By: Jeffrey Klein, Political Buzz Examiner
Examiner.com

General David H. Petraeus, retired from the United States military on August 31, 2011, at the request of President Barack Obama, so that he could accept the position of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), located in Langley, Virginia.

This brought to a close his brilliant 37 year career, which began as a Second Lieutenant upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Pointe, and who’s plethora of international military decorations and honors have secured his place in history as one of the most respected military leaders of our time.

During the tenure of President George W. Bush, Petraeus was the “architect” of the now famously successful “surge” campaign that is largely credited with bringing about the “end game” to combat operations in Iraq. As a result, he was rewarded by being made the 10th Commander of the U.S. Central Command, located in Tampa, Florida, stateside with family.

In June 2010, Petraeus was asked by President Barack Obama to take a few steps down in command posts, to assume Command of U.S. and I.S.A.F. forces in Afghanistan, replacing General Stanley A. McChrystal, also a four star general, who hastily tendered his resignation and retired–as a consequence of his “off-the-record, unflattering remarks” in Rolling Stone magazine in June 2010, regarding the operational competence of V.P. Joe Biden, and other members of the Obama administration staff having purview over Afghanistan.

But, further reading into McChrystal’s situation, immediately surrounding his retirement from the U.S. Army, gives all the indications that substantively, it was more like a really well negotiated “non-disclosure agreement” punctuated by a [Obama] face-saving retirement ceremony. This includes Army Chief of Staff Casey pinned the Distinguished Service medal to his chest, followed quickly by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates doing the same thing with the Defense Distinguished Service medal.

Then, came the extraordinary parade of “perks,” first among them was that he was allowed to retain his “four star [general] rank” in retirement, even though he had not held it for the legally required three years at the time. Additionally, he was hastily appointed to the board of directors of Jet Blue Airways and Navistar, along with Yale University hiring him to teach a graduate seminar in modern leadership.

It appears that President Barack Obama had to give up a lot of treasure and political capital in payment for McChrystal’s “silence;” like Tiger Woods paying Rachel Uchitel millions of dollars for her silence, and prohibiting her from “selling” here story.

However, we now learn that General Petraeus also had a less than admirable opinion of President Barack Obama’s war theatre competence, according to the Associated Press, which received an advanced copy of the Petraeus’ soon to be released biography, “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus,” (due from Penguin Press in January).

In the book, Petraeus states that he nearly resigned when the president ordered the rapid draw down of surge troops in Afghanistan. However, he decided against such a move, believing it to be a “selfish, grandstanding move with huge political ramifications” and that now was “time to salute and carry on.”

Both General Petraeus and General McChrystal, have amazing educations, background and experience in war theatres around the world, and come from a world of character, honor and integrity–which does not mix well with the self-serving, narcissistically vagarious profile of liberal Democrats.

Regardless, their superior strategic and tactical planning and executions ultimately prevailed, in a way ratifying their “unflattering opinions” of Obama and his administration, but also properly rewarding them for their service and sacrifices to God and Country.

Just like the great end to a Tom Clancy novel.

Copyright (c) 2011 by Jeffrey Klein