Julie Levesque: The Petraeus Affair, The CIA's Long Criminal History.

The Petraeus Affair has demonstrated yet again how a sex scandal story can be fed into the US media to serve both as a trigger for "political assassination" and as "the tree hiding the forest." Even though what hides behind the salacious smoke screen is still the object of speculation, most of those speculations are more credible than a simple extramarital affair. One of the possible explanations of Petraeus departure is his stance on Israel, which he saw as a liability to US interests in the Middle East: "The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in our Area of Operations. Israeli Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti American sentiment, due to a perception of US favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR, and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas. (See Ali Abunimah, When Former CIA Chief David Petraeus Enraged the Israel Lobby, Electronic Intifada, November 12, 2012.) As Stephen Lendman observes, sex scandals don't necessarily lead to resignations unless state secrets are at stake: Forget resignation over "extramarital sex" nonsense, unless state secrets were compromised. Lots of elected and appointed Washington officials had affairs. Many likely have current ones. Resignations don't generally follow. Newt Gingrich survived sex and ethics scandals. He resigned as House Speaker after the Republicans "faired poorly" in 1998 off year elections. Overlooked are secret CIA Benghazi operations. Involved are heavy weapons sent to Syrian opposition fighters. Petraeus left days before his scheduled congressional testimony. The Benghazi operation is erroneously called a US consulate. Its a meeting place to coordinate aid for the rebel led insurgencies in the Middle East.