The Sins Of General David Petraeus

[DonViejo]

Petraeus seduced America. We should never have trusted him.

Michael Hastings
BuzzFeed Staff

The fraud that General David Petraeus perpetrated on America started many years before the general seduced Paula Broadwell, a lower ranking officer 20 years his junior, after meeting her on a campus visit to Harvard.

More so than any other leading military figure, Petraeus’s entire philosophy has been based on hiding the truth; on deception; on building a false image. “Perception,” is key, he wrote in his 1987 Princeton dissertation. "What policymakers believe to have taken place in any particular case is what matters—more than what actually occurred."

Yes, it’s not what actually happens that matters—it’s what you can convince the public they think happened.

-snip-

Before I lay out the Petraeus counter-narrative—a narrative intentionally ignored by most of the Pentagon press and national security reporters, for reasons I’ll soon explain—let me say this about the man once known as King David; General Betray-Us; or P4, by his admirers, his enemies, and his fellow service members, respectively. He’s an impressive guy, a highly motivated individual, a world class bullshit artist, a fitness addict, and a man who spent more time in shitty places over the past ten years than almost any other American serving their country. I've covered him for seven years now, and he’ll always have my respect and twisted admiration.

So it’s fair to say P4 probably deserves something a little better than the public humiliation he’s about to endure. Sources who long feared him have already begun to leak salacious details; one told me this weekend that he took Broadwell along with him on a government funded trip to Paris in July 2011. And questions about his role in the Benghazi debacle are also likely to deepen.

-snip-

more:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/the-sins-of-general-david-petraeus

[99th_Monkey]

1. Great Read! But not one mention of the sad case of Col. Ted Westhusing?

Which is a major omission in my book.

General Petraeus's Link to a Troubling Suicide in Iraq: The Ted Westhusing Story
Greg Mitchell on June 27, 2011 - 9:40 AM ET
The scourge of suicides among American troops and reservists in Iraq and Afghanistan remains a serious and seriously underreported problem. Last month they hit a new high in the US Army, despite intensive new efforts to prevent them. One of the few high-profile cases emerged six years ago this month, and it involves a much-admired Army colonel and ethicist named Ted Westhusing—who, in his suicide note, pointed a finger at a then little-known US general named David Petraeus.

Westhusing’s widow, asked by a friend what killed this West Point scholar, replied simply: “Iraq.”

Before putting a bullet through his head, Westhusing had been deeply disturbed by abuses carried out by American contractors in Iraq, including allegations that they had witnessed or even participated in the murder of Iraqis. His suicide note included claims that his two commanders, Lt. Gen. Petraeus and Maj. Gen. Josephy Fil, tolerated a mission based on “corruption, human rights abuses and liars. I am sullied—no more. I didn’t volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves.” One of those commanders: the future leader of American forces in Iraq, and then Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus.

Westhusing, 44, had been found dead in a trailer at a military base near the Baghdad airport in June 2005, a single gunshot wound to the head. At the time, he was the highest-ranking officer to die in Iraq. The Army concluded that he committed suicide with his service pistol and found his charges against the commanders unfounded. Petraeus and Fil would later attend Westhusing’s memorial service back in the United States. In a new interview, Westhusing’s widow Michelle (who lives just up the river from me near West Point) says she wished they had not attended.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/36661/general-petraeuss-link-troubling-suicide-iraq-ted-westhusing-story#

[DURHAM D]

2. Wow. A must read, including the links. nt

[grasswire]

3. why is Di Fi shilling for Petraeus?

She was on FOX today -- a long interview with Chris Wallace. What's her connection to Petraeus?