By Noel Sheppard | November 13, 2012
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: I think the really shocking news today was that
General Petraeus thought and hoped he could keep his job. He thought
that it might and it would be kept secret, and that he could stay in his
position. I think what that tells us is really important. It meant that
he understood that the FBI obviously knew what was going on. He was
hoping that those administration officials would not disclose what had
happened, and therefore hoping that he would keep his job. And that
meant that he understood that his job, his reputation, his legacy, his
whole celebrated life was in the hands of the administration, and he
expected they would protect him by keeping it quiet.
And that brings us to the ultimate issue, and that is his testimony on
September 13. That’s the thing that connects the two scandals, and
that’s the only thing that makes the sex scandal relevant. Otherwise it
would be an exercise in sensationalism and voyeurism and nothing else.
The reason it’s important is here’s a man who knows the administration
holds his fate in its hands, and he gives testimony completely at
variance with what the Secretary of Defense had said the day before, at
variance with what he’d heard from his station chief in Tripoli, and
with everything that we had heard. Was he influenced by the fact that he
knew his fate was held by people within the administration at that
time?
KRAUTHAMMER:
Of course it was being held over Petraeus’s head, and the sword was
lowered on Election Day. You don’t have to be a cynic to see that as the
ultimate in cynicism. As long as they needed him to give the
administration line to quote Bill, everybody was silent. And as soon as
the election’s over, as soon as he can be dispensed with, the sword
drops and he’s destroyed. I mean, can you imagine what it’s like to be
on that pressure and to think it didn’t distort or at least in some way
unconsciously influence his testimony? That’s hard to believe.
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