Recently, I wrote an article about a man who I thought was bound by honor, integrity and love. This man is the former Director of the CIA, David H. Petraeus. A former four-star Army general, Petraeus graduated from one of the nation’s four military academies, West Point, a school founded on duty, honor and our country. He led an integrity-based lifestyle during his nearly 38-year-marriage and military career. He walked in exact synchronization with the values of the United States Army, a fighting force that stresses honor.
What’s more, Petraeus appeared to be the perfect product of the military: a true warrior, who drew as much on his powerful intellect as he did on his legendary physical presence and courage. He produced his own legend by hard work, unquestionable results and shrewd professional decisions. Unfortunately, his perfectly constructed reputation and the associated prestige came tumbling down when the news broke several days ago that he betrayed his wife and his children by engaging in what he described as an “extramarital affair,” according to www.kfor1240.com. Furthermore, it was revealed that the mistress was none other than Paula Broadwell, another married West Point graduate with two children. Broadwell wrote Petraeus’s first biography, “All In,” and was in the works on a second novel focusing on the Iraq War. To add to the scandalous affair discovered by the FBI and brought to light due to the security risks associated with such a matter involving the Director of the CIA, Broadwell is over 20 years Petraeus’s junior.
Such information is extremely unsettling, as Petraeus is the most notable military officer of his generation and the new century, a true war hero with a broad and balanced personality and background. On the one hand, he was a graduate of the Army’s physically-demanding Ranger School, had earned his master parachutist’s badge (which requires approximately one zillion free-fall jumps from perfectly good aircraft) and could keep pace with just about any marathon runner. The list of his physical accomplishments is long and mind-boggling. Balanced against this is his reputation for intellectual brilliance. Early in his career, he graduated from Princeton with master’s and doctorate degrees in international relations, and he was the driving force in the Army’s movement toward applying intellectual energy against kinetic problems. In short, General Petraeus was the complete officer, able to outrun speeding locomotives while, at the same time, out-thinking probably every contemporary leader and academic in our nation.
In orbit around all of these stray facts is the additional fact that Petraeus is a good man, kind and considerate of others, and absolutely driven to safeguard our nation. During Petraeus’s time as the Commander of the 101st Airborne Division, my father was his top legal advisor and spent countless hours with General Petraeus. When the news broke, my dad was utterly surprised and relatively upset. He informed me of how truly helpful and personable Holly Petraeus is to everyone she encounters and how he would never in a million years have guessed that Petraeus would have risked everything for this. He also thought back on the man he knows and could not reconcile these acts with that very good man. After searching for words to explain how this could happen, my dad simply reminded me, “Even very good men sometimes make very big mistakes, just like the rest of us. We just seem to take greater note of it when the mistakes originate from those of such obvious greatness.” I myself had the opportunity through visiting my father at work on Fort Campbell, Ky, to meet General Petraeus multiple times. He was always incredibly kind to me, even giving me one of his extremely rare “Commanding General Coins,” bestowed only to those below him that distinguish themselves because of their professional excellence (and apparently also to 10 year old boys).
America is undoubtedly becoming increasingly immoral while simultaneously becoming increasingly absolute in the attitude of her population. Recent years have revealed multiple high level government officials caught in sexual scandals. Notables include Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, dozens of Congressmen and most recently Petraeus. However, I have reminded myself that not all men who make similar mistakes are sewn from the same human fabric. I pray that we do not simply cast this man, who has given so much to his nation, aside for this error in judgment. I similarly hope that he and his wife can find a future together and that their private efforts to save their family succeed (I harbor the same prayer for the Broadwells). I also remind myself that there really are no absolutes: no steel so strong it cannot bend, no river so wide it cannot be crossed, no man so perfect that he cannot falter and hopefully, no relationship so injured that it cannot be mended.
Richard “Jack” Whitaker can be reached at richard.whitaker@spartans.ut.edu
Never make of a saint of a man, for they shall surely disappoint you.