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 ...
We sin because we are sinners.
The little head won.
He worked for a Democrat administration. It was simply expected of him to prove he could fit in.
Ah, come on! The Russians have used women to get at our military men for many, many decades for one reason: because it works.
So General Petraeus is only human. This just underlines the fact that working in the Obama Administration is dangerous.
I think he “risked everything” because he was pretty depressed at that point under the Obama command and probably felt he just had to do what he had to do, but she made him feel positive about it.
It seems like there might have been another woman, too, because apparently the FBI was surveilling him because some other woman (not his wife) had complained that Petraeus’ sweetie was harrassing her.
This sounds to me like somebody on a suicide course. Or else he’s just a total idiot having a midlife crisis.
I think people sense that they are about at the end of their career. I think sometimes people sense age coming on and get caught up in the fantasy of the woman who seduces him.
Might have never happened if she wasn’t offered up on a plate.
I feel bad for his wife.
We are also blessed with will power and can resist these situations.He could have been a good man and husband and walked away from her.
Well look at his wife
Women are commonly used to compromise men of high security a tactic perfected by the communist.
SO WHY IS ANYBODY SUPRISED WITH THIS COMMUNIST REGIME FROM ALL LEVELS WITHIN THIS GOVERNMENT!
There is no sarcasm in what I just said
She was cute when young.
It's the forth one that got him in trouble
Wow, you shallow can you be?
A stiff penis has no conscience.
I think you’re too conspiratorial here as far as him being intentionally set up. Petraeus wouldn’t be the first smart person to do dumb things.
Obviously, however, this informationw as known to the FBI for a while. On one hand, its logical that it was sat on until after the election was over. On the other hand, I wonder if it was released to torpedo Petraeus as a possible contender for 2016.
His wife was very cute indeed.
I just think that she's one of those women who enjoy the notches.
Her husband is letting her go to Afghanistan FOR A LONG STRETCH why??
It just might be that Broad and hubby have an open marriage....just like Bill and Hillary.
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