David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
Here is what I wonder. Did David Petraeus allow himself to be blackmailed by the minions of Barack Obama?
The testimony Petraeus gave Congress on Benghazi shortly after the assassination of our ambassador to Libya was a restatement of the patently false narrative foisted on the country by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and their underlings -- to wit, that the assault on the American consulate was a spontaneous demonstration in reaction to the Coptic Christian's Youtube video.
Petraeus had to know better. The Benghazi bungle took place on the anniversary of 9/11. There was plenty of intelligence available to Petraeus prior to the event suggesting that Al Qaeda was becoming a real force in the region, and the e-mails that the CIA sent the White House at the time indicate that the folks in the agency knew within hours that the attack had been carefully planned and knew who in Benghazi was responsible.
So why did a man always known for his honor and integrity go before a Congressional committee and lie through his teeth? If Washington were Chicago, we would know the answer. Blackmail is, in Chicago, standard operating procedure. Is Washington now Chicago? Is Petraeus leaving office a disgraced and broken man because one act of dishonor and betrayal led him to commit another far more shameful?
I hope not. I greatly admire the man. What he achieved in Iraq was little short of miraculous, and it took tremendous courage and moral stamina. It saddens me to think that such a man would wantonly betray his wife of 37 years, but that sort of foolishness I can easily understand. The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak. What I do not want to think is that David Petraeus betrayed his country as well -- by lying to Congress about a matter as important as this in the middle of a presidential campaign.
But I, nonetheless, have to ask, "Why did Petraeus lie?" And given the fact that the lie was part of a preposterous narrative being peddled by a President who knew that the truth might well be fatal to his reelection -- and who depended on his lies being echoed by a pliable, servile press -- I have to ask, "How did they get an honorable man to disgrace himself so utterly?"
If this line of questioning makes sense, then we have to entertain the possibility that David Petraeus is resigning because doing what he did in his testimony to Congress is distasteful in a fashion that a man of his mettle cannot long bear.
Congress should not let this pass. David Petraeus should be made to testify about Barack's Benghazi Bungle. We have a right to know the truth. We had a right to know it well before the 6th of November. We now have a right to know why we were denied the truth.
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
Barack Obama doesn't understand that the press won't always be in his corner. Now that they've spent so much effort to ensure his second term, the press will be free to turn on him. It doesn't seem to make logical sense, but the press corp is full of sharks. And what attracts sharks? Blood in the water. The Benghazi scandal will become a national trauma before Obama's second term is over.
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
I hope so. But these sharks have been remarkably servile so far, and they do not want to see their hero badly weakened.
Sep '10
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
I'd be interested in your views on A. Codevilla. When I first read him he seemed extreme, but less so as time passes. The Petraeus saga seems less surprising when viewed from Codevilla's perspective.
Petraeus's testimony under Bush about the surge was less than complete and left a far more optimistic impression than what was called for. You could not say he was untruthful, but you could not laud him his honesty either.
His latest testimony was not under oath, that may be well worth noting. His early career was impressive, but since getting his star, he has proven to be an adroit politician but in the end, at least to me, seemed to be little more than a yes man.
At any rate he has certainly violated the UCMJ several times and will in all likelihood escape without punishment. If he were enlisted he would be fried.
Sep '12
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
I expect the press to drag this honorable man's name through acres and acres of mud. They will glue untrue stories to his admission of fault, and ridicule anyone who believes his testimony, if he ever does testify.
The Crucible comes to mind.
Jul '12
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
One can only hope! But $5 say these sharks won't bite. They will keep this as quiet as possible. When that becomes untenable, they will cover it half-heartedly. Eventually, the administration will throw someone under the bus, and then the sharks will happily eat without letting their guy get tarnished. We'll have four years of this (Iran's bomb, future attacks on the US, future and current scandals). They've proved they're faithful. And they have no shame.
Aug '10
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
This whole affair feels like one of those TV spy thriller we have all seen before. I keep waiting for Jennifer Garner or Piper Perabo to crash this party and deliver a tight-slacked spin-kick upside David Axlerod's head. I fear I wait in vain.
That he was vulnerable and they got to him seems painfully obvious, and very sad too.
Edited on November 10, 2012 at 6:34pmSep '10
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
There's rumbling in the kingdom that they had the goods on Petraeus *before* he was appointed which would be in keeping with the Axelrod Jack and Jeri Ryan method of operations of Team Axelrod. Perhaps that's a little too *out there*, but little would surprise me.
I can now see why Mitch Daniels elected not to run.
Edited on November 10, 2012 at 6:39pmMay '10
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
Pseudodionysius: There's rumbling in the kingdom that they had the goods on Petraeus *before* he was appointed which would be in keeping the Axelrod Jack and Jeri Ryan method of operations of Team Axelrod. Perhaps that's a little too *out there*, but little would surprise me.
I can now see why Mitch Daniels elected not to run. · 0 minutes ago
The "Chicago Way" has completed our transition to a thugocracy. No wonder he loves hanging with Castro and Chavez.
Washington must be rotating in his grave like a rotisserie chicken.
Sep '10
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
liberal jim: I'd be interested in your views on A. Codevilla. When I first read him he seemed extreme, but less so as time passes. The Petraeus saga seems less surprising when viewed from Codevilla's perspective.
Petraeus's testimony under Bush about the surge was less than complete and left a far more optimistic impression than what was called for. You could not say he was untruthful, but you could not laud him his honesty either.
His latest testimony was not under oath, that may be well worth noting. His early career was impressive, but since getting his star, he has proven to be an adroit politician but in the end, at least to me, seemed to be little more than a yes man.
At any rate he has certainly violated the UCMJ several times and will in all likelihood escape without punishment. If he were enlisted he would be fried. · 18 minutes ago
He really needs to be on a podcast.
Mar '11
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
I'll believe the MSM worms are capable of turning when I see it. If they don't wake up and get to work on this, they are never coming out of the tank.
Apr '12
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
Pseudodionysius
liberal jim: I'd be interested in your views on A. Codevilla. When I first read him he seemed extreme, but less so as time passes. The Petraeus saga seems less surprising when viewed from Codevilla's perspective.
Petraeus's testimony under Bush about the surge was less than complete and left a far more optimistic impression than what was called for. You could not say he was untruthful, but you could not laud him his honesty either.
His latest testimony was not under oath, that may be well worth noting. His early career was impressive, but since getting his star, he has proven to be an adroit politician but in the end, at least to me, seemed to be little more than a yes man.
At any rate he has certainly violated the UCMJ several times and will in all likelihood escape without punishment. If he were enlisted he would be fried. · 18 minutes ago
He really needs to be on a podcast. · 0 minutes ago
I wish but he will be distraught and then plunging into a terrible, dark place. His weak flesh as Prof Rahe puts it - so much lost for so little.
Sep '10
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
Indaba
Pseu
He really needs to be on a podcast. · 0 minutes ago
I wish but he will be distraught and then plunging into a terrible, dark place. His weak flesh as Prof Rahe puts it - so much lost for so little. · 2 minutes ago
I meant Codevilla.
Mar '11
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
I don't know if this is a piece of the puzzle or not, but Petraeus' wife is head of a department within the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I'm not crazy about the DCI's wife being beholden to the Administration.
Sep '10
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
They won't expose him because it's not only Obama they worship, it's his ideology. The promotion of both go hand in hand.
Mar '11
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
Petraeus sadly and tragically compromised himself and became the target of blackmailers. But unlike we simpletons might expect, the enforcers are in the BHO Administration, rather than a band of extremists hiding in a spider hole in the Middle East.
One small extortion of man, one giant deception of the USA electorate. And at what cost, the reputation of a true American hero and four brave patriots that made the ultimate sacrifice in service of a country we love.
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
liberal jim: I'd be interested in your views on A. Codevilla. When I first read him he seemed extreme, but less so as time passes. The Petraeus saga seems less surprising when viewed from Codevilla's perspective.
Petraeus's testimony under Bush about the surge was less than complete and left a far more optimistic impression than what was called for. You could not say he was untruthful, but you could not laud him his honesty either.
His latest testimony was not under oath, that may be well worth noting. His early career was impressive, but since getting his star, he has proven to be an adroit politician but in the end, at least to me, seemed to be little more than a yes man.
At any rate he has certainly violated the UCMJ several times and will in all likelihood escape without punishment. If he were enlisted he would be fried. · 59 minutes ago
I admire Angelo Codevilla and agree with him. Petraeus' testimony as to what was being accomplished by his team in Iraq seems to me to have been accurate. His more recent testimony is another matter.
Mar '11
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
This administration has shown itself to be immune to shame or criticism. We'll see a series of "Benghazis", and be lied to about them, too. After all if, as the President said, the US could withstand another 9/11 (presumably on home ground), he doesn't see any problem with using such crises to ratchet up the State, or ignoring them when it suits political purposes. What are 4 dead Americans, and their distraught families, to him? They don't much interest the MSM.
Oct '11
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
Attractive theory but conventional and therefore wrong. Barack Obama is not a normal politician - he is the transformation the left has longed for since the fall of Stalin. The press will never turn on him.
Sep '12
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
But isn't he rendered totally toothless by his resignation? Can he still even cite classified information?
Oct '11
Re: David Petraeus & Barack's Benghazi Bungle
A person of status and achievement has much to lose, and few are prepared to play the political game at the level of Obama and his Chicago sharks.
I theorize that blackmail and coercion are at the heart of the issue and that Petraeus was co-opted long before Benghazi. It's likely that he was tamed before being installed into his political position. I can't see Obama appointing a competent person with a military background otherwise, there's too much danger there.
If there's blackmail then it began long ago and it was the reason for Petraeus' original support for the Islamic video rage canard. He's now being moved out, but I doubt he's off the hook. The mob does not let go, ever.