Pundit Tears for Petraeus’s Fall

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/11

A day after the surprise announcement that CIA Director David Petraeus was resigning because of marital infidelity, the pundits continue to miss the supreme irony. None other than the head of the CIA (and former bemedaled four-star general) has become the first really big fish netted by the intrusive monitoring of the communications of American citizens implemented after 9/11.


It is unclear whether it is true that, according to initial reports, Petraeus’s alleged mistress and biographer, Paula Broadwell, was caught trying to hack into his e-mail. What does seem clear is that the FBI discovered that she had “unusual access” (to borrow the delicate wording of this morning’s New York Times) to Petraeus during his time as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from July 2010 to July 2011. The potential for compromise of sensitive information is equally clear.

Not surprisingly, Establishment pundits are disconsolate that their beloved David Petraeus has been brought down in such a tawdry way. They are already at work trying to salvage his legacy as the implementer of George W. Bush’s much-heralded “successful surge” in Iraq (even though the sacrifice of nearly 1,000 more dead U.S. soldiers did little more than provide a “decent interval” between Bush’s departure from office in 2009 and the final U.S. withdrawal/defeat at the end of 2011).

Among those lionizing/eulogizing Petraeus on the morning after his resignation was Washington Post columnist (and longtime CIA apologist) David Ignatius, who argued that Petraeus “achieved genuinely great things.” Ignatius’s lamented Petraeus’s admission of the extramarital affair with the poignancy you might find in a novel by Leo Tolstoy or Victor Hugo about an admirable but ill-fated hero.

[shrdlu]

1. For a sober assessment...

...See Col. Pat Lang's more jaundiced view of the heavily beribboned general...`

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2012/11/petraeus-agonistes-ii.html

[sandyshoes17]

2. Was watching Bill Press this morning

He was going off on the FBI, calling it a cat fight, his info seemed all wrong. Saying why was the FBI on a witch hunt into an affair. It was un-watchable. He's been in Washington long enough to see thru all this. Maybe they really do live in a bubble.

[kooljerk666]

3. I have to agree, Bill seemed way off his game today.........

It seems like he was worried that having an affair was the end of the line.

When he spoke of all the political & law enforcement type he knew, he was really upset that a tawdry affair would ruin a career.

My guess is he knows lots of Dems who step out on a regular basis.

A few weeks ago he was busting on Danny DeVito pretty hard for affairs he had, but now having an affair is a regular part of life in the beltway & we & the FBI should mind our own business??

WTF is up with that!?

BTW Danny DeVito did not lie in an op-ed about success in Iraq, Petraus did.

DeVito did not lie about Bio-weapon Trailers, Petraus did.

Petraus is a LIAR, DeVito just horney.

I am kind of pissed at Bill & not sure why he wasted a whole morning defending a tool.