Especially in our justice system.

We're the other two in jail? His expertise superseded going to jail. He is treated as an informant sorta.

And Cheney & Co carry on...

too.

They can rot in jail, but this asshole has accolades, rewards, a pension and everything else.

Consider the case of Col. Ted Westusing, who paid the ultimate price for his genuine patriotism.
This makes my blood boil.

General Petraeus's Link to a Troubling Suicide in Iraq: The Ted Westhusing Story

The scourge of suicides among American troops and reservists in Iraq and Afghanistan remains a serious and seriously underreported problem. Last month they hit a new high in the US Army, despite intensive new efforts to prevent them. One of the few high-profile cases emerged six years ago this month, and it involves a much-admired Army colonel and ethicist named Ted Westhusing—who, in his suicide note, pointed a finger at a then little-known US general named David Petraeus.

Westhusing’s widow, asked by a friend what killed this West Point scholar, replied simply: “Iraq.”

http://www.thenation.com/blog/36661/general-petraeuss-link-troubling-suicide-iraq-ted-westhusing-story#

you can endure until you burst.

I'm there with you.

But that's just my take, I can't prove it conclusively.

And even if I could, I'm not sure I would say so on DU.

Just outrageous.

One big incestuous family, too big to fail, too big to jail, and happy to tell the rest of us how we can best serve them.

you know, like Chelsey Manning, Don Siegleman, et. al. are rotting in prison.

These^are^the^examples^trotted-out^to^remind^the rest of the rest of us,
what's in store for us if we even think about serious resistance or revolt.

Peppers, tomatoes and ... I'm doing some strawberries. I love them .

Might do eggplant. It's a good squash, but I have some rosemary to plant, too

Sorry for the OT. Catch you in gardening but wanted to say hello

It's been a wild year so far - since the book came out end Dec, I've been on the road alot - nearly 50 book promo events this year....and it is really fun! Just getting around to transplanting my seedlings. Trying to fit everything in - good thing I am retired from the corporate world!

good to see you!

but don't get so worn down that you can't do it

In other words, stop and smell the vegetables growing along the way, while you are having the time of your life

kinds of things, the Obama administration sucks.

And we have a huge mess in Iraq.

What a just country we live in.

Meanwhile, Snowden is exiled in Moscow and others rot in jail for less.

Obama, what are you doing?

Is yours the rule of law or the rule of friends and favors?

did more to take an actual Representative Republic "off the table" than it did to do anything else. You do not have a Representative Republic or even a thread of anything resembling real government without the ability to hold your Representatives accountable.

We have no ability to do so, even when we hold both the Senate and the House.

Look at the crap that is going on in the newly Republican House and Senate.

When you fail to do your duty to prosecute crimes and go along to get along, you end up hemmed in by your own illegalities, then you are a slave to someone else's crimes.

> Is yours the rule of law or the rule of friends and favors?

It is the same as it has been for decades: the rule of friends, favours and MONEY.

Doesn't matter about the colour of the party badge, the behaviour is the same.

Seems to me an expert on Iraq and ISIS might be needed now, but that's just me.

And yes, I'll prepare mightily for incoming, and read them.

I'm with you.

or when, for that matter, Republicans don't remember Cheney's hoods outing Plame and endangering her life and 20 others.

Was it pillow talk or more horrible? Seriously...

to be shared with anybody that doesn't need to know. It's a major federal offense as it endangers operations, assets, methods and lives.

Seriously, if this guy had been anyone lesser than a rock star 4 star general, he'd be sitting in prison for life. If it had been me giving classified information to my wife, I'd be rotting in prison.

"special envoy" for the ISIS coalition. He's another disgrace, of course (weird Tampa socialite situation that Petraeus got caught up in), but Obama already has that guy on the payroll full time--so what is Petraeus supposed to "advise" on? BTW, Petraeus didn't merely leak info--he lied to both the CIA and FBI when he denied he had his classified binders at home (same ones he lent to his girlfriend), unsecured, in a drawer.

turned him in? Something doesn't add up here.

secrets fell out. Classified material was there by the barrel full, which is why we are discussing it, and the other woman was cozied up to some arms dealer. I can't remember all of the details, but if that isn't clear enough ... well,

The preferential treatment is revolting.

Here's more:

http://www.newsweek.com/petraeus-advising-white-house-isis-313885
BY JEFF STEIN 3/14/15

<<According to Justice Department documents filed with his plea agreement, Petraeus admitted not only that he kept highly classified information in his unsecured home after he resigned from the CIA, but he shared with Broadwell several of his personal “black books,” 5-by-8-inch personal diaries that contained highly sensitive information. When questioned by the FBI, he admitted that he lied—a felony—but he was only charged with a misdemeanor...


...The prosecutors and FBI special agents who worked on the case reportedly wanted Petraeus charged with a felony. But the administration put on the brakes, according to some close observers, in order to keep Petraeus from joining other top former officials, such as former defense secretary Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, who ran both the Pentagon and CIA under President Barack Obama, in criticizing the president’s handling of foreign policy. The four-star retired general, once touted as a possible presidential candidate, is one of the few U.S. commanders to emerge from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with high approval ratings....

...The Petraeus case is studded with curiosities. By choosing not to file a criminal complaint against Petraeus, which would almost certainly be supported with a detailed affidavit from the FBI, the Justice Department avoided airing even more embarrassing details about what was contained in his “black books.” But the department’s 15-page statement of facts was suggestive enough: In a taped August 4, 2011 interview with Broadwell, his biographer and mistress, Petraeus can be heard saying of his black books, “They're really--I mean they are highly classified, some of them. They don’t have [top secret] on it, but I mean there’s code word stuff in there.”


...But the starkest departure from practice was not charging Petraeus under provisions of the 1917 espionage act, which the Obama administration has used to prosecute nine lesser-ranking leakers and whistleblowers. Most cut plea deals like Petraeus, but ended up with prison terms ranging from 13 months to more than three years....


...Petraeus, meanwhile, is going about business like a man with little to fear. Since 2013 he has chaired the KKR Global Institute, a unit of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. that studies “macroeconomic trends and government policies to assess their implications on the firm’s investments.”>>

Newsweek excerpt. Super-sleazy of the administration--just goes to show you can get away with a lot if the White House is afraid of what you'll say.

They're using their resources, whether you like it or not.

helping him repair his image by leaking that they still consult with him. No, I don't like it--he's a criminal, he is a liar, and what he did was something that others less well-known go to prison for. I find it strange that the administration is helping him rather than being disgusted and distancing themselves from him--his embarrassing bad behavior was all on Obama's watch. Edit to add: what will Obama do if the judge at Petraeus's hearing decides to actually sentence him to a year of prison? That's still a remote possibility--what, they're going to call him in jail, because only Petraeus knows anything about Iraq? It's ridiculous.

who were given posh lives in The USA instead of being imprisoned or shot? Is that ok? Should we have let the Russians take von Brauen and the rest? That would have changed history.

searching a biography on him. And got in trouble for it. And convicted. Big whup.
Does that really mean the Administration shouldn't listen to his expertise on ISIS and Iraq?
I'll bet they consider listening to shadier characters than a four star general...

about Edward Snowden, but a General handing out classified material to his mistress is just fine?

You must smoke what they smoke on Capitol Hill and at the news networks. Some mistress running around with national secrets is far worse than a person releasing them in controlled fashion and redacting them so we can find out how reckless our government is.

That's a big difference between him and Snowden.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

doing what he did (and got caught and convicted for)

I don't really mind, however, the White House keeping an expert -even a disgraced one - in the loop of advice and consultation.

counterinsurgency bullshit just wasted shitloads of money, prolonged the wars, and got our troops killed for nothing--so he's an "expert" as far as bribery and failed building projects go. He should be sitting in jail. Obama really likes him some complete fuckups and crooked assholes. What is the attachment to this guy??

Benghazi. Also why he basically got a slap on the wrist with his special plea deal. There's plenty of knowledgeable people on Iraq. But General "All In" is the only one who might be disgruntled enough to leak what the administration was up to in Libya in 2012.

*literally*.

he was gung-ho on arming the Syrian rebels, wonder if there was a connection there with arms from Libya, or did he inadvertently arm ISIS in Syria? He left the administration and his deputy did most of the testifying on Benghazi. I can't think of any other controversy he was involved in (wasn't in CIA very long), and I can't think of another reason why Obama would go begging a convicted criminal for advice.

was a CIA operation. We all know this by now thanks to Issa's mishandling of the inquiry into it.

gain (damage Hillary and Obama), but the CIA was running the show.