He could have, indeed. He should have known better. Imagine- risking it all for a POA, now matter how appealing.

Agree with above. I bet his wife can hardly believe that this man, who had meticulously crafted his career, public image so wisely for 40 YEARS threw it all away for some bimbo.

There is simply no way the White House hasn´t known about this affair from almost the beginning. The most likely place for it to have begun is in Afghanistan- both far from home and their spouses, he´s sharing personal information with her for the book, they are spending too much time together because of the lack of other alternatives for a social life. It´s the classic formula for falling off the fidelity wagon. I suspect his staff was buzzing with rumors about the two of them.

The phrase "got her claws into him" suggests that he was helpless in the matter, which I´m sure wasn´t the case.

Any time a situation like this arises (you should pardon the expression), I wonder: "Was it worth it? Was it REALLY worth it?"

I don´t think it was claws. And the colleague might need a review of human anatomy.

Setting: there is a hot babe with access to a general 24/7. She asks questions about his life, the more intimate the better. Even at night she is still nearby, only yards away. The wife is far away, the husband is far away.

Make a guess.

FTA...The racy communications between the four-star general and Broadwell were uncovered when the FBI began an investigation after suspecting corruption between the pair.

call me stupid but what had they done for the FBI to suspect corruption between them and THEN dig into email ( began an investigation after suspecting corruption)... What did they suspect the CIA Director of doing? They looked at the email after this it looks like to me... Seems like the FBI was doing some dirty work for Obama and Holder...
this is fishy...way more to this and if the General wants to save what honor he thinks he has left...he will spill the beans on all he knows of the traitorous POS in the WH..

As a retired military, can somewhat relate to what actually happens many times. Service member is stationed where there is a large male to female ratio. Years ago I was stationed in the VA-NC area (1950+60´ [DELETED by LCom Staff] city, have seen "dogs and sailors keep off the grass"). Many time a striking male military member would marry aa local girl. Whom he probably would not have married if he was stationed in say St. Louis, Cleveland, Dallas. Then when the service member rotated to like one of the aforementioned areas. Where a Paula B. comes along, the marriage many times ends up in divorce or affairs. Don´t get upset, I am stating reality.

We never allow bad language like that here. LCom Staff.

What #5 said. A so-called honey trap wouldn´t work if one refused to participate. There will always be females like her. A wise man - a man of good character - avoids them like the plague.

got her claws into him ... but ...

After being sworn in as CIA Director on September 6th, 2011, Broadwell broke up with Petraeus, but he continued to pursue her, sending her thousands of emails over the last few months - raising questions about his judgement which led in part to his resignation.

And, he can recover but her reputation is ruined? Can we all say together: Double Standard.

Excuse the second post, but that´s a very good point, #10. Elsewhere it´s been stated that Broadwell, or someone pretending to be Broadwell, accessed Petraeus´s email account to send harassing messages to various parties. Why would she do that if she initiated the break-up? Usually it´s the rejected lover who does the stalking and harassing.

And yes...it is a double standard to say that his rep can recover but hers is ruined. Why? They´re equally complicit.

I still believe Hillary Clinton´s fat stubby fingers are all over this situation.

Having worked for the A.F. for 34 years, the best advice he ever gave me on temptation in the workplace was, ´´never insert they rod in they staff.´´ He was a fighter pilot and was hit on all the time.

One observation about the pictures of Holly Petraeus:

She appears as the one lovely, shining example of goodness and decency in this sordid tale.
My prayers for her and her family.

General Eisenhower, a boyhood hero of mine, succumbed to his passions with Kay Summersby, his driver and aide during WWII. Thanks be to God, it did him no obvious permanent harm, and he served as one of our most honorable Presidents. Most men, unlike the Saints who have posted on this thread, are imperfect. Testosterone driven men like General Petraeus are particularly vulnerable. That testosterone by the way is what makes them great battle commanders. Given the services he has rendered to the Nation, I think it is shameful and indecent to so quickly throw him to the dogs.

Sometimes there´s another shoe to drop. Maybe that´s why he decided to get out of Dodge before sundown.

#8, what are you saying? Are you saying that Holly Patraeus is a dog her husband picked as a wife because there weren´t very many viable alternatives? She was the daughter of the Superintendent of West Point while he was there and they got engaged while he was still a cadet. His hometown is right next door, literally, to West Point and USMA is about an hour north of New York City. And before a member of the military achieves flag rank the spouses are closely vetted, as well, for the ability to carry out the duties which will befall them and to conduct themselves in a manner befitting. I would say that Holly Patraeus served her husband well and faithfully.

On a different note, if David Patraeus sent Paula Broadwell thousands of emails after she broke up with him they were probably business about the book she was writing. This article seems to suggest that they were salacious which would indicate to me that he was mentally and/or emotionally unstable. I mean really cuckoo like the woman who stalked the astronaut, which I highly doubt.

Now let´s get every manjack on the internet to track reggie love and bammy´s emails. I do also wonder how much that female dog was paid to do a whole book on supposed affair.
On second thought, I doubt if bammy is smart or capable of starting a computer.

Horse Feathers! It takes two to tango, DM Staff! The General is a grown family man who had to know better! Civilized, intelligent, commanders simply do not do this! They never allow themselves to fall into this position. Now, go back and look at Eisenhower, Patton, Montgomery- they all did it! They are dynamo magnets of high power and draw women to them like stink draws flies. Yet, other great Generals kept their peckers zipped!

Petraeus is "disgraced" and Horndog William Jefferson Clinton is worshipped to this day. Go figure.

I want to know why our leaders failed our people in BenGazzara. I don´t give a hoot about David and Paula. And by the way how has MSM found all this dirt so fast, but can´t find Barry´s college transcripts?

Angelina Jolie set to play the role of Paula Broadwell in upcoming movie to be produced by Harvey Weinstein . . .

Goodness.. #18..... That´s really funny!!!

All the general had to do was resist. That shouldn´t be too difficult for an honorable man.

Maybe Holly is calling him General Betrayus now.

Above poster makes a good point. The e-mails he sent might not all have been of the romantic variety. Many might have had to do with the book she was writing about him.

Regardless, JournOList has their marching orders and destroying Petraeus is all part of deflecting from the Benghazi atrocity.

Justice for the Benghazi 4. Never let it slip through the cracks.

It´s funny that so many of the women here don´t understand. If you aren´t making yourself attractive to your husband, and a hot woman almost half his age comes along and starts throwing herself at him, guess what happens?
I also wonder how many of those women who don´t understand did the exact same thing when they were younger, throwing themselves at some other woman´s boyfriend to try and steal him away.
This is nothing more than standard human behavior.

She couldn´t get her claws into him if he wasn´t easy to grip. As many posters here have pointed out, it takes two to tango.

There´s more to this-new info says they were caught because a third party--another woman..was getting threatening emails from Paula. She contacted the FBI and the rest.....

Hey, I got an idea...Petraeus for President!

There´s something about Paula Broadwell that I don´t like. I think it might be the way she flaunts her arms a la Michelle Obama. The way she stares at the camera gives me the irrits, too.

I think what you might have is the classic case of a woman who´s selling herself. Sell, sell, sell...whether by body or book.

#21. Nevadadad46, ...Now, go back and look at Eisenhower, Patton, Montgomery- they all did it!

We knew that Eisenhower had an ongoing affair with a female English staff member, but perhaps you would be willing to enlighetn us with a reference to where Patton or Montgomery were ever accused of such activity.

If such information is lacking, then we can only summise that you have publicly engaged in a scandalous slander. Thanks.

Both parties to this affair are graduates of the US Military Academy commonly known as West Point. Mr. Petraeus is a retired 4 star general officer in the US Army, and Mrs. Broadwell is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve. They used to have an honor code at West Point that a cadet would not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do; along with the tenets of duty, honor, country. It also used to be considered that if an officer cheated on his wife, that he would also cheat on the Army.

If this affair was going on in Afghanistan when Mr. Petraeus was on active duty, it was in contravention of UCMJ provisions that prohibit adultery by officers of the Armed Forces, the violation of which has ended the military careers of a lot of officers over the years.

I don´t think that you can call Mr. Petraeus a "disgraced" person at this stage, as we do not yet know the whole story as to why he apparently "outed" himself at this time. There is a reason that he did that, as he could have resigned for "personal reasons" and left it at that. He may well go on to become a university president, or to some big job with some think tank or corporation we will have to wait and see.

The reason that the FBI was in on this is because the FBI is responsible for counterintelligence operations inside the USA. A person holding the job of Director, CIA is naturally a target of foreign intelligence agencies, and it is the job of the FBI to know about such targeting when it happens.

The "source" for this article does not understand women very well if he compares Paula to Paula Jones. Perhaps he can´t get past the name Paula. This sounds more like Monica to me. Paula Jones, remember, resisted Billy Jeff. After the full wrath of the U.S. Government including the IRS was brought down upon her head, she cheapened herself with the Playboy spread, but she did NOT initiate a sexual affair with Clinton, no matter how he, his harridan wife Hillary, and their evil minions portrayed the story.