Allen cleared of being a lecherous old coot
Chief Tango sends us a link to the news from the Washington Post the our commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen has been cleared in the investigation of his behavior while commander when he was sending flirtatious emails to Jill Kelley, the Lebanese socialite who had worked her way into the Tampa military community.
In a letter sent to Allen on Friday, the inspector general wrote that Allen had not violated military prohibitions against conduct unbecoming an officer, according to the senior U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. “He was completely exonerated,” one of the officials said.
Yeah, well, who’s shocked? It may not have been “conduct unbecoming an officer”, but it was conduct unbecoming someone who was supposed to be fighting a war and not email thousands of times to a buxom socialite. the article continues that Allen has bigger plans for troops in Afghanistan than the White House;
Senior military and administration officials expect Allen’s preferred options, which have not yet been formally submitted to the Pentagon, to entail more troops than those favored by top civilian aides to President Obama. Allen wants to keep about 9,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014, while White House officials are leaning toward a force of 2,500 to 6,000, those officials said.
So, he’s on the way out anyway.
Category: Big Army, Terror War
Was there even all those thousands of pages of emails?
So much smoke and so many mirrors, and who can tell if it was simple corruption, or political chess.
Oh, you said Lebanese socialite?
IMO, rather much ado about nothing – since nothing apparently actually happened.
As Lincoln reputedly put it about Grant when told Grant drank too much: “Find out what Grant drinks and send a barrel of it to each of my other generals!”
Grant, when questioned about drinking to excess, raised his glass of whiskey and toasted “To Excess”
If she was a Lesbian Socialite why would she want to flirt with a male?,,, oops ,,,Lebanese
Lebanese socialite, who along with her twin sister, have wiggled their way into the height of military society… and who are both now under investigation of the FBI because not all of their stories are in sync with each other or their paperwork when the first came to America…
Can you say Spies? Good, I knew you could.
Gen Allen is moving on up. He is by most estimations very well liked by those who matter…POTUS, SECDEF, CJCS, senior Senators, his immediate superior Gen Mattis. His nomination will be forwarded for SACEUR and he should get confirmed by the Senate eventually (a hearing needs to be scheduled still). He’s lucky, normally controversies scuttle nominations…no job/instant retirement.
I read an interview by Howard Kurtz yesterday in which she claims it was maybe a couple hundred emails and his wife was copied on most of them as they were suposedly all friends…I think the media blew this way out of proportion. Wait a minute, the media blowing this out of proportion? Who am I kidding, they would never do that…
This is what happens when you let old people around computers. 😉
@8
Yeah, has Romney stopped putting dogs on the roof of his car yet?
@10. He did what!? Oh, I am so sorry that I voted for him now. He put his poor car under his dog.
I personally don’t see what’s wrong with being a lecherous old coot. Hope to be one myself some day. (smile)
The real story is in the Report of Investigation (ROI) words and the meaning of such words.
The claims were “unsubstantiated”, meaning not enough evidence to proceed for procecutingtional (satire) purposes.
To be found or classified as indicated above “completely exonerated” then the claims shounded have been “unfounded”.
HUGE difference!
Essentially, he DID something … just not enough to make it stick!
OK, so how come it’s okay for you GUYS to be lecherous old coots, but you cringe and run away when we GIRLS become lecherous old cougars? Huh? What’s that? Cat got your tongue?
Do I hear chickens clucking? Or is that geese squawking?
Definately: Geese Squawking!
There is no accountability anymore. He should have been fired for his profound lack of judgement and for not devoting all his time and energies to HIS JOB and the thousands of people under his command.
I’ve personally got no problem with it provided older lechers of either sex don’t (1) target the underaged, (2) use it to abuse their authority, or (3) cross the line into sexual harassment, Ex-PH2.
Sexual attraction is a part of humanity older than any human society. Ignoring that fact or pretending it doesn’t exist is, well, stupid.
Smaj: if the reported total of approx 200 actual e-mails exchanged (see comment 8 above) is accurate, then I’d have to disagree. Over a year, that’s less than one exchange daily. Even if each took 5 or 10 minutes to write or read, that’s hardly an excessive amount of time spent away from official duties. Even GOs need a few minutes to themselves at times to keep their sanity. And I’ve seen folks regularly linger over coffee with breakfast far longer than that.
If it was 2000+, maybe a different story.
@14 You can be as lecherous as you like PH….I’m comfortable in my skin, and I like a woman who is as well, however it’s been my experience that “cougars” tend to be a bit more like water buffalo than fit felines….not that I’m in exactly my best fighting trim anymore, but at least the floor don’t sag where I walk…
@18 – it was over a 2 year period. There were a few hundred emails which were thousands of PRINTED pages, because they included the full thread of each email.
Much ado about nothing I think.
Although I do wonder about this military aristocracy with multiple aides, cushy accommodations, and, apparently, a social hostess.
This kinda remindes me of how the Liberals moved heaven and earth to get Palin’s emails and got pissed when they found out there was nothing juicey in them.
Common Sense: I’ll accept those numbers, as I have no idea of the correct totals. But I also agree it seems to be a tempest in a teapot – especially if, as has been reported, his wife was included as an addressee to many of the e-mails.
Regarding military GOs/FOs and their staffs: some if not most of that apparently “excessive” staffing is quite legit. I’ve worked closely enough with a few to have a good idea of their typical daily schedules. Especially in a war zone, their schedules are typically 14-16 hours a day or longer, daily, and crammed with one meeting/event/visit/travel/briefing/etc . . . after another. And at most of them, they’re on the hook for a decision or input to same.
Without a bunch of folks working to keep things running smoothly – it doesn’t. And then things can go to hell in the proverbial handbasket quickly. Not to say that sometimes it isn’t abused – but much of their apparent staff “overhead” really does have a legitimate purpose.
Ex-PH2, you can come ‘lech’ me any time you want!? 😉
@22 Hondo
Pretty interesting article from Jim Lacy at National Review about General Officer effectiveness in war…according to the article only the most trusted Generals got sent to A’stan/Iraq (maybe as few as 50 GOs on a constant rotation). That number seems awfully small. Oh hell, BG Sinclair got sent to A’stan…mmmm.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/338253/firing-generals-jim-lacey