{"id":182001,"date":"2016-01-19T22:18:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T03:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2016\/01\/19\/a-little-justice-not-enough-but-a-little-justice\/"},"modified":"2016-01-19T22:18:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T03:18:00","slug":"a-little-justice-not-enough-but-a-little-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2016\/01\/19\/a-little-justice-not-enough-but-a-little-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Justice \u2026\u2026\u2026 Not Enough, but a Little Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pentagon is considering retroactively demoting David Petraeus for his mishandling of classified data and lying to investigators<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The defense secretary is looking to clamp down on misbehaving generals. Pentagon insiders say Petraeus could be the next general to face the consequences.<\/span>

<\/span>The Pentagon is considering retroactively demoting retired Gen. David Petraeus after he admitted to giving classified information to his biographer and mistress while he was still in uniform, three people with knowledge of the matter told The Daily Beast.<\/span>

<\/span>The decision now rests with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who is said to be willing to consider overruling an earlier recommendation by the Army that Petraeus not have his rank reduced. Such a demotion could cost the storied general hundreds of thousands of dollars\u2014and deal an additional blow to his once-pristine reputation.<\/span>

<\/span>\u201cThe secretary is considering going in a different direction\u201d from the Army, a defense official told The Daily Beast, because he wants to be consistent in his treatment of senior officers who engage in misconduct and to send a message that even men of Petraeus\u2019s fame and esteemed reputation are not immune to punishment.<\/span>

<\/span>Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook told The Daily Beast that Carter had requested the information ex-Army Secretary John McHugh had when he made his recommendation on the matter, before reaching a final decision. McHugh had recommended taking no action against Petraeus.<\/span>

<\/span>\u201cThe Department of the Army is still in the process of providing the secretary with information relevant to former\u200e Secretary McHugh\u2019s recommendation,\u201d Cook told The Daily Beast. \u201cOnce the secretary\u200e has an opportunity to consider this information, he will make his decision about next steps, if any, in this matter.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>Reducing Petraeus\u2019s rank, most likely to lieutenant general, could mean he\u2019d have to pay back the difference in pension payments and other benefits that he received as a retired four-star general. That would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars over his retirement. According to Pentagon figures, a four-star general with roughly the same years of experience as Petraeus was entitled to receive a yearly pension of nearly $220,000. A three-star officer would receive about $170,000.<\/span>

<\/span>Petraeus didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/span>

<\/span>But the financial pain to Petraeus isn\u2019t likely to be severe. He has confided to friends and acquaintances that he\u2019s making a hefty sum from his job at a private equity firm and through speaking fees.<\/span>

<\/span>The demotion in rank would be a bigger, lasting blow, and take from Petraeus the rare achievement he\u2019d set his eyes on many years ago.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This guy is getting a 6 figure pension, and what is likely a 7 figure gig at a private equity firm, and the most that can be done is to hurt his feelings.<\/p>\n

He should be in jail, but absent that, dropping a star, or better dropping more than one stars, is quite literally the least that they can do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pentagon is considering retroactively demoting David Petraeus for his mishandling of classified data and lying to investigators: The defense secretary is looking to clamp down on misbehaving generals. Pentagon insiders say Petraeus could be the next general to face the consequences.The Pentagon is considering retroactively demoting retired Gen. David Petraeus after he admitted to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[970,1102,1006,1103,979],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corruption","category-intelligence","category-military","category-secrecy","category-wanker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}