General Petraeus Resigns

[StoopTroup]

Says he had an affair.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/09/15054517-cia-director-david-petraeus-resigns-cites-extramarital-affair?lite

[Midtowner]

I don't want the head of our CIA going through a messy divorce. Sounds like he did the right thing by his country as usual.

Now the fight'll be over which party can sign him up politically. This indiscretion probably won't render him as damaged goods.

[pphilfran]

"Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position," Petraeus said in a letter to CIA colleagues. "After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours."

[BoulderSooner79]

Why did he resign? Was the mistress not hotter than his wife or something?

[SoonerProphet]

Pretty interesting, especially in the wake of Benghazi. Now where did I put my tinfoil hat?

[rock on sooner]

Why did he resign? Was the mistress not hotter than his wife or something?

Dint see a pic of her so don't know. I'm guessing that a jilted lover was gonna
blow the whistle (no pun intended) so he got out in front of it. Good soldier,
smart military (not so smart otherwise).

[Sooner98]

GENERAL BETRAY US!!

[Harry Beanbag]

Does this get him out of testifying before Congress?

[SoonerProphet]

Damn, this here gal is linked.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m39f26hQhu1qa3owxo2_500.jpg

[SoonerProphet]

Does this get him out of testifying before Congress?

His security cred has most likely been pulled.

[StoopTroup]

Does this get him out of testifying before Congress?

I was watching Fox News and a few of them that can't let go on the Benghazi Attacks mentioned some things about his Character in regards to Benghazi and were immediately called on it. The guy I saw spent the next 2-3 minutes explaining how he understand just how Great a man the General was and tried to get out the implication he made.

He looked like an a$$.

[LiveLaughLove]

Why is he resigning? In today's time's he feels he needs to resign? That's outrageous! He was doing a good job by all accounts.

We elected a President twice that had extramarital affairs and would probably do so again. Why in the heck would this good man quit over that?!

Why are we even interested in what goes on in his bedroom for crying out loud?!

Geez, what is this freaking country coming to.

I'll bet his popularity went up 4 points with the youth vote.

Hmm, maybe he's angling for next election. Setting himself up as cool and hip. Yeah, I read ya Petraeus. Now if he can just get Samuel L Jackson and some kid to throw F bombs around he'll have it sewn up.

Cool dude after all.

[SoonerProphet]

Why is he resigning? In today's time's he feels he needs to resign? That's outrageous! He was doing a good job by all accounts.

We elected a President twice that had extramarital affairs and would probably do so again. Why in the heck would this good man quit over that?!

Why are we even interested in what goes on in his bedroom for crying out loud?!

Geez, what is this freaking country coming to.

I'll bet his popularity went up 4 points with the youth vote.

Hmm, maybe he's angling for next election. Setting himself up as cool and hip. Yeah, I read ya Petraeus. Now if he can just get Samuel L Jackson and some kid to throw F bombs around he'll have it sewn up.

Cool dude after all.

As a spook, he had to resign. In his position he is liable for blackmail and an obvious security risk.

[LiveLaughLove]

As a spook, he had to resign. In his position he is liable for blackmail and an obvious security risk.
Bull crap. You can't get more liable for sensitive information than a fricking President and we love love love him.

Besides, who cares about that secret stuff anyway? We have mouths to feed, we don't have time for any of that ridiculous espionage stuff. That stuffs for warmongers.

[SoonerProphet]

Bull crap. You can't get more liable for sensitive information than a fricking President and we love love love him.

Besides, who cares about that secret stuff anyway? We have mouths to feed, we don't have time for any of that ridiculous espionage stuff. That stuffs for warmongers.

Not real sure if serious? Anywhoots, is called "duress" in security clearance parlance.

[SoonerorLater]

I guess it's just a coincidence that he resigned after the election. I'm sure the president would have supported the timeline of his decision no matter when he decided to announce.

[Soonerjeepman]

think the military is pretty strict about adultery and ya know the commander in chief is all about morality...so I'm sure he forced that.

[TitoMorelli]

Does this get him out of testifying before Congress?

Apparently it does. He originally was scheduled to testify next week, now his appearance before Senate Intelligence Committee has been canceled.

[StoopTroup]

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/24702386.jpg

[TitoMorelli]

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/24702386.jpg

Directed at?

[cleller]

The extramarital affair reason for stepping down is equatable with the old reasons for excluding homosexuals from security postings. That idea would be ridiculed now.

Two four star generals have abruptly left our country's service within 2 months of the Benghazi incident. Two men that were highly regarded with great accomplishments suddenly ending their careers in a very public fashion. If you think questioning if it could be interconnected is crazy, you're just not observing what is going on.

[Harry Beanbag]

Don't forget about the Admiral suddenly relieved from duty in the middle of a deployment within days (hours?) of General Ham. Who gets the next vial of cyanide?

[Wishboned]

Commitment to wife. Commitment to country.

If you're unfaithful to one then I believe you'll be unfaithful to the other.

[olevetonahill]

Commitment to wife. Commitment to country.

If you're unfaithful to one then I believe you'll be unfaithful to the other.

Ima guessing that you was Not a Big Slick Willey fan then :abnormal:

[Midtowner]

Even good people have affairs. I'm thankful for the guy's service. I hope he and his wife do what's best for them. He either has a very successful private career in front of him or would be an excellent public servant. As effective as he has been in both his military and clandestine roles, we shouldn't judge him solely on one indiscretion.

The fact that he actually remained faithful for 37 years beats most Americans hands down.

[LiveLaughLove]

Even good people have affairs. I'm thankful for the guy's service. I hope he and his wife do what's best for them. He either has a very successful private career in front of him or would be an excellent public servant. As effective as he has been in both his military and clandestine roles, we shouldn't judge him solely on one indiscretion.

The fact that he actually remained faithful for 37 years beats most Americans hands down.

That's simply not possible, and is why this country is going to hell, literally. Now can he repent and truly become a good person again? Sure, but it is impossible to be a good person while you are destroying a spouse, yours or theirs.

Still, given where we are in today's world I think it's extremely hypocritical of Obama to care one way or another about an affair. He had Bill Clinton doing speeches for him as if they were best buds.

Why do we care what goes on in the privacy of his own bedroom?

[Midtowner]

Maybe that's true in the days of Hester Prynne. As far as this "destroying" a spouse, more than half of marriages end in divorce. People aren't "destroyed" in divorce, they just end up with less stuff. Petreus' spouse is likely going to get half of his retirement plans, half of his stuff and probably a decent alimony payment on top of that. Having overseen more divorces than I can care to count, things don't usually boil down into a neat little one-sided betrayal affair. These things are often years in the making.

For political purposes and for the sake of national security, a household like the Petreus household has to maintain a Leave-it-to-Beaveresque façade. We'll never know the internal dynamics which led to this, whether only one or both spouses betrayed the other, but in my experience, which is anecdotal, but perhaps could approach a statistically reliable sampling for central Oklahomans who can afford divorce attorneys, things are rarely so cut and dry.

What we do know is that Petreus was an excellent civil servant and a General who won success in our Iraq and Afghanistan operations where others had failed.

[Harry Beanbag]

We'll never know the internal dynamics which led to this...


You got at least one thing right.

[Wishboned]

Ima guessing that you was Not a Big Slick Willey fan then :abnormal:

And you would win that bet. :)

[Wishboned]

The fact that he actually remained faithful for 37 years beats most Americans hands down.


We don't know that he was faithful the entire time. We just know that he got caught now.

[SoonerProphet]

I am stating the obvious here, but the removal on an elected official is a bit different than that of an appointed one.

The removal of Mr. Petraeus appears to be of his own making, his role in the CIA operation in Benghazi does not appear to be the reason he resigned. He has been under FBI investigation for a few months. The Admiral Lyons and Genreal Ham angles do raise eyebrows but not sure if I want to buy into the "it's a conspiracy" theories just yet. Might get some insight next week, should be interesting.

DoD released their timeline

http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-timeline-shows-military-response-libya-185114264.html

[FaninAma]

Any possibility that the Obama administration could have used this information to force Patraeus to toe the party line the first time he testified before Congress? It has to be considered.

Putting on my really big tinfoil hat I personally would not be shocked to see Patraeus never testify before Congress for one of the following reasons:
He commits "suicide".
The Congressional committee chairmen he would testify before are suddenly "convinced"by the intelligence committee that Patraeus' testimony is not needed.

[jkjsooner]

Bull crap. You can't get more liable for sensitive information than a fricking President and we love love love him.

Besides, who cares about that secret stuff anyway? We have mouths to feed, we don't have time for any of that ridiculous espionage stuff. That stuffs for warmongers.

Like it or not, there's a difference between an elected official and an appointed one. If an elected official is a potential security risk, as long as he hasn't broken the law there isn't much you can do except not reelect him.

Edit: Prophet beat me to it.

[Scott D]

Any possibility that the Obama administration could have used this information to force Patraeus to toe the party line the first time he testified before Congress? It has to be considered.

Putting on my really big tinfoil hat I personally would not be shocked to see Patraeus never testify before Congress for one of the following reasons:
He commits "suicide".
The Congressional committee chairmen he would testify before are suddenly "convinced"by the intelligence committee that Patraeus' testimony is not needed.

Why if he was allegedly on the short list of potential Cabinet member replacements?

This is more an instance of how potential of a security breach may there have been if his "mistress" did indeed have access to his CIA email account.

[soonercruiser]

I guess it's just a coincidence that he resigned after the election. I'm sure the president would have supported the timeline of his decision no matter when he decided to announce.

So many unusual "happenings" around the election....
I'm sure that it was all coincidence, or a reaction to a YouTube video or something.

[soonercruiser]

As a spook, he had to resign. In his position he is liable for blackmail and an obvious security risk.

Agree with Prophet here!
There are different jobs in the government.
At a certain level, personal indiscretions may have even the possibility or appearance of blackmail and security risk........and that cannot even be tolerated as a possibility.

For anyone to say that in THIS CASE that it's just adultery, or not significant, doesn't understand how the high levels of government and security community interact.

[FaninAma]

This thing is really starting to gain a lot of traction.