccer mom” and an ironman triathlete, Ms. Broadwell became a fixture on the Washington media scene after the publication of her book about Mr. Petraeus, who is 60. In a Twitter message this summer, she bragged about appearing on a panel at the Aspen Institute, a policy group for deep thinkers.

On her Twitter account, she often commented on the qualities of leadership. “Reason and calm judgment, the qualities specially belonging to a leader. Tacitus,” she wrote. In another message, she said: “A leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do and like it. Truman.”

She also used her Twitter account to denounce speculation in the Drudge Report that Mr. Petraeus would be picked as a running mate by Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president.

Married with two children, she was described in a biography on the Web site of Inspired Women Magazine as a high achiever since high school.

The biography says that Ms. Broadwell received a degree in political geography and systems engineering from West Point, where she was ranked No. 1 over all in fitness in her class. She benefited from a different ranking scale for women, she told a reporter this year. But “I was still in the top 5 percent if I’d been ranked as a male,” she said.

The official Web site for Ms. Broadwell’s book was taken down Friday, but comments from her echoed across the Internet.

“I was driven when I was younger,” she was quoted as saying on the Web site, noting her induction into her high school’s hall of fame. “Driven at West Point where it was much more competitive in that women were competing with men on many levels, and I was driven in the military and at Harvard, both competitive environments.”

“But now,” she is quoted as saying, “as a working mother of two, I realize it is more difficult to compete in certain areas. I think it is important for working moms to recognize that family is the most important.”

On “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart summed up Ms. Broadwell’s book by saying: “I would say the real controversy here is, is he awesome or incredibly awesome?”A short time later, Ms. Broadwell challenged Mr. Stewart to a push-up contest, which she won handily. Mr. Stewart had to pay $1,000 to a veterans’ support group for each push-up she did beyond his total. Ms. Broadwell said that he wrote a check for $20,000 on the spot.

On Friday evening, her house in the Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte, N.C., was dark when a reporter rang the doorbell. Two cars were in the home’s carport and an American flag was flying out front.

Linked to Petraeus, Paula Broadwell Is Lifelong High Achiever - NYTimes.com

 

[raptor22]

General Petraeus’s leaked emails about Israel

Blogger Philip Weiss has them, and they’re not pretty.

I've written the cover story for this week's New Statesman on the rise and rise of David Petraeus and America's "cult of the generals".

Here's an extract:

Twelve of the 43 men who have served as US president have been former generals -- including the very first occupant of the Oval Office, George Washington. Nonetheless, there has not been a general in the White House since Dwight D Eisenhower, the former Supreme Allied Commander in the Second World War and architect of the D-Day landings, left office in 1961 (excoriating the "military-industrial complex" on his way out). But the rise of the generals in recent years, exemplified by the hallowed status of Petraeus, has altered the dynamic. If a general is elected to the White House in 2012 or 2016, the grip of this cult on the US polity will once again have been demonstrated.​

Interestingly, in an unrelated story on the supposedly declining power of the Israel lobby in today's Guardian, the paper's Washington correspondent, Chris McGreal, writes:

Senior figures in the American military, including General David Petraeus who has commanded US forces in both wars, have identified Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian land as an obstacle to resolving those conflicts.​

McGreal is referring to the general's official "posture" statement on US Central Command -- which Petraeus was in charge of before he was redeployed to Afghanistan by President Obama a fortnight ago. In this, he says:

The [Israel-Palestine] conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of US favouritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR [Centcom's Area of Responsibility] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilise support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas.​

Petraeus's prepared statement caused uproar in pro-Israeli circles back in March, when it was published, with some on the right and the left automatically assuming he must be a private supporter of the Palestinians and that he had suddenly and bravely decided to stand up to the Israel lobby inside the United States.

But guess what? In a gaffe that hasn't yet attracted the same amount of press as Stanley McChrystal's bizarre interview with Rolling Stone, Petraeus accidentally leaked an email exchange of his -- with the belligerent, neoconservative, pro-Israeli columnist Max Boot -- to an activist named James Morris, who then passed it on to the blogger Philip Weiss:

Last March General David Petraeus, then head of Central Command, sought to undercut his own testimony before the Senate armed services committee that was critical of Israel by intriguing with a right-wing writer to put out a different story, in emails obtained by Mondoweiss.

The emails show Petraeus encouraging Max Boot of Commentary to write a story -- and offering the neoconservative writer choice details about his views on the Holocaust:

"Does it help if folks know that I hosted Elie Wiesel and his wife at our quarters last Sun night?! And that I will be the speaker at the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps in mid-Apr at the Capitol Dome . . ."

Petraeus passed the emails along himself through carelessness last March. He pasted a Boot column from Commentary's blog into in an "FYI" email he sent to an activist who is highly critical of the US's special relationship with Israel. Some of the general's emails to Boot were attached to the bottom of the story. The activist, James Morris, shared the emails with me.​

You can read the full details here.

Meanwhile, here's a taster of Clayton Swisher's amusing response on the al-Jazeera blog:

It's not clear what miracles Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel can work for General Petraeus now that he's the top officer in Kabul.

Based on these emails Petraeus apparently authored, subsequently leaked to blogger Philip Weiss, it seems the former Central Commander thought a private dinner with Weisel and a Holocaust Museum stint might boost his pro-Israel bona fides ("some of my best friends are Jewish!").​

I guess the good general is keener on becoming the next US president, and not upsetting the Israel lobby in the meantime, than some had assumed.


Source

 

[S_O_C_O_M]

Paula Broadwell, very young and beautiful for an old man

his wife for comparison

 

[Audio]

Friendly advice: Do not be overconfident.

With what?

I can adress the other points you made but id like you do cough up some details in regards to above quote.

 

[PakShah]

Gen Petraeus told President Barack Obama of his affair and offered his resignation during a meeting Thursday, a senior official told NBC News.

full story : CIA chief Petraeus resigns over extramarital affair | The News Informer

Absolutely revolting, but what can you expect it is common in their sick culture.

Ever heard of the Lewinsky scandal. Disgusting.

Do you ever hear of any other leader of any other country engaging in such animalistic shameless behavior.
No you don't.


Only in USA. LOL.

 

[Cloakedvessel]

Absolutely revolting, but what can you expect it is common in their sick culture.

Ever heard of the Lewinsky scandal. Disgusting.

Do you ever hear of any other leader of any other country engaging in such animalistic shameless behavior.
No you don't.


Only in USA. LOL.

Of course other leaders of other countries have done something similar. Your own former leader, for example, pulled a stunt like this. In contrast to Petraeus, he did not get laid with a journalist despite furious attempts.

Kim Barker Exposes Nawaz Sharif in Interview on ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler - YouTube

"I know, I'm not as tall as you'd like, I'm not as fit as you'd like. I'm fat, and I'm old. But I would still like to be your friend."

Hilarious line.

Petraeus probably got lucky, because he is in such a great shape.

 

[anarchy 99]

This is part of the coverup in the Benghazi attack I reckon.

Maybe a scapegoat.

Apparently Eisenhower had an affair with his driver.

If people got fired for having an affair, then more than half of the US congress would be fired.

 

[ahfatzia]

his wife for comparison

It's sad for a woman to get old and lets go of her appearance but it's no excuse for a man too seek long term relationships. For him the vanity of feeling young and macho overcomes his sense of duties to his wife and to his position. It happens but no excuse.

 

[Abingdonboy]

In this case he should resign. First he used his position of information to gain sexual favors and secondly as a CIA head he could've been honey trapped. Who know what information he could've gave out during ecstasy moments behind closed door.

Nah-this man's an expreinced soldier-he's not going to give such info away. I think a man in his position didn't need to resign.

 

[S_O_C_O_M]

Nah-this man's an expreinced soldier-he's not going to give such info away. I think a man in his position didn't need to resign.

he had to resign. its the CIA he has all of the U.S. secrets, and his weakness has been exploited. he could be blackmailed, exploited, etc. he had no choice but to resign or he would have been forced out.

 

[Shah Faran The Great]

What do You Say About ISI?

 

[ahfatzia]

Nah-this man's an expreinced soldier-he's not going to give such info away. I think a man in his position didn't need to resign.

I wouldn't call a man who betrays his wife and family and his position of 'keeper of secret' as a man of high integrity and honor.

 

[terranMarine]

he had to resign. its the CIA he has all of the U.S. secrets, and his weakness has been exploited. he could be blackmailed, exploited, etc. he had no choice but to resign or he would have been forced out.

I don't think blackmail is the issue as the whole world knows he has had an affair. You can only blackmail someone if he/she doesn't want any information to be leaked. He lost integrity in the eyes of the CIA so there's no other option than to quit. I believe JFK was doing it with Marilyn Monroe so Billy boy ain't the only US president in history who had one hell of an adventure if you know what i mean

 

[PakShah]

Of course other leaders of other countries have done something similar. Your own former leader, for example, pulled a stunt like this. In contrast to Petraeus, he did not get laid with a journalist despite furious attempts.

Kim Barker Exposes Nawaz Sharif in Interview on ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler - YouTube

"I know, I'm not as tall as you'd like, I'm not as fit as you'd like. I'm fat, and I'm old. But I would still like to be your friend."

Hilarious line.

Petraeus probably got lucky, because he is in such a great shape.

I'm not going to see your youtube video crap, because I don't have 7 minutes to watch. Do you have definitive proof other than youtube videos. lol .


Oh please your American leaders are involved in the most scandalous of the scandalous affairs. Don't give me BS. lol