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David Petreaus suddenly resigned from his post, days before he was to testify before Congress.
The country must stay focused on what it was he was testifying about. And, what other secrets he may have wanted to hide about himself and the CIA.
We should ignore the (admittedly titillating and entertaining) narrative given about why he quit suddenly. It is so foolish, foolhardy, and irresponsible to let oneself be distracted away from the truly important issue of the CIA having to answer (or not) to our elected representatives in Congress.
David Petreaus was supposed to testify to a Congressional Committee about the CIA response in the attack on our embassy in Benghazi, Libya and the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
The genuine topics of concern are the issues that Petreaus may have feared would be raised at the upcoming Congressional hearing: Where was the CIA before the incident? Why did the CIA respond when they did? Whey did they not respond faster? There were reports that the incident may have been a demonstration…What were the CIA’s thoughts or plans regarding a potential demonstration? What is the information flow between the CIA and the Obama administration? What is the information flow between the CIA and Congress (And, does that flow allow for enough Congressional oversight)? What was the relationship between the US, the CIA, and Muammar Gaddafi? In what various ways did the US support for the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi affect the people who killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens?
Please try to think about these important topics before Thursday. And, think of ways that Congress and the American people can force Petreaus to testify anyway. (Maybe they need a subpoena, now that he is a civilian?)
Please try to wait and talk about how attractive Paula Broadwell is, or how sweet Holly Petreaus is until after Thursday. The only thing I want to notice about Paula Broadwell is that she is a West Point grad. That fact makes the whole situation seem even more suspicious, and the “resigning due to an affair” scenario just a little less likely to be the most important part of the story.
Filed under: international politics, News, progressive politics, US Politics Tagged: | Benghazi, Central Intelligence Agency, Christopher Stevens, CIA, Libya, Muammar Gaddafi
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