Further on Petraeus!

So much has come out since I wrote my initial post on the resignation of David Petraeous.  It does turn out that the woman he'd had his affair with was Paula Broadwell.  And as the scandal unfolds, it appears that someone connected with the military (apparently a woman who works for a military contractor) complained to the FBI that she was getting harassing and anonymous emails, and when the FBI investigated, it found that the emails were coming from Paula Broadwell, and as a bonus, that Broadwell and Petraeus were involved in an affair.

When Broadwell's name was first mentioned I looked her up and found a clip of her on Jon Stewart's show plugging her book on Petraeus.  She's a very good-looking woman (now 40) but the outfit she wore on the show identified her (at least to me) as a flirt, more interested in selling herself than her book. Broadwell spent a year in Afghanistan writing her book with unusual access to the General.  So, when he was offered the job as CIA head, was he vetted, as most people are, about any sexual issues in their background? I gather that this is usual. If he was asked if he'd had (or was having) any extra-marital affairs, did he answer honestly?  Remember, Martha Steward served months in prison for lying to federal officers and Bill Clinton was impeached for lying. Will Petraeous get a buy if he did lie and who will give him the buy: Republicans, Democrats, both?

This has the possibility of becoming one of the more interesting scandals of the new administration, but luckily for Obama, Petraeous is a darling of the Republican right-wing (they spoke lovingly of him as a possible nominee of the Republican Party), so it's going to be difficult for them to point fingers.  And another revelation is that Eric Cantor knew about this in late October from an FBI informer but the President didn't learn of it until Thursday.  I hope the Democrats, for once, don't permit the Republicans to turn it around as they always do. Cantor should be brought to the floor to explain what he knew and why he knew it before the President. We also need to know who filed the initial complaint, and why.

But in all of this I feel very sorry for Holly Petraeous (and also for Scott Broadwell, Paula's good-looking husband). How difficult it will be for the wife, if at all possible, to trust her husband again, and also to hold her head up high in front of friends and family. A man I know insisted that she's the victim and shouldn't feel any shame but, unfortunately, that's not how the world turns. Why do so many women feel ashamed and humiliated when they're raped?  Obviously, it's not their fault yet they take the blame upon themselves. Fingers will point to Holly (quietly, of course and mainly by men) because she's not 39, has gained weight, doesn't dye her grey hair, etc.  In other words, it's Holly's fault for not staying young. We're far from living in an equal world, very far!

(As an aside, I predict that Holly Petraeous will not divorce her husband but that Scott Broadwell will divorce his wife.  Interesting to see if I'm right on this one.)

I have a CIA operative in my current book who cheats on his wife, although not the head of the CIA, but I'm thinking of changing that.  This scandal is too good to waste!