Politicians vs the military

Some of the press is reporting that General Petreus  is being demoted because he "shared classified information" with his girlfriend/reporter while in Afghanistan, implying she had no security clearance and that this was a no no.

But I wondered about that, since she had been in the National Guard, and I know that we officers were checked and given a "secret" clearance (albeit not higher, at least for NG doctors).

But IBD does confirm this.

As CIA director, Petraeus shared classified notebooks with his biographer/mistress, who also had security clearance.

No classified intel appeared in the book, "All In." Petraeus was allowed to plead guilty to unauthorized handling of classified intelligence, fined $100,000 and put on two years' probation. 

so why the witchhunt?

Petreus, with the backing of President Bush who backed him with an increase in soldiers, managed to turn the ordinary Sunni leaders against the radicals (religious and Saddam's bad guys). It was a classic counterinsurgency operation, right out of the Magsaysay playbook (PDF). Link2

And, one wonders if, like Magsaysay, he could have gone on to be a beloved president who rooted out a lot of corruption. Hence the need to destroy him politically.

I haven't read it, but if you want to read it, the US Army's latest counterinsurgency manual is HERE (PDF)...and note who wrote the introduction...

headsup Instapundit