General John Allen is now back in Kabul, directing a major military campaign involving 68,000 U.S. troops and 37,000 allied troops. But he would have to be superhuman to keep his focus entirely on the war effort, for he is still under fire from the home front. According to the New York Times, “some 15 investigators” are “working seven days a week in the Pentagon inspector general’s office,” poring over emails exchanged between Allen and Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, who struck up friendships with many senior military officers.
The question is: Why? Is there some credible evidence that Allen somehow compromised our national security by his interactions with Kelley? Is Kelley suspected of being an al-Qaeda mole? Is Allen suspected of being another Benedict Arnold? Not that I’m aware of. To judge by the numerous leaks that have accompanied this puzzling investigation, an outgrowth of the same investigation that already forced David Petraeus’s resignation as CIA director, the worst that could have occurred is that Allen and Kelley might have exchanged a few emails judged to be flirtatious or even salacious. Is this really a matter that should be occupying the full-time attention of 15 investigators—and diverting the attention of a general in command of a war zone?
Unless there is some bombshell here waiting to explode, the answer is a definitive no. So why did Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller permit the FBI to waste time on this investigation—and why is Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wasting time on it now? I can’t answer those questions, but Congress should ask for itself and demand answers.
The biggest scandal in the whole Petraeus-Allen affair is that we are wasting taxpayer resources hounding two great generals who have dedicated their lives to defending our country over purely personal matters of no concern to their public duties.
I am conservative but I have to agree with Michael, get the hell out of Afghanistan and let the Taliban march in and hang Karzi (sp) by his schrony neck or chop him up into fish food it doesn't matter to me.
You never know Max, maybe he also sent some e-mails to AIPAC. n noh oh…
Mr. Boot: nI don't mean to be disrespectful but the answer is obvious. nMy understanding is that Jill Kelley and her husband are in desperate_financial straits (perhaps bankrupt) and have run a charity that appears to be fraudulent. n nIf they would run a fraudulent charity, they would likely be open to receiving money from foreign sources. These are not the sorts of people that top military officials should consort with and, if they do, the FBI should investigate. n nThe FBI doesn't have to wait for a security breach to occur. It is enough for there to be violations of important security protocols such as palling around with low lifes.
Is this post some sort of semi-subtle joke? *Diverting* attention from leading the war effort? Which diversion exactly, the heartfelt email writing or the investigation?
Hello Mr. Boot n nI am generally a believer in conspiracy theories unless they can be completely ruled out or proven wrong. The whole general-gate is very strange. We got General Petraeous – the greatest American generals of our times. We got Paula Johns who is not qualified to write biographies but still wrote it. She also at times paraded some information, which you only can get from first hand – like CIA annex in Libya was holding prisoners. Well, if not – why it was so quickly evacuated and nobody was sent to investigate the “crime scene” for 3-4 weeks? Well, there is another puzzle. Kelly got threatening letters and called FBI agent who started an investigation on his own, which leaded to Petreaous and became an official FBI investigation. The investigation then involved General Allen who was in touch with Kelly. So, saying all that, don’t you think that in a process of that shenanigan some secret information got leaked out or maybe something else involved. It needs to be properly investigated and all involved parties are fair game at this point regardless their high posts or high posts from which they were resigned. n
"Great Generals" don't put themselves in compromising positions and embarass their country.