Gen. Petraeus' Apology Tour Begins With a Handwritten Admission: "I Screwed Up Royally"

[DonViejo]

Thursday, November 29, 2012, at 9:38 AM EST

Since stepping down as director of the CIA, Gen. David Petraeus has not spoken publicly about the affair that brought an early end to his tenure as a national security golden boy. But that doesn't mean the four-star general has kept entirely quiet.

In the immediate aftermath, Petraeus relied on retired U.S. Army Col. Steve Boylan to do some unofficial damage control. Petraeus' former military spokesman made a handful of media appearances to share details from his conversations with his former boss, including that Petraeus was "devastated" both because of the "pain this has caused his family" and because he "had a huge job and he felt he was doing great work and that is all gone now."

Today, the New York Post brings us a similar account, this time from another one of Petraeus' old Army buddies, retired Brig. Gen. James Shelton, who turned over a hand-written note that the ex-CIA director sent him last week:

"I screwed up royally," Petraeus told his longtime Army pal ... in the hand-written missive. "I paid the price (appropriately) and I sought to do the right thing at the end of the day," he wrote in the Nov. 20 message. ...

In his letter ... Petraeus says that neither he nor his wife is ready to end their 37-year marriage. "Team Petraeus will survive though (I) have obviously created enormous difficulty for us," he wrote. "Holly is, however, once again demonstrating how incredibly fortunate I was to marry her."

It's too early to say how long it will take for Petraeus to rehab his image, but in reality it is an issue of when, not if. Americans have proved time and time again that they're ready and willing to forgive and even forget when it comes to the infidelities of men in power.

-30-

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/11/29/petraeus_letter_i_screwed_up_royally_general_tells_friend.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content

[GeorgeGist]

1. Snort. Whatever.

Team Petraeus.

[courseofhistory]

2. Funny how these

mea culpas come after the fact in every instance! I now longer trust or respect Petraeus and feel his "distraction" and being outed caused some conflicts over Benghazi that he should have and could have been on top of regarding all the made up BS republicans are incoherently babbling about. He should just go away and feel the humiliation and distrust he so deserves!

[JoePhilly]

3. If he screwed UP, does that mean she was on top?

[politicaljunkie41910]

4. I give Patraeus credit for maintaining some integrity in the midst of all this.

Okay, he screwed up. He's not the first to do so. But, when offered the opportunity to throw the President under the bus which the GOP was all waiting for while holding their breath, he didn't. Not even a hint of it. Now I'm not saying he had a reason to throw the President under the bus, but neither did Camp McCain, Graham and Ayotte, but that never stopped them from making up bullshit to be troubled about. We know that Patraeus was an ambitious man, and had presidential aspirations. All that is probably gone now, as is his coveted job as the Director of the CIA. It he were a dyed in the wool GOPer, he could have stretched the truth, made shit up about this President, and the RightWing would have gobbled it up hook, line and sinker. And the Press, who truly loved Patraeus and were very loyal to him would have probably bought it as well.

But he didn't, because it wasn't the truth. He showed up, testified and didn't allow himself to be drawn into the Camp McCain, Graham, and Ayotte bullshit and it was at that point that the conspiracy died, DEAD. And for that, he is man of integrity in my book.

What continues is a tree falling in the woods, but no one is listening any longer. Everyone sees through the farce. Camp McCain, Graham and Ayotte, are not willing to take on the Director of the CIA or the Secretary of State for the deaths of 4 members of the diplomatic corps for which they are so troubled about, and are not interested in the truth, only scoring cheap political points at the expense of a woman, who will not stoop to their level.

[DonViejo]

5. Completely an totally agree with your last paragraph...

I have long suspected Camp McCain's primary goal was CPA (Cover Petraeus's Ass); scapegoat Amb. Rice for the failure of the intelligence community. Our intelligence community has some spectacular successes but, some spectacular failures, too.