David Petraeus resigns as CIA chief citing affair

[Nordic]

Then Petraeus personally delivered the black books to a residence where Broadwell was staying in Washington, D.C. A few days later, he returned to retrieve them.

Holy shit!!!

It's not like they were sitting around, or lounging around in bed, where he let her look over them while he looked on, he fucking DROPPED THEM OFF AT A HOUSE FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS!!!!

Im actually, genuinely shocked at this.

How is it he's not going to the gallows for this??

[zangtang]

maybe she's very ,Very good at sex......
- she certainly seemed mighty pleased with herself when i saw her on Letterman.
cannot remember where or when that was, & i hadn't followed the story......
but it felt like he'd been suckered into a trap (or is that common knowledge?)

[seemslikeadream]

When former CIA chief David Petraeus enraged the Israel lobby
Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Sat, 11/10/2012 - 15:20

There has been fulsome praise for General David Petraeus since he resigned yesterday as head of the CIA after the FBI discovered he was having an extramarital affair.

President Barack Obama lauded Petraeus’s decades of “extraordinary service,” which includes his time as general in charge of US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as head of the CIA, where Petraeus would have been in charge of Obama’s “secret” drone program which kills children and other civilians in several countries with no oversight or control from anyone.

Some have lamented, via social media, that wars, occupations, assassinations are not reasons to lose one’s job in the United States government. Indeed, such service gets you praised and promoted, while an extramarital affair will kill your career.

But what also struck me was the total absence in the extensive media coverage of another way Petraeus made a little history: by publicly criticizing Israel and enraging the Israel lobby.

Israel, a liability to the US?

In March 2010, when Petraeus was still head of the US Central Command, he gave testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee which included this observation about one of the “challenges to security and stability” faced by the United States:

The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR [Area of Operations]. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large-scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas.

Abe Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, one of the leading American Zionist lobby groups, was so alarmed he issued a statement condemning Petraeus’ testimony, asserting in part of it:

Gen. Petraeus has simply erred in linking the challenges faced by the U.S. and coalition forces in the region to a solution of the Israeli-Arab conflict, and blaming extremist activities on the absence of peace and the perceived U.S. favoritism for Israel. This linkage is dangerous and counterproductive.

What Foxman and other Israel lobbyists understood correctly was that Petraeus was articulating a view that is increasingly common within the US establishment, but is an absolute taboo when it comes to stating it publicly: that US “interests” and Israeli “interests” are not identical, and that Israel might be a strategic burden, rather than an asset to the United States.

But while Foxman fulminated, Petraeus’ view struck a chord with at least some in Israel. A few months after Petraeus spoke to the Senate, Israel’s Mossad chief Meir Dagan, told a Knesset committee that, “Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden.”

Of course Obama appointed Petraeus as CIA director after he made his Senate statement about Israel. And that too might have been a count against Obama in the false Republican and ultra-Zionist narrative that Obama threw Israel under the bus.

Petraeus was not speaking from any love of the Palestinians, nor any position of principle or concern for justice – no one should make that mistake. He was speaking from the same cold calculation of how to maintain and advance US imperial domination that allowed him to oversee – on behalf of the president – wars, occupations and murders of children and teenagers and other civilians all over the world using drones. That is precisely what scared the Israel lobby.

General Petraeus’s leaked emails about Israel
Blogger Philip Weiss has them, and they’re not pretty.


BY MEHDI HASAN PUBLISHED 5 JULY, 2010 - 19:17

I've written the cover story for this week's New Statesman on the rise and rise of David Petraeus and America's "cult of the generals".

Here's an extract:

Twelve of the 43 men who have served as US president have been former generals -- including the very first occupant of the Oval Office, George Washington. Nonetheless, there has not been a general in the White House since Dwight D Eisenhower, the former Supreme Allied Commander in the Second World War and architect of the D-Day landings, left office in 1961 (excoriating the "military-industrial complex" on his way out). But the rise of the generals in recent years, exemplified by the hallowed status of Petraeus, has altered the dynamic. If a general is elected to the White House in 2012 or 2016, the grip of this cult on the US polity will once again have been demonstrated.

Interestingly, in an unrelated story on the supposedly declining power of the Israel lobby in today's Guardian, the paper's Washington correspondent, Chris McGreal, writes:

Senior figures in the American military, including General David Petraeus who has commanded US forces in both wars, have identified Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian land as an obstacle to resolving those conflicts.

McGreal is referring to the general's official "posture" statement on US Central Command -- which Petraeus was in charge of before he was redeployed to Afghanistan by President Obama a fortnight ago. In this, he says:

The [Israel-Palestine] conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of US favouritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR [Centcom's Area of Responsibility] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilise support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas.

Petraeus's prepared statement caused uproar in pro-Israeli circles back in March, when it was published, with some on the right and the left automatically assuming he must be a private supporter of the Palestinians and that he had suddenly and bravely decided to stand up to the Israel lobby inside the United States.

But guess what? In a gaffe that hasn't yet attracted the same amount of press as Stanley McChrystal's bizarre interview with Rolling Stone, Petraeus accidentally leaked an email exchange of his -- with the belligerent, neoconservative, pro-Israeli columnist Max Boot -- to an activist named James Morris, who then passed it on to the blogger Philip Weiss:

Last March General David Petraeus, then head of Central Command, sought to undercut his own testimony before the Senate armed services committee that was critical of Israel by intriguing with a right-wing writer to put out a different story, in emails obtained by Mondoweiss.

The emails show Petraeus encouraging Max Boot of Commentary to write a story -- and offering the neoconservative writer choice details about his views on the Holocaust:

"Does it help if folks know that I hosted Elie Wiesel and his wife at our quarters last Sun night?! And that I will be the speaker at the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps in mid-Apr at the Capitol Dome . . ."

Petraeus passed the emails along himself through carelessness last March. He pasted a Boot column from Commentary's blog into in an "FYI" email he sent to an activist who is highly critical of the US's special relationship with Israel. Some of the general's emails to Boot were attached to the bottom of the story. The activist, James Morris, shared the emails with me.

You can read the full details here.

Meanwhile, here's a taster of Clayton Swisher's amusing response on the al-Jazeera blog:

It's not clear what miracles Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel can work for General Petraeus now that he's the top officer in Kabul.

Based on these emails Petraeus apparently authored, subsequently leaked to blogger Philip Weiss, it seems the former Central Commander thought a private dinner with Weisel and a Holocaust Museum stint might boost his pro-Israel bona fides ("some of my best friends are Jewish!").

I guess the good general is keener on becoming the next US president, and not upsetting the Israel lobby in the meantime, than some had assumed.

The Sins Of General David Petraeus
Petraeus seduced America. We should never have trusted him.

posted on Nov. 11, 2012, at 9:43 p.m.
Michael Hastings

Michael Hastings researching Jill Kelley case before death
June 20, 2013|By Brian Bennett

WASHINGTON – During the weeks before he was killed in a car crash in Los Angeles, reporter Michael Hastings was researching a story about a privacy lawsuit brought by Florida socialite Jill Kelley against the Department of Defense and the FBI.

Hastings, 33, was scheduled to meet with a representative of Kelley next week in Los Angeles to discuss the case, according to a person close to Kelley. Hastings wrote for Rolling Stone and the website BuzzFeed.

Kelley alleges that military officials and the FBI leaked her name to the media to discredit her after she reported receiving a stream of emails that were traced to Paula Broadwell, a biographer of former CIA director David H. Petraeus, according to a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., on June 3.

Petraeus resigned from the CIA after publicly admitting that he and Broadwell had carried on an extramarital affair.

cars just go ....BOOM!


and there are no conspiracies.......theories

or credible people trying to track them down

The Legend of David Petraeus

America's most famous soldier has always been a skilled media manipulator. But after reading a fawning new biography, you have to wonder if he’s losing his touch.

By Michael Hastings January 31, 2012

WAR ON JOURNALISTS; Michael Hastings Dead, Criticize Afghan War, Get McChrystal Fired, Trash Petraeus, Die In Exploding Car Crash
June 19, 2013 by Joel

(AE) – Investigative reporter Michael Hastings has died in a very suspicious and fiery car crash, or more likely explosion, in the early hours of June 18 in Los Angeles.
This was the same day as the “NATO’s handover of security to Afghan forces” supposedly occurred, which more accurately should have been called the “handover of insecurity”, since it was greeted with a predictable bombing.
Michael Hastings was highly critical of the Afghanistan War, those who promoted it, and those who profited from it… Hastings’ article for Rolling Stone got General Stanley McChrystal fired, he later trashed General David Petraeus for running death squads to increase sectarian violence, and he more recently trashed Obama for his drone program. One of Hastings most dangerous articles exposed how the US Army was using a “PsyOps Team” to manipulate Senators during their visits to Afghanistan. Hastings’ final article for BuzzFeed was titled “Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans”.
Michael Hastings had obviously made many enemies within the US military, so his death by intense fiery car explosion, that left his car engine some 200 feet away from the crash site, a complete impossibility, means this needs to be rigorously investigated… that is, if we have any reporters left…

[Searcher08]

Then Petraeus personally delivered the black books to a residence where Broadwell was staying in Washington, D.C. A few days later, he returned to retrieve them.

Holy shit!!!

It's not like they were sitting around, or lounging around in bed, where he let her look over them while he looked on, he fucking DROPPED THEM OFF AT A HOUSE FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS!!!!

Im actually, genuinely shocked at this.

How is it he's not going to the gallows for this??

I find the insanity that he is not. This stinks to high heaven.
That woman was HIRED.
He gets a smacked wrist and Assange is rotting in a room year after year?

[seemslikeadream]

NSA whistleblower denounces Petraeus plea bargain
By ADAM B. LERNER 3/3/15 5:31 PM EST
NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake denounced a plea bargain reached by former CIA Director David Petraeus and federal prosecutors, calling it a “slap on the wrist” for illegal actions “served no public good.”
On Tuesday, court documents revealed the extent of Petraeus’ security breaches, which included sharing classified information with his biographer and paramour Paula Broadwell and lying to federal agents about his actions.


Petraeus’ lawyers negotiated a deal that would give the retired general two years’ probation and pay a $40,000 fine, but would keep him out of prison entirely. A federal judge could still change his ultimate sentence and put him behind bars for up to one year.
“The government’s message is clear,” Drake said in a statement. “[W]histleblowing in the public interest will be punished, while disclosing classified information devoid of public value will get you a pass.”
Drake was indicted under the Espionage Act for allegedly revealing information about the NSA’s Trailblazer monitoring project to a reporter, as well as to a staffer in Congress. He was also charged with obstructing justice and making false statements.
Ultimately, after years of legal proceedings, the federal government dropped the charges against Drake and agreed not to seek jail time if he plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
The statement was relayed to POLITICO by the Government Accountability Project, a Washington, DC-based non-profit

[Luther Blissett]

Morell was mentioned a bunch in this thread:

…On Tuesday night, former CIA Deputy Director and Bush’s intelligence briefer Michael Morell appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” where he, under an amount of good cable news duress, admitted that the administration intentionally misrepresented intelligence.…

The show played a clip of Cheney saying, “We know [Saddam Hussein] has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.”
“Was that true or not,” host Chris Matthews asked.
“We were saying–”
“Can you answer that question? Was that true?”
“No, that was not true,” he finally said.…

http://www.salon.com/2015/05/20/george_ ... was_a_lie/

[Grizzly]

Army Nominee Says He Doesn't Support Demoting Gen . Betraeus
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStor ... s-36426348

[Grizzly]

Army Nominee Says He Doesn't Support Demoting Gen . Betraeus
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStor ... s-36426348

The Obama administration's nominee to be the Army's top civilian official said Thursday he doesn't support demoting retired Gen. David Petraeus and believes that no further action should be taken against the former CIA director.

Petraeus resigned from the CIA in November 2012 after an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. He later pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information.

Eric Fanning, nominated to be secretary of the Army, made his remarks during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was responding to a question from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about media reports indicating that the Pentagon is considering downgrading Petraeus to a three-star general — a move that, if taken, would reduce his retirement salary.

The committee's chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and its top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., on Wednesday urged Defense Secretary Ash Carter not to demote Petraeus.

[RocketMan]

So the guy leaks hundreds of documents the FBI characterises as "state secrets" to the smokin' hot officer he's banging under the fancy Director of Central Intelligence desk...

...and he gets a 100,000 dollar fine??

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/hundred ... aptop-fbi/

Hundreds of classified documents found on Petraeus’ mistress laptop: FBI

[seemslikeadream]

and still people think Clinton will get indicted

[elfismiles]

Wow! Thanks for the heads-up on this update.