Another one bites the dust

[SamIam]

The General Patraeus scandal continues to grow ever more bizarre. Like he sent explicit e-mails to Paula Broadwell using his gmail account believing that it was a secure account??? The head of the CIA was that stupid? And then Broadwell, using an e-mail account she shares with her husband, sends threatening e-mails to Jill Kelley threatening Kelley to keep her hands off Broadwell's man? So Kelley complains to a friend in the FBI who responds by sending Kelley a picture of himself without a shirt (via e-mail of course). But as it turns out, the FBI guy's feelings are not reciprocated since Jill Kelley has the hots for General John Allen which the FBI discovered when they investigated Kelley's own e-mail accounts.

For those who haven't been following the story Allen is the senior four-star commander of U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.
Or was, maybe. These are the people who are leading the war against terrorism? And they don't even understand the pitfalls of letting it all hang out in their e-mail accounts?

If this was a TV soap opera - Maybe Army Wives? No one would believe it for a second. The US Army is going to be a long time living this one down.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by SamIam

<snip>And then Broadwell, using an e-mail account she shares with her husband, sends threatening e-mails to Jill Kelley threatening Kelley to keep her hands off Broadwell's man? So Kelley complains to a friend in the FBI who responds by sending Kelley a picture of himself without a shirt (via e-mail of course).

I'm hearing much the same things as in the rest of your post.
But with regards to the above portion, I've heard somewhat different perspectives.

One reporter says that Broadwell's email to Kelly was along the lines
having Kelly ending the flirtation or whatever it was with Gen. Allen.

This sort of made sense to me if Broadwell learned from Petreus
about the Kelly/Allen connection, and Broadwell was trying to fix something
she thought Petreus saw as a problem. Maybe ???

The other was that the "shirtless FBI pic" was sent to Kelly before that agent
knew about the Petreus/Broadwell affair. Again, Maybe ???
But then, maybe here you and I are saying the same thing.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

I'm hearing much the same things as in the rest of your post.
But with regards to the above portion, I've heard somewhat different perspectives.

One reporter says that Broadwell's email to Kelly was along the lines
having Kelly ending the flirtation or whatever it was with Gen. Allen.

This sort of made sense to me if Broadwell learned from Petreus
about the Kelly/Allen connection, and Broadwell was trying to fix something
she thought Petreus saw as a problem. Maybe ???

The other was that the "shirtless FBI pic" was sent to Kelly before that agent
knew about the Petreus/Broadwell affair. Again, Maybe ???
But then, maybe here you and I are saying the same thing.

Figuring out the timeline of this sequence of follies can be difficult. I've read different things on different news websites plus whatever MSNBC/CNN may be reporting at the moment. I've seen both versions of just who Broadwell was threatening Kelley away from.

All I can say is that at the very least, all parties concerned should have cruised down to their local public library and created fake Hotmail accounts (and changed them often) in order to send all their various e-mails. Even that wouldn't have been fool proof (since fools were doing this), but it would have beat using a gmail account in your own name or an account shared with a spouse.

IMO, fooling around is not the problem, monumental stupidity on the part of the head of the CIA and a four star general in charge of the forces in Afghanistan is.

[tw]

Wave upon wave of stupidity does not stop there. The FBI agent who originally was asked about 'inappropriate' emails decided the investigation (by others) was being covered up. It wasn't. The investigation has exposed so many questions that it took a long time. But that FBI agent decided it was a coverup. And reported what he knew to a wacko extremist Congressman Eric Cantor. Who took great glee at exposing the investigation and making political hay for self serving reasons.

Just about everyone remotely connected to this affair (including Tampa Bay socialites who did nothing wrong) are now painted with broad accusations of immorality or corruption.

[glatt]

I feel a little sorry for Broadwell. The paper this morning had a picture of her taken through the kitchen window of her brother's house as she had a glass of red wine to relax after making it through the gauntlet of reporters to get into the house.

[Cyber Wolf]

Originally Posted by glatt

I feel a little sorry for Broadwell. The paper this morning had a picture of her taken through the kitchen window of her brother's house as she had a glass of red wine to relax after making it through the gauntlet of reporters to get into the house.

I feel worse for her and her brother's neighbors. They have to deal with the media gauntlet, the vehicles taking up parking space and street space, having people hanging around their lawns and sitting on their steps and everything and they did nothing more than live on the same street.

[Spexxvet]

This is what happens when a general listens to his privates. Just blame it on bush.