Please. For the rich and famous and powerful there are bimbos on every stoop. He could not keep his weapon holstered. Period.

She wrote a doctoral dissertation, which I have not read, that was described as a case study of Petraeus´ leadership style. A case study is problemmatic at best, as a doctoral dissertation, but studying the leadership style of one person is not valid dissertation research. If she had studied his leadership style compared to other generals, that might be acceptable, but even then, shaky. And apparently harvard found the research to be acceptable.
But I would note that homunculus donna shalala wrote such a dissertation, studying her boss, Alan ´scotty´ Campbell, late of the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.
Shalala now heads the University of Miami.

It´s the Chicago way. She was a dem operative.

Dear General Patraeus,
I will wish you a Happy Veteran´s Day after your free and open testifying on behalf of truth and justice and the American way. Be courageous . Short of that, you do not deserve the same kudos on this day as do the real brave men and women of true valor, both personally and professionally.

I say this because if you end up covering for this administration, your time in the field laboring all these years is forfeited in my estimation. Respect then is most undeserved.

#1 et al:

General Petraeus has spent nearly a decade of his life on the war-torn frontiers of this planet fighting this nation´s battles. It has not been possible for his loving wife Holly to be at his side for long stretches of time.

To compare General Petraeus to the simpering Hollywood crowd of the rich and famous or the strutting cravens of Washington D.C.´s rich and powerful is beneath contempt and invites a punch in the face.

Put more thought into your comparisons. Unless you have been on those battlefields you do not have my or many others permission or stature to speak about the General that has done so much for the men and women he has led brilliantly in battle for the country he has defended.

In the meantime, crawl back down into your mommy´s basement and rut with the cheap high school junior you seduced with a medium pizza, a little weed and your extra-small Trojans with ribs and without reservoir tip.

The real question is whether he was blackmailed and if so by whom, or if he gave anything he shouldn´t have for her attentions.

And whether a higher duty than the political needs of his boss requires him to tell a tale unflattering and perhaps damning of his boss.

He didn´t have to let her ride along with him. He probably hoped for the sex from the gitgo. He should have said no to the arrangement from the outset, knowing that we are what we are.

It takes two to tango! Mr. Petraeus could have "outed" himself at anytime, and most likely would have done so once he came to the conclusion that he was being blackmailed in anyway. Maybe he came to that conclusion a day or so ago?

re #5 defense: Cuz the General, being a man suffered sooooo much more than his wife and children. War is the hell he chose. Since he wasn´t drafted it´s outa the keep yer hands off the help rule. He helped himself; only this time he got what he deserved.

The point is we didn´t deserve it and we ain´t involved in his lil deal with the missus. And those who think he has not already been pushed to betray are fools. He has; thank God he´s just enough of a man to refuse to do it any more. Maybe. If. Or.

Second post apologies, but necessary - #5, generals fight the battles from safe areas. General Schwartzkopf of desert storm fame never left florida to fight that war.
Petraeus is a particularly savvy guy, from a political standpoint, but then most generals in the modern era, who were junior officers under Bill Clinton.
Under current standards, there could never be a Curtis LeMay, (who I served under) or a general patton. Today´s generals are politically sensitive, or they wouldn´t be generals or admirals.
So I would hold back on the defense of the greek gonzo. More will come out. This man picked Paula out of a crowd, gave her his card, told her to call him. Isn´t that what bill clinton used to do?
The New York Times has already done a preemptive strike to save the general´s reputation, saying that Dulles had a hundred bimbos, and that was OK.

9 My Commanding General, BG Bond, 199th Light Infantry Brigade, was killed on the ground in Vietnam by enemy fire.//General Schwartzkopf, my CINC in the Persian Gulf War, was in-theater from beginning to end of the war. I know; he came on my ship and when he was finished we were all ready to kick butt.//Most generals are at risk from mortar and artillery fire, IEDs, and flying in tactical aircraft and helos. General McChrystal, when he was in command in Afghanistan, was known to drop in and go on patrol with his troops.//I haven´t much admiration left for the brass but in my experience they haven´t lacked courage.

The media can be as sanctimonious as they want about Petraeus´s marital infidelity, and I am not advocating for it, but these are the same liberal hypocrites who gave political cover to the President of the United States when it became known that he was getting oral sex under the desk in the Oval Office from an intern so they have no moral high ground to stand on here. None. It is very very obvious here, unless you an Obama voting freak, what is going on. Will they get away with it? Time will tell but I don´t much put faith in the integrity of our so-called government.

#9 et al:

Agreed, for the most part. You have the stature to criticize. And what he did was wrong and weak. He injured himself and others, and undercut the defense of us all.

Fighting wars with flawed humans, the only type available, has been going on for more than three thousand years. It took twenty years for Odysseus to come home, and yet we forget that Penelope had to deal with the same twenty years. We are going to discover the strength of Holly as well.

Regarding the argument that General´s fight from safe areas: It would be a great disgrace for an Army to not protect its General, and yet, General Petraeus did circulate by helicopter and by ground convoy, and was known to walk the streets of Iraqi cities without helmet or body armor. He most decidedly did NOT fight the war from Florida, and probably was in more danger from the politics and the slime in Washington D.C. than Baghdad.

#1 you mean "this is my weapon, this is my gun, one is for killing and one is for fun"?

World class self-promoter.

And what´s with all the sleeveless garments?

#5 I was under the impression that the general and everyone else who has served our country did so in order for people like #1 and anyone else to have the freedom to speak their minds. And before you flame me I am a West Point grad and am an Army careerist who is now retired. I served my country as best I could and I certainly do not feel I have the right to tell anyone else what is proper to say or what is not permissible.

#15:

And those rights, especially for the military retired such as you and me, includes you and me, even after years of suppressing that same right for years in service of the common good. There is a lot of distance between earning a rhetorical fist in the face and delivering it.

With the internet, every fool in every basement with access to mommy´s laptop has a right to say whatever they wish, and when they turn eighteen, have a right to vote as well. That does not make them less the fool, nor does it make them the equal of a demonstrably flawed but also excellent man like General Petraeus.

Even granting the general´s service and accomplishments (and I certainly do), and taking into account that other directors and Presidents have succumbed to similar seductions, there is absolutely no way this can be dismissed as just being an unfortunate personal matter. ANY such affair involving the Director of the nation´s principal intelligence gathering agency IS by definition an intelligence matter and potentially a serious national security threat.

As such, it must be thoroughly investigated to determine if proper reporting and action protocols were followed. Even the limited information leaked already clearly indicates serious questions about whether they were.

I´m sorry, but past service is irrelevant here. National security considerations should be the sole focus of any future investigation.

#1...agree. i don´t think she held a gun to his head. if he wasn´t strong enough to resist an attractive woman it shows what a weak, needy man he is....america´s secrets are not safe with him.