In defense of Petraeus and all higher ups: They really are just puppets on the civilian military leader’s strings (Of course Obama being the Commander-in-Chief-Idiot). Generals who wish to stay active should not be totally restricted to a special sort of serfdom mentality in order to promote/keep their position. The whole political/military structure needs a little tweaking IMHO, especially with corrupt leadership/Congress often in place. Too heavily unbalanced on the civilian DOD/State (Utopians) Department side. Military politics easily leads to unnecessary deaths, which creates poor moral. Quit nation building using the military and let the Peacecorps do the “arranging”/appeasing.
Then they should resign and tell the American people why they did.