The Week: Most Recent U.S. Military:The David Petraeus Affair

Should Obama rehire David Petraeus?

The Week — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 06:43:00 -0500

"I have a great idea whom Barack Obama should nominate as his next CIA director," says Emily Yoffe at Slate: Gen. David Petraeus. Few people are happy that the once-saintly general was sidelined because of his consensual affair with hagiographer Paula Broadwell — in fact, in partisan-gridlock Washington, "both Democrats and Republicans have been mourning the loss of a public servant of extraordinary ability." Well, "let's mourn no more." Obama should say that since it appears Petraeus broke no laws and didn't breach national security, he's rescinding his grudging acceptance of the CIA chief...

The David Petraeus affair: Did Paula Broadwell threaten Jill Kelley?

The Week — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:25:00 -0500

David Petraeus' extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell, which led to his resignation from the CIA, was discovered when a Florida woman, Jill Kelley, reported to the FBI that she was receiving "harassing" emails from an anonymous sender. It turned out that the emails came from Broadwell, who reportedly suspected that Kelley, a socialite with ties to the military community near Tampa, was a rival for Petraeus' affections. The emails have previously been described (in a rather sexist manner) as merely "catfight stuff," leading many to wonder why the FBI got involved to begin with. However, Broadwell...

The 10 strangest details of the David Petraeus affair [Updated]

The Week — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 05:45:00 -0500

The story of the extramarital affair that brought down previously unimpeachable CIA Director David Petraeus and threatens the career of Afghanistan war commander Gen. John Allen — as well as at least three marriages — is almost literally unbelievable. "My immediate gut is like this is the National Enquirer," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, tells CNN. "I mean, every day there is something new." And every new thing is stranger than the last. Here are 10 of the oddest twists and subplots — so far:

1. The Broadwells romanced...

The David Petraeus affair: A comprehensive timeline [Updated]

The Week — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 05:00:00 -0500

This article — originally published on Nov. 13, 2012 — was last updated on Nov. 20, 2012. Scroll down for the latest news.

Congress wants to know who knew what about former CIA Director David Petraeus' extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, and when. A lot of questions remain — both serious and of the more conspiratorial nature — about the FBI investigation that exposed the affair, the details of the affair itself, and whether any crimes or security breaches occurred in the growing web of deceit. As reporters unearth new facts and colorful characters...

The David Petraeus affair: Why the U.S. military outlaws adultery

The Week — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 07:00:00 -0500

There's a good reason friends and confidants of retired Gen. David Petraeus are insistent that his extramarital affair with biographer Paula Broadwell began in November 2011, two months after he resigned from the Army to take the top job at the CIA. Under the Unified Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and its Manual for Courts-Martial, adultery is a crime, with punishments as severe as dishonorable discharge, loss of all benefits (including pension), and even a year in jail.

Unfortunately for Petraeus, though, retired officers are "subject to the UCMJ, for life," and he could still be stripped...

The David Petraeus affair: Why the media's coverage is sexist

The Week — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:07:00 -0500

Is Paula Broadwell an ambitious, intelligent, and hard-working mother of two who simply made a terrible mistake in having an affair with David Petraeus? Or is she a man-eating, family-busting, long-clawed temptress who brought down the finest military mind of his generation? Many say the media's coverage of the scandal surrounding Petraeus' resignation from the CIA has too often pushed the latter narrative, revealing deep strains of prejudice that have colored the public's perception of the still-unfolding controversy. And with the introduction of another woman, Jill Kelley, the media's portrayal...

Was David Petraeus' military brilliance overrated?

The Week — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 09:40:00 -0500

David Petraeus has long been praised as one of the greatest military leaders of our time, "on a par in popularity with Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf and arguably more skilled than both of them," says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. The four-star general is credited with pulling Iraq back from the brink of all-out civil war, turning the tide in Afghanistan with President Obama's surge of 30,000 troops in 2009, and developing the counter-insurgency strategies that have become a new U.S. standard of warfare. But was it all a big ruse? After Petraeus' CIA career abruptly ended last...

VIDEO: David Petraeus' bright (and fictional) Call of Duty future

The Week — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:25:00 -0500

The video: "This is awkward," says Stephen Totilo at Kotaku. In real life, David Petraeus just stepped down from his post as head of the CIA due to an extramarital affair, but in the latest installment of the mega-hit Call of Duty video game franchise, the disgraced general has a bright, fictional future as secretary of defense. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, released nationwide Tuesday, Petraeus is shown aboard an aircraft carrier — which happens to be named the "USS Barack Obama" — in the year 2025. In another scene, he's shown aboard a military plane with...

Could the David Petraeus scandal sabotage fiscal cliff talks?

The Week — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:05:00 -0500

The David Petraeus sex scandal is getting weirder by the moment. First, Petraeus, a long-revered former general, resigned as CIA chief after the FBI discovered he had an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. And now, another top general, John Allen, is under investigation for exchanging possibly inappropriate emails with Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite who set the whole drama in motion by telling the FBI about threatening emails sent to her by Broadwell, who allegedly saw Kelley as a rival for Petraeus' affections. And then there's the FBI agent who was told to stay out of the...

Replacing David Petraeus: 6 candidates to be the next CIA director

The Week — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 15:25:00 -0500

With the unexpected resignation of David Petraeus as director of the CIA, President Obama faces the task of finding a replacement. Petraeus' successor will helm the agency at a time when its role in protecting national security has been significantly enlarged, thanks to the Obama administration's heavy reliance on CIA-operated drones to target suspected terrorist safe havens. Here, a guide to the contenders:

The David Petraeus scandal: 3 conspiracy theories

The Week — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:05:00 -0500

The sudden resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus on Friday threw Washington into a frenzy of speculation about the extramarital affair that led to his downfall. The timing, in particular, raised questions, as Petraeus dropped his bombshell just three days after President Obama won re-election and shortly before the former four-star general was scheduled to testify before Congress on the handling of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, including two former Navy SEALs working for the CIA. Another former CIA director...

Did the media fall for David Petraeus' hype?

The Week — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:45:00 -0500

David Petraeus, who shocked the country by resigning as head of the CIA over an extramarital affair, is doubtlessly his generation's most famous general. In 2007, he presided over the surge in Iraq, a country then engulfed by spiraling bloodshed and chaos. In 2010, he stepped in to lead the war effort in Afghanistan after Gen. Stanley McChrystal was fired for making some impolitic statements about the Obama administration to Rolling Stone. And Petraeus championed a new counterinsurgency strategy that earned him a reputation as a thinking man's general — a soldier-scholar — an image...

Did the FBI botch its investigation of David Petraeus' affair?

The Week — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:07:00 -0500

The capital continues to reel from the sex scandal surrounding David Petraeus, who abruptly resigned last week as the head of the CIA after revelations that he'd conducted an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. As new details emerge, the spotlight has shifted to the FBI's role in uncovering the affair. "High-level officials at the [FBI] and the Justice Department were notified in late summer" of Petraeus' indiscretions, say Scott Shane and Charlie Savage at The New York Times. Yet they failed to fill in President Obama until two days after the election, and kept members of Congress who...

David Petraeus' mistress: What we know about Paula Broadwell

The Week — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:35:00 -0500

On Nov. 9, CIA Director David Petraeus' sudden resignation, and the extramarital affair cited as the cause of his downfall, shocked just about everyone. The FBI uncovered the affair during a months-long investigation of "threatening and harassing" emails to a woman close to Petraeus, from a sender who turned out to be the retired general's paramour, Paula Broadwell. But most of Washington didn't learn about the relationship until last week. Once the surprise wore off that a celebrated general "known as a brainy ascetic," married for 38 years, would end his storied career in so tawdry a manner,...

David Petraeus resigns from the CIA over an affair: What we know so far

The Week — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:10:00 -0500

CIA Director David Petraeus stunned the Washington establishment on Friday by abruptly stepping down from his post, citing an extramarital affair. While other officials may have survived such an indiscretion, the nation's spy master could not. With his access to highly classified information, concerns may have lingered that by harboring a secret of his own, Petraeus could potentially be blackmailed into disclosing the country's most valuable secrets. (Update: According to Slate, Petraeus' mistress was his biographer.)

It's an ignominious end for the most famous general of modern times, who...