… IF YOU’RE A WEALTHY, WELL-CONNECTED FORMER GENERAL
|| By FITSNEWS || David Petraeus – the former U.S. military leader and spy chief – was sentenced to a mere two years probation and fined $100,000 after he leaked binders full of classified information to his mistress and lied about it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
He will not see a single day behind bars …
Amazing isn’t it? “Wrist, slapped.” Just the sort of “justice” you’d expect to be doled out to the well-connected in a country where all of us are supposed to be equal under the law.
Petraeus – who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor “mishandling” of materials charge – resigned as Barack Obama’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief back in November 2012 after it was revealed he was sleeping with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. That affair exposed a culture of salaciousness among America’s military brass – those responsible for prosecuting our nation’s increasingly expensive, eternally ineffective “War on Terror.”
Petraeus was appointed by Obama to lead U.S. forces in Afghanistan in June 2010 after general Stanley McChrystal was relieved of his command. In April 2011 Obama tapped Petraeus to lead the CIA when its prior director Leon Panetta took over as Secretary of Defense.
He was an unmitigated failure in both posts …
Today? He makes millions of dollars a year working for KKR – a company formed from the ashes of Bear Stearns that specializes in leveraged buyouts.
Still, Petraues’ sentence is being described by at least one legacy media outlet as being “too much.”
“A hero of the war in Afghanistan, the man who developed much of what the Pentagon now relies upon as tactics for fighting counter-insurgencies, the inventor of ‘the surge’ that saved countless American and Iraqi lives and turned the tide during the closing days of the Bush administration’s oversight of this nation’s post-war commitment in Iraq, Petraeus must now begin the process of restoring a reputation badly damaged by an all too human failing,” Peter Roff of U.S. News and World Report wrote.
Roff added Petraeus’ crimes were far less severe than those committed to “low- and mid-level employees inside the U.S. intelligence community who turn over information that jeopardizes ongoing national security operations to reporters, researchers and professional paranoids who are always looking for ways to confirm the government is up to no good.”
Professional paranoids?
Former CIA operative Ray McGovern referred to Petraeus as “Too big to jail.”
“The leniency shown (Petraeus) by the Justice Department in sparing him prison time for the serious crimes that he has committed puts him in the same preferential, immune-from-incarceration category as those running the financial institutions of Wall Street, where, incidentally, Petraeus now makes millions,” McGovern wrote. “By contrast, ‘lesser’ folks – and particularly the brave men and women who disclose government crimes – get to serve time, even decades, in jail.”
Indeed …
30 comments
Professional paranoid. Excellent term that describes Folks and his libertarian buds.
Thus sprach Crosby, Nills, Synbad, Yitzhak and Donatello.
Or whoever.
The FBI investigations that go anywhere are determined by politics. Democrats control the FBI, so Democrats are protected right now. Bill Nettles, Democrat, U.S. Attorney, protects Jean Toal, Democrat, and that sort of stuff.
Just as the most powerful white Democrats plus Jim Clyburn protect crooked US Representative Tom Rice from accountability all his corrupt doings.
No, wait … That’s different from what you said. But it’s true, and quite obvious when you take off the partisan blinders.
PROOF Rice is crooked? Corrupt? What I figured.Another lie from BoZo.
Didn’t DOJ recently indict Sen. Bob Menendez — a Democrat? I recall Jesse Jackson, Jr. going to jail in 2013 on corruption charges too.
Because he opposed BO’s Cuba and Iran policies. And JJ JR, was payback to Jesse Sr. for his criticisms of BO for not doing enough for da hood.
JJ Jr’s actions were so blatantly dumb that DOJ had to act and then of course there was the “…cut his nuts off…” comment from JJ Sr.
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
and yet its treason for snowden to reveal that the US govt is violating the constitution to the american people
Treason is whatever the government says it is.
“Petraeus must now begin the process of restoring a reputation badly damaged by an all too human failing”
Translation:
Poon, it’s a helluva drug.
Petraeus, i.e. Betray Us
Broadwell, i.e. Big Pussy
A deadly combination
“It’s OK To Leak Classified Info, Lie To FBI ?”
If it was good poontang, then hell yes it was OK.
Says the guy who makes a living trafficking in leaked, confidential information.
Folks who simply possess a natural disdain for people like Petraeus wouldn’t have been happy unless they gave him the chair. His sentence was in line with the offense he committed- he screwed up, no doubt, after a lifetime of service to the US, but poses precisely zero threat to the US. He’s paying $100,000 in fines and will be peeing in a cup and meeting with his probation agent like a mope for the next two years. Pussy’s a powerful thing. Of course, for all FITS sound and fury they backed Ravenel for the US Senate after a federal dope conviction, DUI, and assorted nitwittery. Situational ethics are easy.
I think the Army ought to go after him for dipping his wick in the company pool since he used the fact that she had possessed a military provided security clearance as part of his defense…
Espionage this wasn’t. Pussy-related bad judgement, it was.
Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.
It occurs to me that many will have no clue what that quote is about do here’s the translation: “in this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others”.
In other words, Petraeus should have had his ass handed to him to prevent future occurrences. We already have too many “imperial” generals and admirals running around
Not only do I know Candide, but I have the interwebs…and Google translate! ;-)
I still disagree. The punishment should fit the offense. I’m not thinking that too many 0-10’s are bustling to mimic Petraeus’ behavior (and outcome).
I figured you did.
As for mimicking Petraeus, I’ve seen a good bit of what I refer to as the “imperial general” in the last 3-4 years. We’very had a couple at Jackson in the last few years, BGEN Roberts to name one, Fort Bragg’s BGEN Sinclair…
Politicians, police chiefs, CEO’s, titans of industry, and little league umpires all share (and enjoy) the acquired hubris and trappings of power. Human nature…
But little league umpires don’t make $144,000 a year (+ benefits as Will likes to say), don’t sign numerous non disclosure agreements or literally have the power of life and death over their subordinates…
We’ve allowed the trappings of power to go to far
In some leagues they do…
To your point, you are of course right, but it’s been that way for thousands of years, and will be that way for thousands more.
It wasn’t that Ravenel was any good at all. It was the POS he was running against. Is it just me or were there several strong generals that were taken out of the way of Obummer ? Scary if so.
I respect your opinion on Graham, but no POS could be much worse than TR. This certainly applied to Graham. Sending that self-obsessed dumbass TR to the US Senate with “SC” after his name would surely have been the ultimate example of a state full of dumbasses cutting off its collective nose to spite its mouth-breathing face. It actually (slightly) restored my faith in the voting populace that the clown couldn’t break 4%. Political differences are one thing, but we can’t get so obsessed and hateful that we let buffoons like Ravenel benefit at our expense.
No part of his sentence was even close to being in line with what people get for lying to the FBI in an investigation, much less lying to the DOD (reported in the Charlotte Observer last week) about taking classified material (the Black Books info he lent to Broadwell) when he retired from the Army, much less the actual passing of the material.
And, his charge was plea dealed down to a misdemeanor from a felony.
He’s in private equity now, like Mitt. A million dollar fine would have been a pittance from his current income, $100,000 is nothing.
I disagree. I worked in that world for along time, and the VAST majority of folks who get caught mishandling class material aren’t even charged AT ALL. They are disciplined within the UCMJ or federal employee guidelines, up to and including termination, but rarely charged criminally in cases not involving espionage. Ditto for lying to the FBI. When I was fed, almost EVERY defendant lied in their first statement. I mean, like 90+ percent. I can’t tell you how many were eventually charged, but it was a minuscule number.
You are to tough,Ha! Just look at what the Clinton’s have gotten away with over the years.To be honest I do not see how a person could get convicted for lying to the FBI. People lie in court and to other officers all the time.The Criminal Justice System in America is set up to keep the Peasants in line and for the Rich and Powerful to screw whom ever they may!