The Lebanese Factor in the generals' downfall

Does this picture look like your usual conception of the Middle East?  It was taken at a fashion show in Beirut a couple of years ago.  The show was for the collections of Lebanese designers.  Those are Lebanese women.

People in the US and in many other places shy away from the idea of cultural generalizations but I do not, with caveats, sometimes.

I have worked on the general subject of the Middle East and the Arab countries for 40 years.  After I left government I worked for a Lebanese owned construction materials company for 10 years.  The company's executives were almost entirely Lebanese citizens of all confessions.  I spent a lot of time in Beirut and Lebanon in general.  I know the country and I know them.

Lebanese society circles in the larger cities, especially Beirut, are centers of intense social and political intrigue at all levels.  Both Christian and Muslim communities are devoted and obsessed with conspiracy as a way of life.  "Plotting" is to the Lebanese as Sunday TV football is to most "gringo" Americans.  There are circles within circles within circles.  For the city Lebanese power and influence are to be acquired through association with the politically, militarily and financially powerful.  To that end they scheme endlessly and the seductiveness of their culture and frankly, their women, are powerful tools.  Whether or not that seduction is carried to fulfilment is a sometimes thing

This culture driven behavior has been exported to the world with the Lebanese diaspora.  In the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico,  there is a large, prosperous, well educated and politically active Lebanese "colony" distributed along the Gulf littoral.  It is no surprise to me that there is an attractive, socially prominant and pretentious Lebanese American woman at the heart of this melodrama.  Her silly claim to be a diplomat because she is the honorary consul of South Korea is typical of the kind of behavior one sees in Beirut.  "The big show" is all in that city.

She and her husband have been major figures in the "outreach" to the civilian community program associated with MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida.  MacDill is the host base for the headquarters of; US Special Operations Command and US Central Command (the command responsible for the Middle East).

Such outreach programs exist at most bases and are an understandable product of military desire to have friendly relations with surrounding civilian communities.  These are communities with which the military on the base would usually have little contact because so many military personnel and their familes live on the base, shop on the base and send their children to school on the base.  Civilian elites react well to such programs because they have the chance to develop contacts and friendships with senior officers that are prestigious in places like Tampa.  The chance that such contacts might lead to business opportunities on the base or "the inside track" in a variety of matters adds to the attraction.  For the senior officers involved, such programs build relationships that are likely to be useful if they choose to retire from the military in that area.

These two generals are a case study in juvenile irresponsibility.  Their emotional vulnerability to the two women who are "showing" thus far in this drama is ridiculous, and they are ridiculous.  Their absurdity calls into question the process by which they were repeatedly selected for promotion and assignment to the highest ranks and commands the country possesses.  The sense of entitlement that they have displayed to the public through their foolishness is breathtaking.   There may well be a lot more to be learned of the circle of intimacy that surrounded this queen bee in Tampa.

There are a couple of "loose threads" waiting to be pulled:

- Who really is Paula Krantz Broadwell?  What beyond her athleticism and her USMA diploma do we know of her background and contacts?  Is she connected to Israel somehow?

- How many other senior executives of the IC have relationships in their lives that are similar to the marital infidelity that brought down Petraeus?  I detest hypocrisy and there is hypocrisy in this. 

- Is there some element of foreign government participation in this drama?  I do not know but the investigation should be thorough.   pl  

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_culture

 

Comments

[mbrenner]

Is there any significance to the evident fact that the models are not anorexic? What do you think would be the effect of bringing the show to Tampa? Would a color coordinated hijab add something - "a bikini d'urgence' as it was known in certain Tunisiam quarters.

[turcopolier]

mbrenner

They like their women to be voluptuous, and they are. pl

[hans howe]

Awesome how spectacularly these two 'geniuses' flunked such a basic IQ test.

[b]

Jill Kelley also goes by the name Jill Khawam, Gilberte J. Kelley, Gigi Khawam, Gigi Kelley

http://www.peoplefinders.com/d/Jill+Kelly/1-124921417

Is there anything known about the Khawam family roots in Lebanon? What town/sect/tribe/party do they belong to?

Jill Kelley and her husband need money. Who might she be working for?

---
Broadwell did not write the Petraeus biography. Washington Post editor Vernon Loeb, of Jessica Lynch hyping fame, was the ghostwriter. She just delivered the material and quotes. One wonders who writes her PhD thesis.

I read somewhere that she did some paratrooper qualification jumps with the IDF.

[jonst]

Who going to investigate? Who is not dirty? Whoever is not dirty willnot be allowed to investigate. This all the more so if the Tampa connection with the (cough, cough) Reconstruction Efforts in Iraq, especially the Private Investment Branch...iow, the privatization people, is established .

You have hope that there are good people in DC, who can be appointed? Good Col, glad to see you still have faith. I have none. Not with the crowd that is in charge of DC now...both parties.

[trooper]

"Juvenile irresponsibilty"? Seriously? I'd hit it.
My Maronite and Orthodox Lebanese friends are quite vocal that they are NOT Arabs.

[The Moar You Know]

"Is there some element of foreign government participation in this drama? I do not know but the investigation should be thorough."

The media is spinning the "sexytime" aspect of this so hard to the exclusion of all other questions that I am thinking there must be. The Kelleys are literally everything you get warned about WRT security breaches: huge debts, lavish lifestyle with no commensurate supporting income, over-the-top (successful) attempts to form personal relationships with high-ranking personnel, including seduction...the list goes on. And Petraeus is so linked with them he's filing amicus briefs with the court for her sister's custody battle.

Hope I'm wrong, doubt I am.

[DH]

Broadwell is at the crux of all of this now. She made her statement about the detained prisoners after she was questioned about her affair with Petraeus, but before he testified to Congress that the Benghazi attack was linked to the Nakoula video. I've read in a few places that she was excited/jubilant while making the announcement. Was she ensuring her safety? Was she seeking her 15 minutes? Was she getting back at Petraeus for being 'unfaithful'?

The most interesting idea I've seen thus far is from JohnH in the last thread: was Obama using the scandal as payback for having his arm twisted to go COIN in Afghanistan, so his way would be clear to establish a more cooperative military? If so, a dish truly served cold.

[turcopolier]

trooper

I guess that mean that you are qualified to be a 4 star general. Seriously? Some Lebanese Christians argue that they are really Levantine rather than Arab. They have a point, but their native language is Arabic and they share many cultural characteristics with Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian Muslims. pl

[Andrew]

"Who really is Paula Krantz Broadwell?"PL...Col. can we call Eric Cantor, I don't know why, but I have a feeling he knows everything. imho,there is a strong whiff of "game theory" here.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

Don't worry. It will be investigated as thoroughly as the 2008 financial meltdown.

[trooper]

Yes, serious. I'll have to ask them more about it. I do know from weddings that the Maronite liturgical language is Syriac, not Arabic.

[turcopolier]

trooper

Liturgical languages don't mean much. other Arabic speaking Christians use Aramaic, Greek or ancient Egyptian for liturgy. We RCs used to use Latin. Don't let them BS you. They are really good at that. The westernized Christians are culturaly indistinguishable from the westernized Muslims. pl

[judith weingarten]

Phoenicians. The Christians always said they were Phoenicians until they lost the Civil War and had to accept that they were 'Arabs'.

[The beaver]

b

http://www.juancole.com/2012/11/the-arab-reading-of-the-petraeusallen-affair-jill-kelley-is-gilberte-khawam-a-lebanese.html

Jounieh Lebanon

[twv]

Know why?
When push comes to shove, the difference between the Democrat/socialists and the stupid party (AKA Republicans) is less than a millimeter.

The real difference in this country is the alternate universe inside the Capitol beltway and America.
The politicians of both parties are slopping at the same trough.
I saw McCain and Graham on TV this morning DEMANDING answers and a "Select" committee.
LOL!!!
It's all narcissistic posturing.

[The beaver]

Paula's brother Stephen Kranz lives in NW DC and he is a tax attorney .
http://dc.blockshopper.com/news/story/1700090697-Tax_firm_founder_buys_2M_Mt_Pleasant_7BD,

Now we need to find out in which circle he makes friends.

[twv]

Writing 40-some emails a day, how did Allen find time to write the character reference for the twin sister?
And run a war?
How do these knuckleheads get that far?
Out lasting the other suckups?

[The beaver]

According to the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9678958/David-Petraeus-scandal-Jill-Kelley-tried-to-halt-investigation.html

"It also emerged in court documents that Mrs Kelley's brother-in-law was employed as a "consultant" by a private intelligence firm that carries out work for US intelligence agencies such as the CIA.

Working as an operative for EWA ITT, Grayson Wolfe, who is now estranged from Mrs Kelley's twin sister Natalie, travelled frequently Pakistan and took his wife to the Middle East in 2008, while Gen Petraeus was leading the war in Iraq."

NB: I read that it was splitsville for Grayson Wolfe and Natalie Khawan even before the first wedding anniversary.

[dienbienphu]

What do you and your readers think of Justin Raimondo's take at antiwar.com, that this was classic honeypot? Raimondo documents his case pretty well. You will remember that Gen. Petraeus testified before Congress stating that Israel is a strategic liability in the Middle East to US interests, which did not endear him to certain entities. A quick look at some pro-Israel blogs (debbieschlusser.com) reveals a certain amount of glee at the General's departure, and only because he was not "good for Israel".

[JimR]

Interesting take on the Petraeus saga by Col. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR, Ret

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/14/epitaph-for-a-four-star/print

[The Moar You Know]

(Reuters) - A computer used by Paula Broadwell, the woman whose affair with CIA director General David Petraeus led to his resignation, contained substantial classified information that should have been stored under more secure conditions, law enforcement and national security officials said on Wednesday.

Well, well, well.

[WILL]

Phoenician, Aramaic, Greek. Arabs is a cultural designation involving shared language, culture, food, etc. It was an invention of Greater Syrian Christians and taken up by the Sunni. Arabian means descent from the Hijaz or Arabian Peninsula.

In truth, the people of the Middle East are all mixtures of the above added to Turkish, Roman, and Jewish. The Palestinians are closer in their genetic testing to the Ashkenazi (european jews) and the Mizrhaim Jews then they r to each other. In Clade biology classification, this means they r closer to the ancestor of these groups, the original Jews, then the modern Jews.

Genetics can be interesting. 23andme says i am 2.5% Neanderthal. Just call me caveman!

[WILL]

there is a theory that the Koran's "seventy virgins" comes from a Aramaic/Syriac religious document involving white raisins.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5

formerly the Arabic Bible was printed in Aramaic script. the first Arabic printing press was made by a Melkite (Greek Orthodox that recognize the primacy of the Pope) Monk.

"The first Arabic books published using movable type in the Middle East were by the Maronite monks at the Maar Quzhayy Monastery in Mount Lebanon. They transliterated the Arabic language using Syriac script. It took a fellow goldsmith like Gutenberg to design and implement the first true Arabic script movable type printing press in the Middle East. The Greek Orthodox monk Abd Allah Zakhir set up an Arabic language printing press using movable type at the monastery of Saint John at the town of Dhour El Shuwayr in Mount Lebanon, the first homemade press in Lebanon using true Arabic script. He personally cut the type molds and did the founding of the elegant typeface. He created the first true Arabic script type in the Middle East. The first book off the press was in 1734; this press continued to be used until 1899"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet#Arabic_printing_presses

[MRW]

Is there some element of foreign government participation in this drama? I do not know but the investigation should be thorough.

We'll know if they shut it down prematurely. ;-)