by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n At some point the prurient angle of the Petraeus story that alone enticed a reluctant media into becoming tangentially interested in Benghazi-gate \u2014 in the way the deaths of four Americans never did \u2014 will die down. Then we are left with largely three unanswered questions of far greater importance that will probably not be answered.<\/p>\n Question No. 1: Who exactly in the administration knew of Petraeus\u2019s private problems prior to the election, and what exactly did they do about it, or communicate about it, and to whom, including possibly Petraeus himself? As it is now, it is absolutely impossible to believe that if Eric Holder was told, he did not tell the president; or that Mr. Clapper was the only senior administration official to know of the investigations of these indiscretions. Yet, apparently we are asked to believe just that?<\/p>\n Question No. 2: Did Petraeus\u2019s assessments, some given to Congress, some made public, accurately reflect the circumstances of Benghazi\u2019s real-time request for help and the\u00a0post facto<\/em>\u00a0explanations of spontaneous 9\/11 demonstrations over a video gone wild with mortars and machine guns? As it is now, there seems a discrepancy between later official CIA and administration accounts \u2014 and what a few in the media are reporting about the actual attacks, and what those on the ground communicated at the time to the CIA. All that too must be fully reconciled.<\/p>\n Question No. 3: Why did Petraeus, after such a long gestation, choose to resign 72 hours after the election on a Friday afternoon? Someone, perhaps Petraeus himself, wished Petraeus gone quickly after, but not before, the election.<\/p>\n If these questions are not answered, then one is not necessarily a conspiracy theorist to legitimately wish answers. And it is incumbent upon both the Congress and the administration to give those answers.<\/p>\n Otherwise the general public will understandably wonder whether some people in the administration, at least by autumn, might have let Petraeus or others know that they knew of the FBI probe of his own private, but potentially embarrassing affair \u2014 which, given Petraeus\u2019s sterling reputation, was of quite singular ramifications for the CIA, the administration\u2019s stature in an election year, and the general reputation of the US abroad.<\/p>\n And fairly or not, such preliminary investigations and communications may have been interpreted at some point, accurately or not, by Petraeus as implicit pressure. While the conditions of him remaining in office may not yet have reached critical mass in the late summer and fall, there might have been implicit suggestions that in the future CIA should better synchronize with administration narratives about ongoing intelligence activities, perhaps even before, but especially during, the Libyan tragedy. Or barring all that, Petraeus may just have concluded that such knowledge by others of his private life had the potential at some point to prove compromising to his own freedom of action at the CIA that was sometimes at odds with the White House.<\/p>\n And if true, then at some point Petraeus may have sensed that he could not be fully independent in his views and assessments, given that third parties could at any time adjudicate his future, by leaking publicly heretofore strictly personal details about his private life.<\/p>\n And, again, if true, he may have thought it the best course both not to use such a crisis to affect the election by resigning in spectacular fashion in early November, but on the other hand, felt the moral implications of having his fate in others\u2019 hands were far more serious than the horrific damage to his own family and career that would follow such revelations \u2014 and thus he resigned how and when he did (even though in other conditions, he would have been quite willing to stay on, with the knowledge that his private relationships were properly his own and should not affect his tenure).<\/p>\n However, anyone in these circumstances would also be advised that any future testimony had the potential to be at odds with past testimonies and statements, which might argue for a darker scenario in which after the election someone in the administration felt that Petraeus could now safely resign and fade quietly into retirement \u2014 all of which makes the role of any future statements by Ms. Broadwell quite dynamic. There are all sorts of different speculations, but the above is perhaps the most generous explanation we are hearing and reading and it must be dispelled by the Congress and administration as quickly as possible. It does no good simply to cry \u201cconspiracy theorist\u201d when these speculations are natural and logical.<\/p>\n There are all sorts of important ramifications: from the proper role of the FBI stealthily examining the private e-mails of top officers, to the issue of what exactly does the FBI do with the results of these probes and who oversees its findings, to the coordination of the State Department, administration, and CIA \u2014 and of course, most importantly, the question of why and how did our government put Americans in unsafe conditions, refuse pleas for increased security, not lend assistance in extremis, and then mislead the country about the circumstances of their deaths \u2014 and why were so many Americans in Libya in the first place and what were they doing that was worth putting them in such grave danger and from whom?<\/p>\n Finally, all this is not so to say that those involved will not successfully cite the \u201cfog of war,\u201d \u201cthe best information at the time,\u201d \u201cI can\u2019t quite recall, given the fast-moving events on the ground,\u201d \u201cI was not aware of that information,\u201d or that the media will not rally to defend an administration bit by supposed conspiracy theorists and partisan mosquitoes.<\/p>\n \u00a92012 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner At some point the prurient angle of the Petraeus story that alone enticed a reluctant media into becoming tangentially interested in Benghazi-gate \u2014 in the way the deaths of four Americans never did \u2014 will die down. Then we are left with largely three unanswered questions of far greater […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[150,100],"tags":[1045,1029],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-5k","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":332,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/down-from-olympus\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":0},"title":"Down from Olympus","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner David Petraeus\u2019s resignation marks the end of one of the great postwar military and government careers \u2014 his successful surge in Iraq being analogous to and as impressive as Matthew Ridgway\u2019s salvation of Korea or Sherman\u2019s sudden taking of Atlanta that saved Lincoln\u2019s and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Benghazi"","block_context":{"text":"Benghazi","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/benghazi\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":317,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/oh-we-forgot-to-tell-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":1},"title":"Oh, We Forgot to Tell You . . .","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The second-term curse goes like this: A president (e.g., Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, etc.) wins re-election, but then his presidency implodes over the next four years \u2014 mired in scandals or disasters such as Watergate, Iran-Contra, Monica Lewinsky,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Middle East"","block_context":{"text":"The Middle East","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":326,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/oh-what-a-tangled-web\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":2},"title":"Oh What a Tangled Web","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 21, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Supporters of President Obama have dubbed those who question administration statements about Libya as either partisans or conspiracy theorists, on the premise that the administration had no reason to dissimulate. But in fact, it had plenty of political reasons not to be candid,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Benghazi"","block_context":{"text":"Benghazi","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/benghazi\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8988,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-administration-needs-to-abandon-its-petraeus-obsession\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":3},"title":"Obama Administration Needs to Abandon Its Petraeus Obsession","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Tribune Media Services In politically driven moods, the ancient Romans often wiped from history all mention of a prior hero or celebrity. They called such erasures damnatio memoriae. The Soviet Union likewise airbrushed away, or \"Trotskyized,\" all the images of any past kingpin who became politically\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"rfr","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rfr-e1454252522115.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":376,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-wages-of-libya\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":4},"title":"The Wages of Libya","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online We have had ambassadors murdered abroad before, but we have never seen anything quite like the tragic fate of Chris Stevens. Amid all the controversy over Libya, we have lost sight of the human \u2014 and often horrific \u2014 story of Benghazi: a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Libya"","block_context":{"text":"Libya","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/libya\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5944,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-tainted-campaign\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":5},"title":"A Tainted Campaign?","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner If it is proven that the IRS\u00a0thwarted some groups from obtaining tax-exempt status in fear that their traditional or\u00a0conservative messages might hurt the 2012 Obama campaign (especially if it did so under pressure from White House-affiliated operatives),\u00a0and if it is\u00a0proven that the Obama administration\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Retrospective"","block_context":{"text":"Retrospective","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/retrospective\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}