Petraeus, Gone
Troy Senik, Ed. ·
November 9, 2012 at 9:19pm
This just in from NBC:
Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus has resigned, citing an extra-marital affair, NBC News reported.
"Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position," Petraeus said in his resignation letter. "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."
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Petraeus, Gone
OK--scratch that one from the 2016 list.
Sep '12
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Can heroes serve a despot? Yes, but only if their deeds define their heroism. In the end, who was the better man: Achilles or Odysseus?
Mar '11
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Strikes me as a convenient way to get THE GUY who knows it all regarding Benghazi out of the way and bound by confidentiality agreements. I'm shocked that a person in power in DC had an affair - NOT; while I don't condone that behavior, we're not living in Victorian times. Refresh my memory on this one, but William Jefferson Clinton resigned ... right?
Mar '11
Re: Petraeus, Gone
It's entirely possible he resigned for the reason cited, but something about this doesn't feel right.
Sep '10
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Sad, but how come Presidents don't feel the need resign over such things.
Dec '11
Re: Petraeus, Gone
2012 is officially annointed "annus horribilis."
May '11
Re: Petraeus, Gone
I don't know Gen. Petraeus but I do know human nature. His statement should have been "After 37 years of marriage, I got caught having an extramarrietal affair."
Mar '11
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Where do these powerful people find all this time to screw around? I'm just a 9-5 schlub and I can't even find time to watch The Office.
Sep '12
Re: Petraeus, Gone
I agree with Troy. Something about this doesn't pass the smell test.
Also, if he's guilty of adultery, and he's still in the Army, is he resigning? There's an Army general being court martialed right now for conduct unbecoming an officer.
Edited on November 9, 2012 at 9:42pmAug '10
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Hmmm, maybe Petraeus is Republican after all - a Democrat would never resign over a simple "affair".
Mar '11
Re: Petraeus, Gone
A perfect representative of the rot of Obama rule. Why retire?
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Was he "busy" the night of the Benghazi Terrorist attack? This is very odd, but do believe he would resign over this coming to light.
Mar '11
Re: Petraeus, Gone
David Petraeus: "I'm resigning because I had an affair"
Bill Clinton: "LOL. Amateur."
Re: Petraeus, Gone
My understanding is that affairs are particularly frowned upon in the intelligence community due to their potential compromising nature (look up the word "honeypot"). In fact, higher-ups can fire their subordinates if they discover they're having one. As such, the man on top having an affair and not resigning would be a very bad image.
Jan '12
Re: Petraeus, Gone
OK. This is weird.
Benghazi: kept quiet until after the election.
Iranian jets shoot at US Pred: kept quiet until after the election.
Lauded General* from Bush era 'has affair': kept quiet until after the election.
*I'm not personally a fan; his apologia with de Mistura on the lawn in Kabul after a mob murdered a crew of UN workers in Mazar-e-Sharif was an example of everything that's wrong with the West, and despicable behaviour for a US General.
Feb '12
Re: Petraeus, Gone
I am somewhat in awe. THIS is how you run a kingdom!
Re: Petraeus, Gone
I wanted to avoid speculation in the main post, but this strikes me as extremely odd. Why volunteer the fact of the affair? I can only think of two rationales: (1) to preempt a story that was brewing in the press (2) to distract from questions about whether the resignation was related to Benghazi.
It's entirely normal for senior officials to hang up their spurs in the transition from a first to a second term. It's not as if Petraeus deciding to go home would have made the entire Washington press corps assume he was having an affair. They would, however, have been asking about Benghazi.
I hope I'm wrong, but this just doesn't smell right.
Feb '12
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Biden's running mate?
Nov '10
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Exactly, the only questions being: did he fall on his sword, or was he pushed?
Sep '12
Re: Petraeus, Gone
Any Republican who is offered a position in this administration better beware interns & assistants who seem too impressed with their, ahem, bipartisanship.
What an example Mitt could have been.