CIA Director Petraeus Resigns

[bush_cheney2004]

I was wondering about this election, not the 2008 election, since the resignation came 3 days after it. At any rate, it doesn't seem like a big deal to you. I suspect that the resignation was handled to minimize Obama's damage WRT the election. They also left a compromised director in power for for months for political purposes. Both are worthy of further investigation.

Fair enough.....I meant the 2012 election as well...my bad. I am just saying that Petraeus operates on an entirely different personal ethos that most political wonks find to be naive and archaic.

[Bitsy]

This is how it is being reported in the Washington Post.

The collapse of the impressive career of CIA Director David H. Petraeus was triggered when a woman with whom he was having an affair sent threatening e-mails to another woman close to him, according to three senior law enforcement officials with know­ledge of the episode.

The recipient of the e-mails was so frightened that she went to the FBI for protection and help tracking down the sender, according to the officials. The FBI investigation traced the threats to Paula Broadwell, a former military officer and a Petraeus biographer, and uncovered explicit e-mails between Broadwell and Petraeus, the officials said.

When Petraeus’s name surfaced, FBI investigators were concerned that the CIA director’s personal e-mail account had been hacked and that national security had been threatened. The officials said further investigation, including FBI interviews with Broadwell and Petraeus, led to the discovery that the two were engaged in an affair.

The identity of the woman who received the e-mails was not disclosed, and the nature of her relationship with Petraeus is unknown. The officials said the woman did not work at the CIA and was not Petraeus’s wife, Holly. The law enforcement officials said the e-mails indicated that Broadwell perceived the other woman as a threat to her relationship with Petraeus.

http://www.washingto...src=al_national

[sharkman]

Fair enough.....I meant the 2012 election as well...my bad. I am just saying that Petraeus operates on an entirely different personal ethos that most political wonks find to be naive and archaic.

On that I concur, he obviously holds himself to a very high standard.

[sharkman]

This is how it is being reported in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingto...src=al_national

Interesting that the sources to this story directly contradict the source in the story I linked to. I would suggest that one of these stories could be an attempt to manage and shape the direction of the story. It appears that both sources could be in the FBI.

Edited November 11, 2012 by sharkman

[Shady]

I understand him resigning. But why can't he also testify to congress regarding Benghazi? If he doesn't, congress should subpoena him.

[bush_cheney2004]

On that I concur, he obviously holds himself to a very high standard.

It's an old story....Duty, Honor, Country. Others have fallen before him in this certain way (Patton, MacArthur, etc.). Some talking heads have opined that Petraeus was a bad fit for the CIA and it is best that he moved on anyway. It's not hard to understand why that would be true.

[WWWTT]

I understand him resigning. But why can't he also testify to congress regarding Benghazi? If he doesn't, congress should subpoena him.

Bingo!

That's why it doesn't make sense that he would be resigning to escape.He can't!

I'm sure the timing is probably related to the election however.

WWWTT

[sharkman]

Currently I've heard that he isn't going to testify. But they can subpoena him.

[jbg]

Evidently the director of the CIA has resigned, citing an extramarital affair as the reason. It will be interesting to hear more about this as the story develops, as I can't imagine anyone in such a position resigning for that reason - but perhaps there isn't any more to it.

I have heard scuttlebut that he did not consider Benghazi to have been mob violence, but terror, and refused to be blackmailed when his affair came to light.

[Guest American Woman]

If it's true that he refused to be blackmailed, he deserves a lot of credit for that.

[Bitsy]

I have heard scuttlebut that he did not consider Benghazi to have been mob violence, but terror, and refused to be blackmailed when his affair came to light.

If that is the rumor, I am confident that he will be subpoenaed to provide this testimony and there is nothing the administration can do to keep him from testifying as was an option they had if he remained in office.

[jbg]

If that is the rumor, I am confident that he will be subpoenaed to provide this testimony and there is nothing the administration can do to keep him from testifying as was an option they had if he remained in office.

The only problem is that he is not subject to CIA control once he's resigned.

[bleeding heart]

I am just saying that Petraeus operates on an entirely different personal ethos that most political wonks find to be naive and archaic.

You mean the archaic theme of nobility symbolized by banging one's hagiographer?

[Guest American Woman]

You mean the archaic theme of nobility symbolized by banging one's hagiographer?

Some here appear to support said "banging:"

As long as his girlfriend was hot and younger than him, it doesnt seem like anything to resign over.

I've seen his wife and his girl friend paula broadwell (she's a hottie) , i can't say I blame him.... ...

[bleeding heart]

Some here appear to support said "banging:"

For the record, I was just playing. While I don't "support" adultery (only because it appears, in many cases, to be basically bad for you and your loved ones), I think as a society we're a little too salaciously involved with the personal (and completely legal) wanderings of public figures.

[jbg]

Introduces an irrelevant element to the thread?

[bleeding heart]

"Introduces"?

[punked]

Just so we are clear from all the crazies here posting this is somehow Obama's doing the media is now reporting it was Eric Cantor that outed the affair and informed the FBI which triggered the investigation. THE REPUBLICAN majority leader.

Remember when I said wait for the facts so you don't look stupid. Well at least I warned you.

[Bitsy]

The only problem is that he is not subject to CIA control once he's resigned.

Which to me means that he can tell everything that he knows about what happened and, in his opinion, if there was a lapse of security and a cover up by the administration.

[Guest American Woman]

Just so we are clear from all the crazies here posting this is somehow Obama's doing the media is now reporting it was Eric Cantor that outed the affair and informed the FBI which triggered the investigation. THE REPUBLICAN majority leader.

Remember when I said wait for the facts so you don't look stupid. Well at least I warned you.

Where are you getting that from? - Biographer’s E-Mails to Woman Led F.B.I. to Petraeus - http://www.nytimes.c...eus-affair.html

The

F.B.I.

investigation that led to the sudden resignation of

David H. Petraeus

as

C.I.A.

director on Friday began with a complaint several months ago about “harassing” e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus’s biographer, to another woman who knows both of them, two government officials briefed on the case said Saturday.

When F.B.I. agents following up on the complaint began to examine Ms. Broadwell’s e-mails, they discovered exchanges between her and Mr. Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair, said several officials who spoke of the investigation on the condition of anonymity.

Do you have a source saying differently?

[punked]

Where are you getting that from? - Biographer’s E-Mails to Woman Led F.B.I. to Petraeus - http://www.nytimes.c...eus-affair.html

The

F.B.I.

investigation that led to the sudden resignation of

David H. Petraeus

as

C.I.A.

director on Friday began with a complaint several months ago about “harassing” e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus’s biographer, to another woman who knows both of them, two government officials briefed on the case said Saturday.

When F.B.I. agents following up on the complaint began to examine Ms. Broadwell’s e-mails, they discovered exchanges between her and Mr. Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair, said several officials who spoke of the investigation on the condition of anonymity.

Do you have a source saying differently?

I post this in fear Sharkman's head will explode knowing Republicans helped in this and not Obama but here you go. Some people around here sure look dumb now don't they?

http://www.politico....l#ixzz2BvPoRwpD

[Bitsy]

How the Times reported it.

Some Congressional staff members said they believed that the bureau should have informed at least the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees about the unfolding inquiry. A spokesman for Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said the lawmaker had summoned Sean Joyce, the F.B.I.’s deputy director, and Michael J. Morrell, the deputy C.I.A. director, for closed briefings on Wednesday about the investigation.

Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, said Saturday an F.B.I. employee whom his staff described as a whistle-blower told him about Mr. Petraeus’s affair and a possible security breach in late October, which was after the investigation had begun.

“I was contacted by an F.B.I. employee concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain Director Mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security,” Mr. Cantor said in a statement.

Mr. Cantor talked to the person after being told by Representative Dave Reichert, Republican of Washington, that a whistle-blower wanted to speak to someone in the Congressional leadership about a national security concern. On Oct. 31, his chief of staff, Steve Stombres, called the F.B.I. to tell them about the call.

“They took the information,” said Doug Heye, Mr. Cantor’s deputy chief of staff, “and gave the standard answer: they were not able to confirm or deny any investigation, but said that all necessary steps were being taken to make sure no confidential information was at risk.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/us/fbi-said-to-have-stumbled-into-news-of-david-petraeus-affair.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

[jbg]

I post this in fear Sharkman's head will explode knowing Republicans helped in this and not Obama but here you go. Some people around here sure look dumb now don't they?

http://www.politico....l#ixzz2BvPoRwpD

Actually some Republicans I have talked to are trying to use the resignation to end Obama's career. As a patriotic American and for the good of the country I pray they don't succeed.

[BubberMiley]

Actually some Republicans I have talked to are trying to use the resignation to end Obama's career. As a patriotic American and for the good of the country I pray they don't succeed.

This is funny on so many levels.

[jbg]

This is funny on so many levels.

How so? It's a sincere reflection of my views. Just because I didn't vote for Obama doesn't mean I want a failed Presidency. Far from it.