“Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.” The old proverb comes to mind at the news of the Petraeus affair. There’s a whiff of the last days of the Roman Republic about the sex, lies, and digital abuse scandal that brought down the nation’s spy chief, Gen. David Petraeus, who was also one of our great commanders.
Take a proconsul, treated as a king abroad, who turns out to be human, all-too human back home. Add the disillusionment of a conquering general who discovers that war is easy compared to Washington and its battles for turf. Raise a question mark about what the CIA did, knew, and said about the Sept. 11 murders in Benghazi. Top it off with adultery, G-men with their own agendas, and a strategically timed resignation/firing, and you’ve got a day at the forum and more than one night in a villa. True, the Romans didn’t have e-mail, but we seem to have been spared orgies, so there’s something to be grateful for.
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