General Petraeus: collection

[Madhu]

....when it's stuff like this, the media chases down every single lead and is insatiable in its curiosity but when it comes to the following:

Was there a foreign government behind the 9/11 attacks? A decade later, Americans still haven’t been given the whole story, while a key 28-page section of Congress’s Joint Inquiry report remains censored.

it is like cricket's chirping except for a few stalwarts?

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/f...11-2011-201108

I am not making a partisan point or falling into conspiracy-mongering or anything of the sort. The very nature of the national security apparatus (think tanks, appointees civilian and military, academics of PhD or whatever variety, journalists, hangers-on, bloggers, tweeters) fascinates and appalls, confuses and disappoints.

11 years and basic questions unanswered, stories about celebrity instead of hard intellectual work and question asking, and even those that saw through the celebrity generals are just as clueless about influence agents that aren't a part of the American scene.

None of which excuses the behavior which is reckless and harmful.


Ugh. What a colossal waste of my time all this reading milblogs etc. has been. I know it's not true entirely but it feels like it.

[jmm99]

ABC News: Petraeus Affair: Who Is Jill Kelley?

A 3-page start on the Khawam sisters, Jill and Natalie.

Regards

Mike

[davidbfpo]

A comment from Australia, so slightly tongue in cheek, but points out different standards over time and space.

The bonus is:

Illustrating a more enlightened approach to such matters, I leave you with this Churchill story..

Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...-Petraeus.aspx

[Fuchs]

This stuff is becoming entertaining.

I saw graphical presentations of the scandal, with all the social interactions known. The funny thing:

They are growing. A lot.

[bourbon]

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-cia-coup/

Fwiw, this is the Petraeus theory that I find most plausible. Factions within the CIA establishment wanted him gone. They see CIA as having lost its way, and Petraeus' directorship as the continued militarization of CIA.

[Fuchs]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article.../21/king_david

[JarodParker]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article.../21/king_david

Wow. That was complete garbage. She opens with this gem...

Allen's superhuman ability to write 20,000 to 30,000 pages of "potentially inappropriate" email

Then she goes on to call Petraeus a "warrior-general". Really!? I respect the guy's service, but c'mon. Mattis is a "warrior-general." And later on she starts talking about hairstyles, push-ups and pressing clothes, when she's not making grand canyon sized leaps. The whole thing read like a high school gossip column.

*For the record, I don't think generals should head the CIA

[ganulv]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article.../21/king_david

From the post:

The CIA's primary mission is to learn.

Is it? Or is it to predict?