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 ...
So, he screwed her mind?
Come on! A 50 some year old guy who has to prove he’s better than the younger guys by outrunning them? You think he might want to affirm his virility by having an affair with a good looking younger woman? What a surprise! The guy has psychological problems, but he’s trim and a good runner so he makes four stars. I wonder why we haven’t won in 11years in Afghanistan? The dummy should have been figuring out how to win instead of trying to impress everyone with his running. Or at least get his behind out of the way and let someone else have a chance at winning.
Spoken like a real man. There are so few of you, especially nowadays.
Too many selfish people marry, even though they can never truly commit. Then they use up the best years of their devoted spouses' lives. I hope his wife takes him to the cleaners, and I hope her husband is awarded full custody of the children.
God bless you.
Please. Republican (men) are just as stupid when it comes to women as Democrats are.
you are being silly, she is just a worldly narcissistic woman with loose morals
you are a complete pr8ck, that poor woman kept the homefires burning, raised the kids by herself and this is her reward? Look at him he is butt ugly and short too
absolutely, she is a narcissist homewrecker who only thinks about herself and how superior she is to others
That's what makes him a man.
he is self sexual probably
So you are just a pr8ck too by your comment “Look at him he is butt ugly and short too”
I am female so I can’t be what you said you nasty piece of idiocy, it is not the same point at all genius. He is butt ugly and she was true to him anyway. Get out you are too shallow to be real
He’s possibly a serial womanizer
We got married because not only were we in love, but we actually liked each other and enjoyed being together. Although she has no choice in the matter of being together now, we still like each other. What I've had to endure is nothing compared to what she has. Not once has she ever complained about her plight. I doubt I would have been nearly as stoic and resolute facing the same pain, suffering and challenges.
Thank you, but my wife is the one who deserves God's blessings.
“How could he—this acclaimed leader and figure of rectitude—allow such a thing to happen?”
There are numerous interviews with Paula Broadwell on the web. Most of them are relating to the Petraeus’ Biography. They are very interesting. Gives you an insight to her and P4.
In one interview, she says she has ADD...in another she talks about a Petraeus’ father as being rigidly stern and never praising or being accepting of him.
Broadwell even knew Holly Petreaus and had interviewed her for the book. She spoke highly of Mrs Petraeus and seemed to genuinely like her.
Broadwell is very intelligent and I assume she and P4 were compatible intellectually, militarily and emotionally. There were a lot of conversations between the two over a period of years. I am thinking they know each other very well.
It is all very odd.
I’m guessing that turning 60, midlife crisis, and having prostate cancer might have deranged his mind.
Well said, Mesta.
Humans are meant to rise above their animal nature; if they don’t, they are not “human” - they are four legged animals.
OOPS:
Humans are meant to rise above their animal nature; if they don’t, they are not “human” - they are TWO legged animals.
Fixed.
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