Posted on 11/10/2012 4:03:39 PM PST by billorites
Among those who have long known Gen. David Petraeus, those who served under his command in wartime, sat with him in the White House Situation Room, or helped him rewrite Army doctrine at Fort Leavenworth, the most gnawing question about the scandalous affair that led to his resignation and doomed his career on Friday is this: How could he—this acclaimed leader and figure of rectitude—allow such a thing to happen?
Seen in context, the mystery, while shocking, is not so unfathomable.
Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom he had this affair, writes in her fawning biography of Petraeus that they first met when she was in graduate school at Harvard and he came to give a talk about counterinsurgency strategy. She approached him afterward and expressed interest in the subject; they exchanged cards. Soon, she decided to write a Ph.D. dissertation on his leadership style and, when he took command in Afghanistan, asked if she could come observe him in action. He agreed.
The key to this initial attraction was probably not sexual but rather biographical. Broadwell had once been a West Point cadet, like Petraeus. Upon graduating, she’d joined the light infantry officers’ corps as a paratrooper, as had Petraeus in his youth. She was obsessed with physical fitness, especially running, as was Petraeus. In short, regardless of gender, Broadwell was exactly the sort of aspiring officer-intellectual that Petraeus was keen to mentor.
The impulse was not unique to Petraeus. It grew out of the ethos of West Point’s social science department, where Petraeus had taught in the mid-1980s. The department, known as “Sosh,” was founded just after World War II by a visionary ex-cadet and Rhodes Scholar named George A. “Abe” Lincoln. Toward the end of the war, as the senior planning aide to Army Chief of Staff
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Why should his wife’s looks matter? Some of us out here still think for better or worse, sickness and health matters. Just sayin’
Precisely.
We sin because we choose to.
Charlie Rose interview with Paula Broadwell
People are going to want to label her with vile comments, but she is an extraordinary creature who has learned that she has to apply her tremendous energy to various outlets.
Around powerful men, for them, she is intoxicating.
A lot of such women destroy themselves by their sexual activity leading into drugs.
She has, what plagued Marilyn Monroe.
Pray for her.
ummm he is no prize himself.
I hope u are not married!!!!
She's 39. Her kids are 4 & 6.
Why does ANY man risk it all for an affair?
Any answers, male freepers?
Maybe his marriage wasn’t so hot. Spending 2 years away from your wife in Afghanistan probably didn’t inspire much closeness between him and his wife.
Mebbe she was worth it, huh?!
I feel bad for the troops he commanded over there. They served faithfully, liable to get their asses blown off any second, and some actually did. THEY were horny as a billy goat, but toughed it out. After all, the Middle East is not THE place to make out with women.
And now they find out that while they were enduring all that, HE was getting hummers under the desk! I would think it makes a lot of other officers over there automatically suspect, in the dogfaces’ eyes. JMO
U men 41’ wasn’t tempted?
Yes she was. Google Holly Knowlton. Plus, David Petraeus looks like a toad with a horrible comb-over. Yuck!
Some people honor their vows while others use them as a matter of convenience. I've been married to my wife for 45 years, the last 31 of which she has suffered a progressive debilitating disease. A man's word and promises should mean something.
But really, it’s one thing to do it - the truly stupid part is keeping the emails. I mean, why?
I wonder if the wives of the soldiers who came back, burned and missing limbs think the same thing about their husbands?
A man’s word and promises should mean something.
Truer words were never spoken.
If he was unhappy with his wife he should have divorced her. His wife is the reason his career was so amazing...I imagine he married her for her contacts in the military and what she could do for his career. His career flourished and by all accounts his wife was a great Army wife, adding another necessary positive to his career. This is how he repays his wife?
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