No, I’m not. Please read post again. For emphasis: “… problem of instantly transforming any personal secret one has failed to reveal to the authorities into a source of career-ending blackmail …”
Nor should you care whether “I like it”. My feelings on the matter, as are yours, are truly irrelevant.
What you should care about is the argument, which is that this policy is counter-productive and so not in the public interest.
Saying ‘well, that’s just the way it is’ isn’t a convincing argument - same goes for prohibiting gay marriage, the continuing criminalization of pot, and if you go back far enough, disallowing votes for women. If the policy or law can’t stand on its own merits, the fact that it exists isn’t an argument in favour of it.
I do understand what you’re saying. My objection is that it doesn’t work that way. You can’t hide things from your clearance sponsor and then pretend like you were so worried about losing your clearance that’s why you hid it. The solution to that problem is…don’t hide it from your clearance sponsor. Or don’t engage in activity that would make you susceptible to blackmail. Problem solved.
To his credit. One of the few smart things Petraeus did was come clean to the FBI when he came calling. In fact, he and Broadwell supposedly gave them more information than they already had about the affair.
Lying to your wife isn’t a crime, but lying to federal investigators is and if either Petraeus or Broadwell had lied, they’d both be in far more trouble then they are now.
One thing I’m a bit surprised I haven’t seen anyone wondering about is that Broadwell has two young children, one born in 2010.
She has known Petraeus for a few years and I’m wondering if this affair started before the child in 2010 was born and if Petraeus might be the father.
The job of a spy is to lie. It can’t be done without lying, nor can there be any secrets without lies. And liars are liars. There is no such thing as a hired liar you can trust. There is such thing as a lawyer who is both honest and good at his job, but not a spy.
In Patraeus’ defense, Patraeus and Broadwell didn’t send gmail e-mails to each other. They’d share access to one account and keep their messages to each other in the “Drafts”.
When will people who have affairs realize that modern communications technology is not their friend, and keep that stuff to a minimum?
I don’t think this makes him look smarter - quite the contrary, as it is a trick that is well known, and did not work. It’s better than actually sending emails true, but one’s top spy should I think use tricks a lot trickier than that.
You are completely right and it is the same thing with soldiers. If a soldier killed someone from his own side people would just shrug and say if you hire people to kill you can’t complain if they kill someone.
CNN is now reporting that additional classified material was found in Broadwell’s house. I guess the question now is whether she got it through Petraeus.
I’ve just come back to this thread and want give a nod of appreciation to everyone for the thoughtful arguments presented - on both sides. As a result I’ve changed my perspective and accept it is reasonable for Petraeus to resign.
