Scandal probe ensnares commander of U.S., NATO troops in Afghanistan
Source: Washington Post
BOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT — The FBI probe into the sex scandal that led to the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus has expanded to ensnare Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced early Tuesday.
According to a senior U.S. defense official, the FBI has uncovered between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of “potentially inappropriate” emails between Allen and Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old Tampa woman whose close friendship with Petraeus ultimately led to his downfall. Allen, a Marine, succeeded Petraeus as the top allied commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.
The latest development in the unfolding scandal has shaken President Obama’s national-security staff and upended his carefully chosen plans for his military and intelligence team in his second term.
It also further calls into question the personal behavior of two of the U.S. military’s highest-ranking and most respected figures, who apparently ignored concerns about the highly sensitive nature of their jobs as they embraced personal relationships with younger women who were not their wives.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/scandal-probe-ensnares-commander-of-us-nato-troops-in-afghanistan/2012/11/13/7955fea4-2d54-11e2-a99d-5c4203af7b7a_story.html
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VMA131Marine
(5,155 posts)It's a wonder that Gen Allen had time to do anything else; maybe he didn't.
This story keeps getting weirder!
Bolo Boffin
(23,872 posts)But still, people are crowning these two the king and queen of Nanowrimo on Twitter with good cause.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)I have had an email account since 1996, and probably don't have 5000 pages of email in that time.
Bolo Boffin
(23,872 posts)The craziest thing to me is that Eric Cantor apparently backed three miles away from this hot mess when it was dumped on his doorstep. I wouldn't have given that blowhard credit for that much sense.
SpartanDem
(4,533 posts)the FBI wouldn't have been involved and we'd be none the wiser.
There was great post about the whole mess earlier today
Rule 1: Never hook up with someone crazier than you
Rule 2: Never cheat on a significant other
Rule 3: Review Rules 1 and 2
ProudProgressiveNow
(6,186 posts)Bolo Boffin
(23,872 posts)weren't very harassment-worthy. When "shirtless FBI guy" (SFG) brought in Kelley's complaint, the FBI team had to pull down the legal definitions to make sure the email messages fit. And they didn't want to do the investigation, but SFG insisted. And then later they took him off the investigation, and then SFG went to Cantor, etc.
So I agree that without the emails from Broadwell, nothing would have cracked here. But it would also have stopped in the FBI without SFG.
Pachamama
(17,540 posts)I agree....and it wasnt just a woman....its always a popular thing to do, citing a woman at fault or being crazy. But I think in this case, we got two crazies, Jealous Broadwell and SFG who let their issues run rampant.
A perfect storm of crazy.....
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)Ordinary soldiers would have been imprisoned or court marshaled for this behavior.
Lint Head
(15,064 posts)
BouzoukiKing
(163 posts)This thing is just getting started...
Carolina
(6,960 posts)and add some more popcorn... the plot thickens!
amandabeech
(9,893 posts)Do we need to develop a "chill pill" for senior military officers when they are away from home?
How does the commander of forces in a war zone have time to send and receive 20-30,000 e-mails while he's trying to run a war?
Is this why things seem to go haywire there?
Idiots.
BlueToTheBone
(3,747 posts)12 Years in Afghanistan and it's beyond a mess.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)did he not learn anything from Bill Clinton?
BlueToTheBone
(3,747 posts)Betrayus. Worse than keeping his mistress at the battle scene, he allowed the neocons to run the war. That was his great sin as far as I'm concerned.
It looks by today's news, he and his NATO general were double dating...what a couple of dicks.
Carolina
(6,960 posts)the Big Dawg could have a girl under the desk and still conduct serious business.
Plus he wasn't an arrogant SOB!
PS: not condoning what BC did. Also, do agree that after what repukes did to expose Bill, they should have learned what comes around, goes around.
amandabeech
(9,893 posts)I guess he's forgiven by most.
I'm still upset with him for giving ammo to the Pukes, even though I think that the Pukes made far too much of it. But that's the Pukes.
2naSalit
(99,748 posts)Remember waaaay back when Rummy was starting the war with his cabal of cronies? He was also the CEO of some big pharma interests. And do you recall that the soldiers were passing out viagra to village leaders with lots of wives in order to gain their loyalty and get info? Think some of those little blue pills may have been siphoned off for the brass? And I'm sure there were other pharmaceutical perks available for most who wanted them....
amandabeech
(9,893 posts)Why not?
I didn't know that we were exchanging Viagra for loyalty. I have to admit that it is creative, and I'm sure that it was a well-received offer.
Good grief.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)".... According to a senior U.S. defense official, the FBI has uncovered between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of “potentially inappropriate” emails between Allen and Jill Kelley ... "
p.s. The news about Jill Kelley and General Allen just aired on CNN International channel.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,140 posts)SHE will do such a good job of un-entangling who's who in this ball of crazy.
anobserver2
(923 posts)This is just getting too weird! These military "leaders" with nothing better to do!!!
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)
Kablooie
(19,032 posts)And you just know the RW is going to try and inject Obama right into the middle of it.
I don't know how but they are working hard to figure it out right now.
loudsue
(14,087 posts)and other weird things.
All I know, is I'm really glad we're getting rid of these high ranking people who are powerful and are in favor of the corporatist agenda.
AnotherDreamWeaver
(2,922 posts)
sammytko
(2,480 posts)ProudProgressiveNow
(6,186 posts)hexola
(4,835 posts)...and not something that all the parties thought was imminent. (although, obviously some did)
The media had showed up at the Kelley's house while they were throwing a birthday party - that seems like people who were caught off guard...pictures even ...
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1200543!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/kelley-red-dress.jpg
from this article
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ap-source-target-emails-petraeus-paramour-state-department-military-liaison-article-1.1200299#ixzz2BzTkJJUE
wilsonbooks
(972 posts)But Broadwell’s father said Sunday his daughter is the victim of character assassination and implied the bombshell story is just a smoke screen for something bigger.
“This is about something else entirely, and the truth will come out,” Broadwell’s dad, Paul Krantz, told the Daily News outside his home in Bismarck, N.D.
“There is a lot more that is going to come out,” said Krantz, claiming he was not allowed to elaborate. “You wait and see. There’s a lot more here than meets the eye.”
He said he supports his daughter “100%.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ap-source-target-emails-petraeus-paramour-state-department-military-liaison-article-1.1200299#ixzz2C5hP25ah
Cha
(316,468 posts)I see in the article that repubs are screaming..
"Several top lawmakers" is Code for The Usual Assholes.
The first couple of comments under the article were from the brainwashed and the next one
was from Anacondaman talking to Zonakwak.. lol
"Zonakwak - you're having delusional dreams that cause you to fabricate conspiracy theories coming out of both sides of your empty head."
wake.up.america
(3,334 posts)octoberlib
(14,971 posts)Andrew Kaczynski @BuzzFeedAndrew
So….the Senate Armed Services Committee was set to hold a hearing to confirm John Allen Thursday as Obama's pick for European Commander.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)-snip-
In the meantime, Panetta said, Allen's nomination to be the next commander of U.S. European Command and the commander of NATO forces in Europe has been put on hold "until the relevant facts are determined." He had been expected to take that new post in early 2013, if confirmed by the Senate, as had been widely expected.
Panetta said President Barack Obama was consulted and agreed that Allen's nomination should be put on hold. Allen was to testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. Panetta said he asked committee leaders to delay that hearing.
Panetta also said he wants the Senate Armed Services Committee to act promptly on Obama's nomination of Gen. Joseph Dunford to succeed Allen as commander in Afghanistan. That nomination was made several weeks ago. Dunford's hearing is also scheduled for Thursday.
-snip-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/john-allen-petraeus_n_2120609.html
BainsBane
(57,314 posts)if they keep snooping in emails.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)
malthaussen
(18,375 posts)... just in case he's been up to something, too!
-- Mal
Cha
(316,468 posts)Panetta said President Barack Obama was consulted and agreed that Allen's nomination should be put on hold. Allen was to testify at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. Panetta said he asked committee leaders to delay that hearing.
Panetta also said he wants the Senate Armed Services Committee to act promptly on Obama's nomination of Gen. Joseph Dunford to succeed Allen as commander in Afghanistan. That nomination was made several weeks ago. Dunford's hearing is also scheduled for Thursday.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/john-allen-petraeus_n_2120609.html
Alamuti Lotus
(3,093 posts)What bizarre values humans have sometimes.
Duppers
(28,460 posts)
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)More so than any other leading military figure, Petraeus’ entire philosophy has been based on hiding the truth, on deception, on building a false image. “Perception” is key, he wrote in his 1987 Princeton dissertation: "What policymakers believe to have taken place in any particular case is what matters — more than what actually occurred."
csziggy
(34,189 posts)I only caught part of it but the main theme was how difficult it is for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to get treatment. I looked on the PBS web site for it but if it is there, the portion I saw is not in text format. A major problem is that their service records are incomplete or missing altogether.
These are the first wars for which records are being kept completely electronically. But for some reason most companies ERASE their hard drives before the men are shipped home. This means no history of the actions taken by the units in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also means when the men apply for veterans' benefits they cannot prove their service records.
One man who was assigned to be a clerk in Baghdad had been taken off his desk and sent to combat duty. He ended up with PTSD but back home it took hi8m five years to get treatment. The VA does not believe a clerk is exposed to conditions that will give a man PTSD and the Army had no record of anything other than administrative desk duty with no combat experience.
The lasting damage done to the men because of lack of treatment is horrible. The loss of military history and lack of accountability will haunt the military for decades to come.
From the Petreaus quote you cite, this could well be intentional. How can we fund out the truth of what happened in the countries we invaded if the records have been expunged?
SaveAmerica
(5,342 posts)You definitely do not have to see combat to suffer with PTSD after a deployment; mortars know nothing about MOS and neither do IEDs that are hiding out as desk clerks are transported from FoB 1 to FoB 2 and back.
csziggy
(34,189 posts)Now that I've had some coffee, I could find it. Video and transcript at the link:
AIR DATE: Nov. 12, 2012
According to a new report by the nonprofit online news organization ProPublica and The Seattle times, the U.S. government sometimes has no official record that men and women actually served overseas.
It sounds unlikely, but an investigation by the two news organizations revealed that millions of U.S. military field records have been lost or destroyed.
<SNIP>
This is the first real electronic war where records were meant to be kept entirely on computers. It was new. They had strict rules and regulations about what were to be done.
But if the commanding officer of a given unit didn't insist those things be done, they weren't done. And that happened again and again and again. Reports either weren't made, weren't kept or their hard drives or their computers were wiped before they came home. That's losing all those records.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec12/propublica_11-12.html
SaveAmerica
(5,342 posts)lanlady
(7,220 posts)from a friend who has worked side by side with P4 and has always asserted that he is, first and foremost, a world-class self-promoter.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)
dixiegrrrrl
(60,140 posts)It is the access to classified material which both women seem to have had via the high ranking military men
plus
the violations of military conduct which both men have been accused of, and one man admitted to.
and even the FBI "friend" of Kelley's seems to have had a very personal interest in her.
Sounds like Kelley is Mata Hari, and Broadwell inadvertently outed her.
Pachamama
(17,540 posts)Seriously...that image of her just pops to mind and made me laugh out loud....
Bored housewife of Tampa surgeon who for no pay is an "honorary ambassador" hosting parties for generals and dignitaries....Shirtless rightwing FBI guy and jealous lover of a 4-star General...you cant make this shit up....
dixiegrrrrl
(60,140 posts)Maybe she can put the blame on her "evil" twin.
Pachamama
(17,540 posts)
Sorry...I cant resist all this....
As a European who watches Americans obsession with sex, I laugh only because I think its especially the more right-wing conservatives that get kinkier in their obsessions with sex...
I could seriously care less who is fucking who, how many as long as it doesnt involve minors, involves Only consenting adults and no one is getting hurt. But what is so fascinating here and why its fun to run with this, is it those very people who are supposed to be "in control" and having morals that end up being the very ones who are doing the very things they speak out against.
But I have to say, this story is just beginning....
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Whovian
(2,866 posts)
daughterofthedust
(24 posts)Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Two young married women that know each other (both with kids) are both having affairs with two old Generals that know each other.
There's got to be more to this.
Jill Kelley's family is from Lebanon. Was she born in The U.S.A. ?
Where was Paula Broadwell born?
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)And Gawker made this point about the 20,000 -30,000 emails.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)-snip-
Jill Kelley was raised in Philadelphia, where her family settled in the mid-1970s and opened a Middle Eastern restaurant after immigrating from Lebanon. Her father, John Khawam, was a renowned organist in Lebanon.
-snip-
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ap-source-target-emails-petraeus-paramour-state-department-military-liaison-article-1.1200299#ixzz2BzTkJJUE
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)wordpix
(18,652 posts)2naSalit
(99,748 posts)is a high end attorney for whistleblowers! Hmmmm.....
aquart
(69,014 posts)I find it odd that The Daily News could have found black ops on her resume.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)BouzoukiKing
(163 posts)Look at the resume they 'found' on Valerie Plame.
Nobody finds that kind of shit - they're told. Perhaps Eric Cantor might have some ideas on who could have done such a thing. Shirtless FBI Guy doesn't sound like a primary source to me. Not yet, anyway.
But who knows?
This is really getting good. Tell you what though - if somebody gets sic'd on it all, let's see if we can get whoever does the sic'ing to pass over Fitz. OK?
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)2naSalit
(99,748 posts)along with the fact that i think that maybe this is just a way of "cleaning house" that also puts the chaff in a position where they aren't likely to hold positions of obstruction, I mean, power afterward. These guys were helping things get ugly in the theater and I think that once they were found out, all this is just a fitting way to whack them in the behind on their way out the door. I think the sex part would have been completely overlooked if they hadn't been trying to extend the US presence in the region while the prez has been trying to end the fiasco. Recall that Petraeus was driving and he had a major battle with Obama over the concept of how this war machine was going to wind down.
And then there are those clandestine ties to some bad actors that few seem to be aware of:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/11/11/a-covert-affair-petraeus-caught-in-the-honeypot/
I don't totally agree with everything in this write up but I think it has a lot of meat on the bone, so to speak, that needs to be understood. Doesn't make everything clearer but it shows how convoluted it all is, far more than most of us had guessed up to now.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)Last edited Tue Nov 13, 2012, 12:11 PM - Edit history (1)
tossed out to appeal to the masses' prurient interests, while a plot by senior miltiary to stage a coup d'etat was uncovered (maybe by McRaven) and stomped on by Obama's fixers.
N.B. I came to DU originally in 2002 from antiwar.com. Even though the site is run by a Libertarian (Justin Raimondo), he is very eclectic in his aggregation of materials and writes some pretty hard-hitting pieces himself.
2naSalit
(99,748 posts)I'll have to see/read 7days...
And I had never heard of the antiwar site before. I just stumbled on the link by reading comments at another site, funny how that all works.
I think your speculation about the coup d'etat is pretty sound. I was wondering when that would become an issue on the surface. I think Obama had clear evidence by the time he started claiming on the media and stump speeches that he wasn't going to let them have their way on taxes and other issues and that they would be working with him on his agenda because he had these perps by the short hairs as long as he won the election. Perhaps the reason for his impassioned tears during the last stump speech and when thanking his campaign staff. Something to the effect of, "...you have no idea how much more I can't tell you, but you saved my ass and your welfare as a free people." I think it did get that intense. And now, suddenly Panetta is looking for a different assignment. He was on the transition team for the first term so I'm starting to connect those dots... at first I couldn't understand why he was in either position, now it's starting to make sense... the equivalent of the "Mr. Wolf" character in Pulp Fiction perhaps.
With that said, I hope this turns out to be a relatively clean sweep of the war machine and the curbing of the mic in order to help us clean up our act as a people. There are a lot of things going to change with regard to our ability to survive as a species coming up in short order and the entire human race will need to get its collective head out of its ass, western nations in particular, or its going to be much uglier than any of us might imagine.
I am glad to see this happening from the top down, the only time I think I'd be willing to accept a "trickle-down" scenario. There's a lot of talk about how the email monitoring campaign is eating its captains. Interesting times indeed. Perhaps we will come to see what Obama is really about in ways we had little hope of in the coming months, when he is able to clear the fog of war and show us what a people can do that goes beyond violence and hatred. I think that is what's going on here and he's had enough of the BS coming from the war monger faction. Getting rid of them with their own devices is brilliant and I suspect that we are seeing that as we speak. To hell with the dust pan, sweep them off the planet, please. And I think this is the only way he could clean house with expediency and work-around the snail paced obstructionism in Congress as well. I think he beat them at their own game, he's very intelligent and I think it's going to become quite evident that he was able to expose them on their terms... real soon. At lest that's what I'm hoping will be the outcome here.
coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)drunken Dem Senator sent out by the Prez on a reconnaissance mission). But the novel by Fletcher Knebel is, imho, even better. One of the best political thrillers ever written.
dangin
(148 posts)I'm so tired of wasting talented people due to sex.
BouzoukiKing
(163 posts)
BlueMTexpat
(15,655 posts)chuckle that I got out of this/these whole sordid affairs.
It was needed! 
Cha
(316,468 posts)
Shilo
(101 posts)
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)that seems strange since it was breaking news on CNN International channel.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)
- Shit is getting real......BainsBane
(57,314 posts)This is getting ridiculous. I just don't care. I rather that the qualified people stay in charge.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)as long as they weren't passing on classified information to these ladies. There have been plenty of politicians who've done worse.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)jobs, that is 
triplepoint
(431 posts)Pass the Saltpeter....
Oh, I'm so not sorry I "said" that. Somebody had to....
I saw something like this in the Navy. A friend of mine was banished from a command assignment on the mainland for "fraternizing with the enlisted." Actually, he was a naval officer (Commander) who impregnated an enlisted gal. After that, he was reassigned to Adak, Alaska, and put in charge of the aviation maintenance dept (for P3 Orion submarine chasing aircraft). Originally, he was Commanding Officer of a famous fighter aircraft squadron (out of San Diego..of course). So, don't be all that surprised with this hanky panky going on at flag rank levels. i'm sure there's more of it than the FBI can keep up with as they snoop around, playing Gladys Kravitz with all those emails...
truthisfreedom
(23,512 posts)Otherwise, I suffer.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I want to read all the juicy details at the same time. lol
dixiegrrrrl
(60,140 posts)
bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)But is sure is amusing.
Horny generals, shirtless FBI guy and a catfight between a couple of women who really, really loved them some men in uniform. Oddly the only person who seems to have behaved like a grownup in this mess was Cantor--go figure--but maybe he didn't want to get caught up in this mess--or was afraid he might be betraying national secrets beyond who the CIA chief was schtupping.
Dark n Stormy Knight
(10,480 posts)That's pretty amusing, too.
muriel_volestrangler
(105,496 posts)Pachamama
(17,540 posts)...all goes very deep and very involved....
Who needs to wait for the opening of the new James Bond Movie? Heck, we have our own crazy story unfolding before our very eyes....
I was getting some good kicks from reading the right-wing loons comments on this article and on other sites. The conspiracy theorist Obama-haters are suggesting that Obama somehow concocted all this or is setting up all these people to both divert attention and to "clean house" of the top military people so he can install his "own people" and carry out some master plan....LOL...
No, I think all these arrogant military heads are falling on their own "swords" and its all coming at them....Obama may be smart enough to watch this and take advantage to clean house as they do themselves in, but that is what any good leader, manager, CEO, President and Chess Player does. I dont believe there was any planning by Obama and I dont believe there is anything to the "Benghazi" scandal....there is nothing there and its almost comedic watching the right-wing wring their hands and scream about it....
No, I think we are watching karma play out....that and Republican military men who liked playing war games and are now falling on their swords with the women they played with....more like a circular firing squad on this one and President Obama and the rest of us standing by watching....
liberalmuse
(18,881 posts)I would love to see most of Bush's RW ideologues purged from the top military brass as well as from other agencies. Then again, there might not be anyone left if that were to happen...
wordpix
(18,652 posts)These people serve "at his pleasure" and if he's not pleased they're fired.
SaveAmerica
(5,342 posts)country from the inside by installing Muslim Brotherhood peeps in high places. They don't realize that they have to clean up Bush and Republican friendlies at the top of the Military to keep them from screwing up withdrawal from Afghanistan and other crazy stuff they are up to.
hexola
(4,835 posts)Small but interesting tidbit in this article...
Petraeus recently traveled to Libya to meet the CIA station chief to discuss the attack, CNN has confirmed. He was scheduled to testify before a congressional committee this week on the assault and the U.S. government response to it.
Kingofalldems
(40,020 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)The tebaggers who complain about people buying popsicles with their food stamps should be outraged that tax dollars are paying salaries to these two concubines.
Pachamama
(17,540 posts)....going to be the Big Brass's equivalent of the DC Madam????
Karma is a bitch.....30,000 emails is a lot of coordinating....
This is getting interesting....
Snarkoleptic
(6,211 posts)Both Kelley and Broadwell are colluding with foreign intelligence services.
They were both engaging in inappropriate relationship with top military and intel guys.
Sounds like old school spy work to me.
Pachamama
(17,540 posts)...will drive this whole thing will be the lust for sex stories...
wordpix
(18,652 posts)perfect for spy work and double agent, too
patrice
(47,992 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)This is about blood.
Never! forget!
Jennicut
(25,415 posts)Add some generals and a shirtless FBI guy in for fun and they really love it.
Cantor seems to have wanted nothing to do with this hot mess the moment he heard about it.
The only real question is did we need to know any of this? The only sympathetic people in this mess are the wives and husbands of the people who cheated, and it's none of our business really. Or is there something more here?