Shocked, shocked to find that illicit sex is going on in here

The Petraeus "sex scandal" had exploded. Rumor and conspiracy theories abound. However, it does appear the other woman is Paula Broadwell, author of the unfortunately entitled biography All In.

Twitter is snarking: Ah the classic spurned lover tries to hack your email, except you're the director of the CIA, so the FBI notices, gambit.

Looking at this photo, I suspect that may well turn out to be the story. I see an older guy giddy from the attention from a young, attractive, adoring fan girl.

[photo via Steve Hynd and emptywheel]

It's not impossible that there's some dark nefarious plot going on I guess, but lust makes people do crazy things. I'm inclined to go with Occam's razor on this one. I mean, who doesn't know of any otherwise happily married people who were thrust into close proximity for professional reasons and succumbed to sexual attraction?

One thing is certain. The CEOs of Lockheed and Waffle House are really glad Petraeus is taking the spotlight off their own sex scandals which were mysteriously revealed within an hour of his. Brings a whole new meaning to Friday news dump.

Update: So it appears this came out because Paula tried to access his email. They say no criminal charges pending, so I'm sticking with the lust makes you crazy theory and thinking she was just trying to check up on him.

Meanwhile, she's from Charlotte so the local news guy was parked outside her house. Nobody home but they showed a chalk drawing on the driveway that said, "Dad loves Mom." With hearts around it. Sad.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Petraeus resigns over affair

Few details but just now, CIA head David Petraeus resigned because of an extra-martial affair. All the smart people are saying he had to do it because, blackmail. Not sure how that works once the affair has been admitted. What leverage does the rejected lover have once it's made public?

Always being the outlier, I'm not a fan of his at all, but I find it hard to believe he would compromise national security for sex. Think it's more likely he had a fling with a younger woman, because that's what men so often do at that stage of marriage, and wants to spare his wife and family the media circus which would be relentless if he held on to the job. This way, since it appears he's leaving immediately, the media will lose interest in a couple of days once they tease out what few prurient details they can. 

[cross posted at The Reaction]

The Continuing Pattern Of Lies

The report is out this morning that the CIA predicted all the problems of toppling Saddam Hussein. The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence will release selected portions of pre-war intelligence that warned of the consequences of going to war in Iraq.

Among other things, the 40-page Senate report reveals that two intelligence assessments before the war accurately predicted that toppling Saddam could lead to a dangerous period of internal violence and provide a boost to terrorists. But those warnings were seemingly ignored.

Seemingly ignored? I'd say so, but it's just more of the same from this administration. If the assessment had been positive the report would have been declassified over four years ago. The fact that this info was not released is just the continuing trend of lies and wishful thinking.

In January 2003, two months before the invasion, the intelligence community's think tank — the National Intelligence Council — issued an assessment warning that after Saddam was toppled, there was “a significant chance that domestic groups would engage in violent conflict with each other and that rogue Saddam loyalists would wage guerilla warfare either by themselves or in alliance with terrorists.”

It also warned that “many angry young recruits” would fuel the rank of Islamic extremists and "Iraqi political culture is so embued with mores (opposed) to the democratic experience … that it may resist the most rigorous and prolonged democratic tutorials."

In other words what happened is just the opposite of what Bush and Cheney and that whole gang predicted and they had intelligence that their predictions were not based on any facts but on politically appropriate lies.
This is the statement Cheney made the day before the start of the war. He was not only wrong, but he knew it was a lie. It seems that Mr. Cheney believed Chalabi more than the CIA.

“Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.”

There was more than one assessment. In a briefing book prepared for a Sept. 2002 White House meeting there was a paper included titled: ‘The Perfect Storm: Planning for the Negative Consequences of Invading Iraq.’ It had a list that is like the CIA had a crystal ball.

• Anarchy and the territorial breakup of Iraq;
• Region-threatening instability in key Arab states;
• A surge of global terrorism against US interests fueled by (militant) Islamism;
• Major oil supply disruptions and severe strains in the Atlantic Alliance.”

Both of these CIA assessments warned of the possible consequences and Bush ignored them. They even warned that Bush would be creating terrorists and making terrorism worse. Bush has strengthened our enemy and placed us all in more danger. It is time for everyone to realize this.

What's my reaction on all this? Yawn, ho hum. There is no surprise here. I would be surprised if these reports did not exist. The only question I have is how much more is out there and will we ever have the whole story.

Jim Martin

Thanks to Michael van der Galien for the link.

They Also Write Letters

Six former CIA officers wrote a letter referring to George Tenet, the failed CIA director, as the "Alberto Gonzales of the intelligence community". They also stated that Tenet has a "moral obligation" to return the Presidential Medal Freedom he received from Bush.

The letter, signed by Phil Giraldi, Ray McGovern, Larry Johnson, Jim Marcinkowski, Vince Cannistraro and David MacMichael, said Tenet should have resigned in protest rather than take part in the administration's buildup to the war.

In Tenet's book "At The Center Of The Storm" he claims victimhood over what he says was misuse of the term "slam dunk" when he described the intellligence regarding WMD's in Iraq.

The writers said they agree that Bush administration officials took the nation to war "for flimsy reasons," and that it has proved "ill-advised and wrong-headed."
But, they added, "your lament that you are a victim in a process you helped direct is self-serving, misleading and, as head of the intelligence community, an admission of failed leadership.
"You were not a victim. You were a willing participant in a poorly considered policy to start an unnecessary war and you share culpability with Dick Cheney and George Bush for the debacle in Iraq."

They accuse Tenet of ignoring or squandering intelligence that showd in 2002 there were no stockpiles of WMD's in Iraq. Tenet also signed off on Colin Powell's fabrication filled presentation to the U.N. Tenet actually sat behind him during the presentation.

The letter said CIA officers learned later that month Iraq had no contact with Osama bin Laden and that then-President Saddam Hussein considered the al Qaeda leader to be an enemy. Still, Tenet "went before Congress in February 2003 and testified that Iraq did indeed have links to al Qaeda.

"You showed a lack of leadership and courage in January of 2003 as the Bush administration pushed and cajoled analysts and managers to let them make the bogusclaim that Iraq was on the verge of getting its hands on uranium.

The Bush Administration was looking for justification for going to war and Tenet gave it to them.

The letter said Tenet's failure to resist pressures from Cheney and then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld helped build public support for a war that has cost more than 3,000 American lives and many times that among Iraqis.

"You betrayed the CIA officers who collected the intelligence that made it clear that Saddam did not pose an imminent threat. You betrayed the analysts who tried to withstand the pressure applied by Cheney and Rumsfeld.

"Most importantly and tragically, you failed to meet your obligations to the people of the United States."

George Tenet was just another one of the lying liars that enabled George Bush to take us to war for reasons that have never been clearly stated. The reasons have changed from fighting terrorism, removing WMDs, to freeing the peace loving Iraqi people. Mr. Bush has even called it a "crusade" of all things.

It is time for these people to stand up and tell us the truth.

Jim Martin

Oh Those Lying Liars

This Sunday on 60 Minutes George Tenet is going to try to explain how his "slam dunk" comment was misused by the White House in the run up to war.

Ex-CIA Director George Tenet says the way the Bush administration has used his now famous "slam dunk" comment — which he admits saying in reference to making the public case for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — is both disingenuous and dishonorable.

He says Bush and his crew are dishonorable liars. No kidding, I guess you don't get to be the nation's top spy without a first class analytical mind.

He goes on to say that the improper use of the term cost him his job and his reputation.

Good.

Jim M