Petraeus deserves place in history
Petraeus deserves place in history
When the annals of military heroes of this decade is written, it will be the great four-star general, David Petraeus, who was the son of a Dutch immigrant sea captain. He showed brilliance and promise all his days in high school and later in at West Point.
He was well liked by all his classmates, and married the West Point superintendant’s daughter the day after he graduated. He and Holly had two children and have now been married thirty seven years. Having been raised in a military family she knew how to be a good military wife. Because of his brilliance, he rose quickly through the ranks.
We remember the disdain the liberal left showed him, and Moveon.org took out a full- page ad in The New York Times, calling him “General Betray Us” the day he was to testify before Congress. He held his head high, walked into the Congressional hearing in full uniform, covered in ribbons and four stars and faced his cowardly liberal critics down. He personally carried out his strategy in Iraq which enabled America to get out of Iraq. Again he was called back to command in Afghanistan.
Tragically, like Samson of old, the postscript to his life will be that he fell for an evil woman who did to him what al-Qaida could not. In the “The Vision of Sir Launfal” James Russell Lowell wrote:
“At the devil’s booth, all things are sold.
“Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold.
“For a cap and bell our lives we pay.
“Bubbles we buy with a whole soul’s tasking.
“‘Tis heaven alone that is given away,
“‘Tis only God may be had for the asking.”
May a redeeming God restore the damage that has been done, and yet give him a place of service to our country.
Priscilla Weese
Wheaton