commander in afghanistan. and this is a critical time, as president obama figures out what to do with those remaining 68,000 combat troops, u.s. troops set to leave afghanistan by the end of 2014. the thing is, as the hill, as democrats and republicans come back to the hill this week, the confirmation hearing for general joseph dunford who is set to replace general allen, that was scheduled for thursday, as well. and it will go ahead as planned, even though the confirmation hearing has been delayed. >> brianna "the washington post" has a report speculating who may replace secretary of state hillary clinton, and also who may move in to the defense department. what can you tell us about that. >> that's right. so a lot of people, zoraida, as you know, were talking about senator kerry, perhaps he might be someone who would replace hillary clinton. everyone knew that this was a position that perhaps he had his eye on in 2008, and hillary clinton took that position. but, "the post" is reporting that president obama

commander in afghanistan. there are reports that there may be as many as 20,000 to 30,000 documents linking kelley to allen. general allen served as deputy commander, and for a short time, temporary commander, at u.s. central command here in tampa. that from 2010 to 2012. now we know kelley had a social relationship and friendship with general petraeus during that time, but we don't know what, if any, kind of relationship kelley had with allen when he served in tampa. we do know that the kelley family has hired abe lowe to represent them. he is an attorney that is known for his past representation of president bill clinton and jack abramoff, also john edwards. we also know the kelley family has hired judy smith. that's a crisis manager, that has previously worked with monica lewinsky. so if that gives you an idea of who the kelley family now has representing them, it could say a lot about what may be contained in those 20,000 to 30,000 documents. >> so, i should mention. it's 20,000 to 30,000 pages of document

. >>> several veterans who served in iraq and afghanistan are celebrating their 2012 victory. in fact, it was a his tore uk election for them. barbara starr has more on the veterans getting ready to take their seat in congress. >> reporter: republican tom cotton, a veteran of iraq and afghanistan was one of the big winners tuesday, seizing the fourth congressional district seat in arkansas. >> although i don't know what committee i'll be assigned to, ultimately i want to play a central role in helping guide america's national policy and foreign policy. >> reporter: cotton, a law school graduate was an infantry officer with the 101st airborne division. nine veterans from these wars have just won congressional seats, seven republicans and two democrats. >> this is definitely historical. there are going to be more iraq and after gaffe stan veterans. >> reporter: seth lynn says iraq and afghanistan veterans may finally have found their political voice. >> and i think a lot of people have come home, really established themselves in their communities, become leaders, you know, in bu

commander in afghanistan. general john allen now under investigation for alleged flirtatious and inappropriate e-mails sent to jill kelley. the petraeus family friend who unwittingly exposed his affair with paula broadwell. >>> right now general allen's nomination to be the next nato supreme commander in europe is on hold. >>> all three people aboard a piper pa-32 were killed when their plane went down tuesday. look at those pictures. it was shortly after takeoff. this is in jackson, mississippi. the plane slammed into a house, injuring one person on the ground. the owner of the plane says all three men on board the single engine aircraft were pilots and ironically they were heading to an faa safety conference when their plane went down. >>> many new jersey homeowners are already paying the price for hurricane sandy, and they can expect to pay more. republican governor chris christie says residents of towns that require extensive rebuilding efforts can expect to see their property taxes go up. >> there's no ma

troops in afghanistan. and more than an affair? searching the home of mistress paula broadwell. >>> fashion faux pas. known for its runway shows but racism in the briefest of briefs? >>> we talk to michigan state head coach tom izzo live this hour. "newsroom" starts now. >>> and good morning from washingt washington. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining us. this morning, a shocking new development in the sex scandal that toppled one of the most respect respected men in washington. now it has snared another top general, john allen, commander of all international troops in afghanistan. today the feds are sifting through a mountain of e-mails and messages he traded with a woman named jill kelley. a mind boggling 20,000 to 30,000 pages and agents are searching for anything inappropriate. now here is the common link. that woman, kelley, jill kelley, she's the one who received harassing e-mails supposedly from petraeus' jealous mistress, paula broadwell. petraeus admits to the affair with broadwell and has said that this wom

, so afghanistan is not foreign to india. it's part of the sub continental conflict system. so we can leave afghanistan, the u.s. can. but understooindia, you will al deep equities there and if we desert afghan precipitously, you might see india moving closer diplomatically to russia in order to contain things there, in order to make sure afghanistan does not become just a radical islamic extension of pakistani isi control. >> so we are on track in the united states to withdraw from afghanistan over the next two years. tell us what -- what emerges as we with draw? >> what emerges is that iran will have much grader influence in western afghanistan. it's already supplying the western part of the country with electricity. it's becoming a part of greater iran. you'd expect to see greater pakistani influence. remember, groups like the haqqani group are just -- they're basically like the groups that did trade in earlier times. you know, they're based in the demographic ink blot of pakistan, which, you know, is very populated. and i

afghanistan is worse off. he's supervised the predator explosion and the missiles and into not only pakistan and also afghanistan and he's exacerbated the entire region and the people who are there are going to hate us more so for civilian damage, collateral damage. on top of it, you know, he's built up this reputation. first of all, as a military man, i really think he's overdoing it as a showman because he goes in front of congress to talk about the counterinsurgencies wearing, if you noticed, the ribbons grow every year. he's got now like a regular fruit salad up here. amazing amount. and it's disgusting. general marshall, one of the greatest heroes of world war ii, is famous for being a modest man, going in front of congress and wearing hardly anything. >> he had this reputation of king david. >> very much so. >> a lot of people in the forces. didn't always mean it as a compliment. meant as he was slightly regal. >> america values success. what's success in iraq and afghanistan? can you tell me? he's left

he filed his claim right back after got from afghanistan. in september 2011, he was told to expect a decision by the end of the yore. that deadline came and went. keeping them honest, we asked veterans affairs assistant secretary tommy sauers, why veterans who risked their lives for this country are waiting months and even years for disability, and despite eric shinseki's promises? secretary of shinseki said he wanted to have claims resolved in no more than 120 days with 98% accuracy. why hasn't that been done yet? >> this is a decade problem in the making. we are transitioning from the pap paper-based system to an electronics system. and a huge undertaking. >> is the current back lock of claims unacceptable? >> it is unacceptable, and we know that. we do. >> unacceptable. yet, more then a year after mike filed his claim, he was still waiting. we interviewed 16 other veterans. all waited many months to get a simple disability claim resolved. in many cases more than a year. they said they weren't helped quickly enough with serious health issu

this is mike rioux's life post-afghanistan. >> i need to discover who i am again. i'm not asking for help for the rest of my life. i want to feel like i matter. >> reporter: mike's wife maggie says her husband returned from war a shell of the man he once was. gone was the fun loving, free-spirited laid-back guy he used to be. war, she says, changed him. he still has ringing in the ears from explosions. he also suffers from vertigo, headaches and has terrible anxiety. we saw it firsthand during our interview. mike was so anxious he could hardly sit still. we met at mike rioux's mother's house near phoenix, arizona, where he, his wife and daughter have been living for the last year and a half. maggie and their daughter share a bedroom, and mike sleeps every night on the living room couch. what is it like for you at 51 to be sleeping on your mother's couch? >> ashamed. i feel low. i feel how can i support my family, let alone get them a house. >> reporter: mike doesn't have the money for a place of their own. he can't work. fire fights and an ied blast in afghanistan

commander in afghanistan. was nominated to become nato's supreme commander as well. he has denied any wrongdoing. so, how are these people linked to the scandal? how are they connected? follow us. we'll try to explain this. general patreaus resigned after admitting to having an extra marital affair with paula broadwell. a friend jill kelley asked to investigate harassing e-mails see whas receiving from paula broadwell. the "wall street journal" saying the fbi agent who initiated the investigation at kelli's request is under scrutiny. the agent has not been identified but allegedly sent kelley shirtless photos of himself. started with a complaint about harassing e-mails. he here's what we know about the woman who made that complaint, jill kelley, married to a cancer surgery, she has three daughters, lived in tampa, well-known among washington social circles. they have been friends with general patreaus and his family for five years. friends describe kelley as an innocent victim about e-mails accuse kelley of flirting with patreaus. how does this impact the careers of

this is mike rio's life post-afghanistan. >> i need to discover who i am again. i'm not asking for help for the rest of my life. i want to feel like i matter. >> reporter: mike's wife maggie says her husband returned from war a shell of the man he once was. gone was the fun loving, free-spirited laid-back guy he used to be. war, she says, changed him. he still has ringing in the ears from explosions. he also suffers from vertigo, headaches and has terrible anxiety. we saw it firsthand during our interview. mike was so anxious he could hardly sit still. we met at mike rio's mother's house near phoenix, arizona, where he, his wife and daughter have been living for the last year and a half. maggie and their daughter share a bedroom, and mike sleeps every night on the living room couch. what is it like for you at 51 to be sleeping on your mother's couch? >> ashamed. i feel low. i feel how can i support my family, let alone get them a house. >> reporter: mike doesn't have the money for a place of their own. he can't work. fire fights and an ied blast the in it afghani

every day hundreds of people in afghanistan, pakistan and iraq are killed. would it not have been better to have a more precise analysis and find out the true in-depth reason of the events of september 11th, make that -- make those findings transparent to the populations in the nations across the world, and then have a response in unison. of course, the expense would have been much less. do you know how much has been spent during the afghan and iraq war? >> a considerable amount of money. but let me ask you this, mr. president. if nearly 3,000 iranians had been murdered in the way that americans were on 9/11, in tehran, how would you have reacted to the country that you believed had done that? >> translator: so you're saying that the country of afghanistan was at fault? was responsible? so you're seeing the responsible party as a whole nation? >> i think it is inarguable that al qaeda and osama bin laden's men who worked for him were training in afghanistan. so afghanistan was certainly knowingly harboring terrorists who were training to commit atrocities. >

she spent a year with petraeus in afghanistan for the book he wrote. cnn has not been able to reach broadwell for a comment and it's not clear whether she is the woman whom petraeus had the affair. the counterintelligence unit investigated d the tip to see i there was a security risk. they said tl not suggestion that the fbi was investigating for wrong doing. the concern was that he could be in a vulnerable spot. >> and is there any information that you have in terms of this information that the fbi had as to whether this woman that you mentioned, paula broadwell, we'll talk more about her, that she would have accessed his information with his approval or unbeknownest to him? >> i know the two kept in touch. i've worked with paula professionally as well. i've reached out to her several times today and haven't gotten a response, but we know they continue to talk frequently. >> all right. thank you very much. suzanne's going to stay with us and just to let our viewers know, paula broadwell has been a regular guest on this program. we reached out to her a

you pushed back the taliban and decimated al qaeda in afghanistan. tour after tour, year after year, you and your families have done all that this country has asked. you've done that and more. three years ago i promised your generation that when your tour comes to an end, when you see our flag, when you touch our soil, you will be welcomed home to an america that will forever fight for you. just as hard as you've fought for us. and so long as i have the honor of serving as your commander in chief, that is the promise that we will never stop working to keep. this is the first veterans day in a decade in which there are no american troops fighting and dying in iraq. [ applause ] 33,000 of our troops have now returned from afghanistan, and the transition there is under way. after a decade of war, our heros are. going home. and over the next few years, more than a million servicemembers will transition back to civilian life. they'll take off their uniforms and take on a new and lasting role. they will be veterans. as they come home, it falls to us, their

america's top commander in afghanistan. he was set to become the nato supreme commander, until the president put that nomination on hold today. like petraeus, allen is at the top of the american military. he's a four-star general. one of only four four-star generals in the entire u.s. marine corps. officials are investigating general john allen after finding allegedly inappropriate e-mails between general allen and jill kelley. the same jill kelley who had contacted the fbi about receiving harassing e-mails from petraeus biographer and former mistress, paula broadwell. allen, who once worked for petraeus at the u.s. central command, denies any wrongdoing as investigators look through 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents. now, i want to make it clear what we know at this time is that it's not clear how many of those documents may include potentially inappropriate communication. but the new allegations have raised serious questions tonight about the culture of relationships in the military, and we're going to have more on that

and that is, you know, you have lost the battle in afghanistan. you, the united states, need to pull back and look after your own country. that is their opinion. they've said this before. they've constantly said the u.s. should pull out. the problem, of course, is not just the statement but what is happening on the ground. that is that there is an active war still going on in afghanistan. and the initial goal of the obama administration was to either defeat the taliban or beat them to the negotiating table. this has not happened. and there is a real issue about what the state of play will be. many people incredibly worried about what happens once the u.s. leaves. as you know, the u.s. is committed under president obama to leave at least by the end of 2014 and there's a huge amount of pressure coming from many corners to leave earlier than that. the taliban is still very active and the whole place could descend into another round of civil war. that's the issue going on there. it will be a big issue for the president going ahead. >> on afghanistan v

a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns and then met with families who lost loved ones in the iraq and afghanistan wars. >>> lawmakers have pointed questions about the fbi's investigation into general petraeus' extramarital affair. they want to know why they weren't told, and they want to know if national security was breached. peter king talked to candy crowley today. >> it seems that this has been going on for several months and now appears that the fbi did not realize until election day that general petraeus was involved. it just doesn't add up. >> petraeus resigned from the post as cia director friday and mitt head had an affair. and then sources said that the affair was with his biographer paula broadwell. more on that in a few moments. >>> bipartisan agreement appears to be in the work. charles schumer and lindsey graham says that their path including a tough love to citizenship. they teamed up in 2010, and that plan went nowhere, but the republicans may have fresh motivation after election losses last week. >>> the death toll from superstorm sandy has climbed to 113 with two more deaths rep

i was stationed at camp pendleton and we deployed to afghanistan in 2010. it was a really bloody summer while we were there. we lost a couple of pilots. i saw a lot of bodies coming back. >> i was in the u.s. navy for four years and my job title was quarter master. we helped out with amphibious operations. we had a lot of marines on our boats. >> the fire is going to be on the left side. >> i was so focused on navy at one point in time, i never imagined myself being a firefighter, i never imagined myself going through the training. it has been challenging for me but the challenge is more than welcomed. >> i'm hoping i get, you know, picked up with some kind of fire department or also training to get into some kind of police work, just experience and hopefully a job. >> being a veteran, it is a big thing to me. it means a lot because i have a lot of veterans in my family. when we have veterans day, it is not more or less saying i did my time in service, it is saying i paved the way for people that are going to come behind me to do their time and service. to

military commander in afghanistan. john allen is now under investigation for allegedly sending inappropriate messages to jill kelley. yes, the same woman who claims she received threatening e-mails from petraeus' mistress paula broadwell. and we're not just talking about a couple of e-mails. pentagon investigators are coming through 20 to 30,000 pages of documents. with me now is retired u.s. army general and cnn contributor spider marks joining me via skype from virginia. when you look at the sheer number of documents that they're looking at, 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents, how do you react to that? what was your first thought? >> well, if true, if it is that type of volume of traffic, this is one busy guy spending a lot of time talking to an honorary ambassador between the community and tampa in the air force base. he's got a lot of discretionary time on his hand and, frankly, that's not the case. so it's very, very troubling to see that an individual like this would at least put himself in a situation where the

created a plan to leave afghanistan. and drastically expanded the use of armed drones to target terrorists. >> he may be known as the drone president. the president who relied on technology to do the business of troops. >> my most sacred duty as president and commander in chief is to keep the american people safe. drones are one tool that we use. >> even if the target is an american. in 2011, one of those targeted for death was anwar al awlaki, an al qaeda leader living in yemen and also an american citizen. are the standards different when the target's an american? >> when an american has made a decision to affiliate itself with al qaeda and target fellow americans, that -- you know, there is a legal justification for us to try to stop them from carrying out plots. >> many of his supporters are quite concerned because they view this as basically a form of targeted assassination. >> do you struggle with this policy? >> oh, absolutely. if you don't, then it's very easy to slip into a situation in which you end up bending

general david petraeus and top afghanistan commander, general john allen. new details coming out about all the people involved. let's get right to general james spider marks. it's nice to talk to you again. we appreciate your time. have you had a chance to speak to either general allen or general petraeus in this story so far yet? >> i have not. i certainly have left both of those gentlemen alone. i know general petraeus and certainly know john allenby reputation but we're not friends. >> some of the e-mails have been described as more inonocuous an flirtatious. kelley would say i saw you on television and you were terrific. and general john allen would write back, thanks, sweetheart. to some people's reading that would be an old school way of saying thank you. and others would say that's flirtatious. is that still considered to be inappropriate in the military? >> from knowing john allen's reputation, i would say it's innocuous but you don't call someone sweetheart in a form that lasts forever, which an e-mail is, unless it's your daughter, mother or wife.

troops in iraq and afghanistan. now he is a man who resigned after cheating on his wife, joining the ranks of many men that have fallen from grace. lisa sylvester is covering this for us. we have seen this many times. >> that's right. there are certain powerful traits they have, charisma, leadership skills, decisiveness, risk taking. experts say the same elements of their personality may also lead them astray. >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman. >> i have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and that violates my or any sense of right and wrong. >> you didn't send that photo to that woman in washington state? >> i did not send it to that woman. >> they have power, fame and have betrayed their families. men that marred their stellar careers and suffered the consequences. former general petraeus, head of the cia, is the latest to get caught, stepping down after admitting to an affair. but why in the world do men with so much to lose risk it all? helen fisher is author of the book "an

he says that iraq and afghanistan veterans may finally have found their political voice. >> and i think that a lot of people have come home, really established themselves in their communities, become leaders, you know, in business, in public service, within their communities and have now been having a lot more success running for office. >> reporter: despite the influx of 9/11 era veterans into congress, the overall number of veterans is declining. both the house and the senate will have fewer veterans this year than last. democrat tammy duckworth lost both of her legs in iraq, and she has just won a seat in congress. she believes the downturn is a moment in history. >> the giants, the lions of the world war ii generation step away, and the korean war generation steps away, and when the last of the vietnam vets, as they begin to retire, now you go to the all volunteer force, and there are just fewer of us in general. >> reporter: duckworth says she has spent a lifetime in service, and she believes that service is what has helped her and other veterans win their races for elected office.

first time to afghanistan. it's great. i'm having a great time out here. >> how -- we've been over there. the u.s. has been there for 11 years now and counting. how is morale? >> morale is actually high. we sit down and talk to the soldiers all the time, communica communicate. we're brothers and sisters. sometimes moralee goes up and moralee goes down. for the most part moralee is up here. we have great officers, and 100% we take care of each other. morale is actually really good right now. >> great to hear. 11 years, quite a long time to be there. do you have family back home? is there anyone, maybe your mom, who would like to hear a quick hello? >> actually, yes. i would like to say hi to my mom, my brothers and sisters but also to my wife. she's remarkable. great. married ten years, the most beautiful woman i've ever seen. especially hi to her and love her a lot and be home seen. >> dr. westphal and sergeant ortiz, i'm sure your wife liked hearing that as well. thank you for coming to us all the way from kandahar, afgha

there's no tour buses in afghanistan. these soldiers ride in armored vehicles. >>> and we can't have a show without a little psy. this time a homeowner in

i was at camp pendleton and we deployed to afghanistan in 2010. i know it was a really bloody summer while we were there. i saw a lot of bodies come back. >> my job was quarter master. we helped out with amphibious operations. i was so focused on the navy at one point in time, i never imagined myself being a firefighter. i never imagined myself going through the training. it's been challenging for me, but the challenge has been more than welcome. >> i hope i get picked up by some fire department, or i'm also hoping for some police work, just getting experience and hoping for a job. >> it means a lot because i have a lot of veterans in my family. when we have veterans day, i paved the way for people that are going to come behind me to do their time and service. to come home and to celebrate a veterans day or, you know, to have people acknowledge the fact that, you know, i did something like this, it touches my heart, it really does. >>> in just a moment, war stories with a twist. veterans in focus will be right back. ♪ ♪ >>> many veterans strug

rajiv, you've covered the war in afghanistan extensively. did you get invited on trips with david petraeus, how well did you know him and how well -- >> i covered him off and on first back in iraq when he was a division commander up in northern iraq and more recently when he was top commander of all u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan and in that later job i did travel around the country with him. he would give remarkable access to journalists. oftentimes it was under very strict ground rules that things were off the record but he did open himself up to press coverage because he thought it was important for the mission to get recognized out there, but also i believe because he also liked to see himself at the center of the coverage. >> so that remarkable access paid dividends for petraeus's image. would you say, would you argue with the notion that many of the jurmts who dealt with him, who know him, have tended to go easy on him on this unfortunate scandal? >> i think some have. others have been a little harder edged and fairer, but, look.

. >>> new overnight a bomb explosion in afghanistan has killed three people. at least 90 others were injured when the car bomb went off in the cap of wardak province west of kabul. the taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. >>> officials in israel say they made an arrest in wednesday's bus bombings in tel aviv. they say the suspect is an arab israeli and a member of hamas. the group has said it had nothing to do with the attack. more than 20 people were hurt. police say the suspect used a cell phone to detonate the bomb. >>> it is now six minutes after the hour. want to get a check of the weather with rob marciano. man, thanksgiving was beautiful. that's going to be hard to beat today. >> it is. and things are going to start to go downhill. especial his for the eastern half of the country. good morning, john. if you're working off the turkey hangover you got some issues to deal with across the great lakes. showers embedded in here through cleveland, cincinnati. a little bit of white on the map. you know there's some colder air beginning to drift do

broadwell talked about being in general petraeus' inner circle in afghanistan. >> and i was embedded with general petraeus in afghanistan and it was a little confusing for some of the folks there because i'm also a military reservice, so a will the of my former peers didn't know how to treat me. was i major broadwell or journalist broadwell? i had to follow very clear lines of disclosure. i felt like i was held to a higher level of accountability because i could lose my clearance, yet i was entrust ed on this opportunity to sit in with meetings with general petraeus, listen to classified chatter of terrorist talk. >> boy. terrorist talk. just chatter. i'll just sit in on that. that's kind of a big deal. so from all we know, the affair between these two began after his time in afghanistan, about two months into general petraeus' tenure at the cia and ended earlier this year. are you still with me? i know this is extraordinary, but this scandal seems to get bigger by the day. the details are fast and furious. but here's one thing you can be sure of. the demands for a congressional inve

forces in iraq and afghanistan. he was also considered by some to be a possible presidential candidate. cnn military analyst james spider marks talked with me earlier about petraeus' legacy. >> it's terribly unfortunate. i do know general dave petraeus. in fact, we knew each other in high school and certainly at west point and then i had the great good fortune of serving along him in a number of assignments to include combat in iraq early on and paula broadwell was a young officer who worked for me about a decade ago, and she's just immensely gifted, bright, talented, fit, a great representative of the very best our nation brings forward. so you have these two incredibly gifted folks, and they make a human frailty, but at the end of the day leadership is all about competence and character, and in the case of dave petraeus, no one, no one would challenge his competence. that's a matter of record. but at the end of the day his character indicated a bit of a frailty, and i would suspect he probably didn't have somebody

commander in afghanistan who is nominated to become nato's supreme commander. he has denied any wrong doing. >>> well, this is supposed to be his time to shine, and now only after a week after the re-election he has his hands full, of course, with the scandal as well. how is it going to, if it is, going to overshadow his initiatives? we'll ask our own fareed zakaria up next. oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right b

created a plan to leave afghanistan. and drastically expanded the use of armed drones to target terrorists. >> he may be known as the drone president. the president who relied on technology to do the business of troops. >> my most sacred duty as president and commander in chief is to keep the american people safe. drones are one tool that we use. >> even if the target is an american. in 2011, one of those targeted for death was anwar al awlaki, an al qaeda leader living in yemen and also an american citizen. are the standards different when the target's an american? >> when an american has made a decision to affiliate itself with al qaeda and target fellow americans, that -- there is a legal justification for us to try to stop them from carrying out plots. >> many of his supporters are quite concerned because they view this as basically a form of targeted assassination. >> do you struggle with this policy? >> oh, absolutely. if you don't, then it's very easy to slip into a situation in which you end up bending rules thin

i presume you have been in afghanistan with him, spoken to him. it's a huge issue with the military. >> well, you know, it really is, brooke. i've interviewed him many times in iraq and afghanistan and traveled with him in those areas. the thing about dave pe trace you have to remember is he was and is always what you just said, the four star general. four star generals live potentially -- and it's risky for them, they lead isolated lives, don't they? they have aides. they have people around them. a small group of confidants. they have access to the highest level of intelligence and in the ultimate inner circle. we have seen it time and again. think back to general mcchrystal making some judgment calls that didn't work out for him. him having to leave oddly enough, petraeus taking over from him and this has happened time and again for four star generals for a variety of reasons. you know, there had been a lot of rumor around town in recent weeks that reporters were working on profiles of petraeus that were not going to be complimentary. so perhaps