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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Moral Failings

 ("Concern Grows Over Top Military Officers' Ethics")

I understand that General Petraeus, General Allen, or many of the others now or recently censured or investigated, stood in positions of enormous power and could use their station to exercise inappropriate control over those subservient and subordinate. And I appreciate that, at the highest levels, the concern with national security breach is real. But absent these findings, is discipline warranted for the moral failing of not being as true to one's spouse as one has promised to be to one's country? I wonder how many in the military would be left to serve were they required to advise as to their faithfulness not only to the United States but to their life partner. The answer, in this arena, like everywhere else on our planet, is self evident. The military is not, and should not be, in the business of determining moral codes in the bedroom.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The military and especially the CIA is in the business of protecting its operatives from black mail and compromising the security apparatus. The truth is that the CIA has no definite way of knowing that it was compromised or not. Petraeus' resignation has more to do with that than any moral judgement that the military is making. The rest is media fluff.

Anonymous said...

Remember, Petreaus is not in the military now as he retired from the -Army, so other than a security issue, he should not be judged at military rules.
Interesting enough, I wonder how many people in the Congress can stand up to meet these criteria?