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DID PETRAEUS BETRAY US? AND ARE WE BETTER OFF WITHOUT HIM?
The David Petraeus clown car extravaganza that's entertaining the country these days serves the useful purpose of distracting people from taking a hard look at the nature of the national security state we've become. Comically hoist by his own petard, former General Petraeus is arguably just another of our war criminals who will never be held to account.
Some say the FBI never should have been looking at his email in the first place. Glenn Greenwald articulated this argument clearly as clearly as anyone on DemocracyNOW, where he complained that:
"the FBI,
based on really no evidence of any actual crime, engaged in this massive
surveillance effort of, first, obtaining all kinds of intimate and private
information about two women, one of whom complained, one of whom was the target
of the complaint, Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley; learned the locations and
email accounts of Paula Broadwell, who was the subject of this fairly innocuous
complaint; read through all of her emails; learned the identity of her
anonymous lover, David Petraeus; likely read--certainly read through all of her
emails, probably read through his; and then, in the process, as well, learned
about an affair between the complainant, Jill Kelley--or not an affair, but
inappropriate communications, as they're calling it, and the four-star general
in Afghanistan, General Allen; and then obtained 20,000 to 30,000 pages of
emails between them, as well.
This mangles the seminal moment in this sequence of event, which was when Jill Kelley complained to her FBI friend. At that moment, apparently, all that was known was that there were harassing, anonymous emails to Kelley, referencing the Director of the CIA, whom she knew, and referencing information about the CIA director that was supposedly confidential. At that seminal moment, the sketchy evidence was that someone had breached CIA security, and maybe it was trivial or even a false impression, but no professional FBI agent could responsibly let that go.
When the CIA Director Seems
Compromised"
As we know now, the FBI agent didn't responsibly follow it up, either, and all sorts of other people behaved ridiculously as well, but the core possibility of a threat to the CIA had to be pursued, and it was. What apparently distracted Greenwald from this clear and compelling genesis of the investigation is his over-riding concern with the abuses of the American surveillance state. But that is a different issue, as well as a more important one.
Another blurring factor in the unfolding farce is the lingering image of Saint Petraeus that Paula Broadwell among others buffed so well:
When
I realized the opportunity I had to tell this message, to present this portrait
of strategic leadership--you know, it's not--it's not a hagiography; I'm not in
love with David Petraeus. But I think he does present a terrific role model for
young people, for executives, for men and women. No matter what, there's a
great role model there who is--who is values-oriented, who speaks the truth to
power
Too many people have given Petraeus credit for resigning, calling it an act of honor. How is it honorable? He didn't resign the day after he started the affair. He didn't resign on any of the days during the affair. He didn't resign after the FBI questioned him about the affair. He didn't resign until he had a gun to his head in effect -- when his boss, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told him the game was over.
Then he resigned with a wan gesture that looks less like honor than a vain last attempt at damage control.
Clapper was part of that deceptive effort, as was President Obama at his news conference November 14. Here's how Clapper's formal statement tried to perpetuate the "cult of David Petraeus" when it said:
Dave's
decision to step down represents the loss of one of our nation's most respected
public servants. From his long, illustrious Army career to his leadership at
the helm of CIA, Dave has redefined what it means to serve and sacrifice for
one's country". I can honestly say
that Dave Petraeus stands out as one of our nation's great patriots.
Best of Petraeus Record -- His Press
Clippings
Michael Hastings, a reporter for Buzzfeed and Rolling Stone, has a darker, less fawning view of Petraeus. Appearing on CNN, Hastings criticized Petraeus' fellow generals and others for:
