Former CIA head��s no-jail sentence for leaking called ��gross hypocrisy��

On the other hand, Army soldier Chelsea Manning got 35 years for leaking.

by David Kravets - Apr 24, 2015 11:32am CDT
Yesterday, former CIA Director David Petraeus was handed two years of probation and a $100,000 fine after agreeing to a plea deal that ends in no jail time for leaking classified information to Paula Broadwell, his biographer and lover.

"I now look forward to moving on with the next phase of my life and continuing to serve our great nation as a private citizen," Petraeus said outside the federal courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday.

Lower-level government leakers have not, however, been as likely to walk out of a courthouse applauding the US as Petraeus did. Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, called the Petraeus plea deal a "gross hypocrisy."

"At the same time as Petraeus got off virtually scot-free, the Justice Department has been bringing the hammer down upon other leakers who talk to journalists'��sometimes for disclosing information much less sensitive than Petraeus did," he said.

The Petraeus sentencing came days after the Justice Department demanded (PDF) up to a 24-year-term for Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA agent who leaked information to a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer about a botched mission to sell nuclear plans to Iran in order to hinder its nuclear-weapons progress.

"A substantial sentence in this case would send an appropriate and much needed message to all persons entrusted with the handling of classified information, i.e., that intentional breaches of the laws governing the safeguarding of national defense information will be pursued aggressively, and those who violate the law in this manner will be tried, convicted, and punished accordingly," the Justice Department argued in Sterling's case this week.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/24/former-cia-directors-no-jail-sentence-for-leaking-decried-as-gross-hypocrisy/

Well, it seems that if you're upper BRASS crime pays and if your just 'GRUNTS' then you'll pay & pay & pay! Sure some will argue that it matters 'what was leaked' ---
hmmm; "Leaking is Leaking" to me and as for that 'Honor & Pledge to Protect'...seems to my moral code that the bar should be held higher not lower for those upper brass people!

Am I wrong

So far Clinton has got nothing.

Touch� but neither did GWB and he gave away a CIA operative, lied about WMD's gee we could spin this into quite the spitting match but that would be

Its the chit factor.

First, chit rolls downhill.

Second, "momma always said, life is like a chit sandwich.' The more bread (money) you have, the
less chit you're gonna have to eat.

WMD, if a myth, was started during the clinton administration.. Dubya, merely ran with the info at hand

CIA operative? Valery Plame?
Nah... Her idiot husband wrote a book about her CIA adventures.

Your mother was a GENIUS...bet you are a chip off that same block!
LOL

I know of about 545 (there are a few who actually value and honor their pledges....why I left 20 for a margin of error) who could use some jail time, tar and feathering, or a pink slip.

As for the entire Bush, Clinton, or present Admins (basically the last 2 decades of leadership).....treason would be too light a sentence!

I doubt you'd find many American's disagreeing with you on that, either; seems we're all very sick & tired of their 'DO NOTHING & GETTING PAID FOR IT' attitude!

But it's sad that our upper echelon within our top brass in our military have provided our service with such a black eye! DAMMMM

Our military "used to be" something of pride for our nation until they politicized it and made its actions a TV sitcom, our soldiers nothing but actors for the agendas of the elites and the thrill of the masses...... like the coliseums of old and their gladiators.

Every life "used to" matter, and honor wasn't just a word, an oath just a ceremony. Now our veterans may as well be subjects of the March of Dimes...... we might get better treatment

There's a big difference between a decorated war hero was considered for a Fifth Star who showed some material to his girlfriend who HAD security clearances and a little punk who beat up women soldiers, intimidated people and broadcasted classified information to the world and compromised assets and got them killed making it harder for us to turn assets in the Middle East. Manning should be executed.

Really? That's why ISIL has some of Saddam's WMD's that we secured? You Libbo's are to funny.

sad days we live in soul, soldiers are treated like crap these days, they come home and cant even access theyre health insurance, end up dying while waiting to see a doctor. bad f'in times man. i wanted to join the military, a part of me still does but i dont believe in these wars we're fighting. i dont want to risk my life and limb for some old politician to make money off my a$$.

if we were in wars that we should be in i would try to enlist, but i dont even know if i would get in, i got caught with 2 grams of mary jane when i was like 15 years old, they dropped the charges in exchange for probation, but i heard any marijuana arrest even if your a minor or not pretty much disqualifies you from joining. even if you didnt get charged or went to court and won i think if u have that on your arrest record they prohibit you from joining, does anyone know how true that is? i'd love to go fu** some of those ISIS guys up lighting people on fire. if anyone is knowledgeable on the requirements to get in the military or what branch is the easiest to get in let me know!


and as far as patraeus, its cuz hes a higher up, thats why he got off so easy. these bastards really are above the law in 99% of cases, its sad.

This Patraeus deal was to distract from the fact that Oblowme was firing our battle hardened generals who could actually defeat an enemy and replacing them with academy "YES MEN" with no experience outside the academy tactical training and book learning and have never seen a war or conflict they actually took part in.

Manning, like Snowden, served the same purpose. After all the spin, even as our govt was caught and exposed, they used their media to tell us "this is why we do what we do!" Gen Hayden blames us for tying their hands with a little thing like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to prevent them from "doing their job".

Funny, I thought their job was protecting us, not spying on us and eliminating or infringing upon our rights.! Have the leaders of our spy agencies become so PC, so politically lax, untrained, unskilled, and corrupt they can't do their jobs anymore? Is this the agenda? Reduce our military, it's funding, lead it with unskilled generals, expose our troops and foreign nations to radio-active waste in armaments to sicken and weaken them, make our returning vets the enemy, put them on watch lists, deny them healthcare, fill them with psychotropic drugs so they can disarm them rather than getting them the help they actually need after deploying them to theaters of battle numerous times and tying their hands so they can't do THEIR jobs..... fighting an enemy our "leaders" helped to create, who they funded, trained, and armed.... and blame it on them?





With only 2% of the population having ANY idea of what war or conflict actually is, other than the what they see "glorified" on CNN or Fox.... it's an easy sell to the masses.



It worked on us Nam vets to the point we were spit on, had things thrown at us, and were called "baby killers" by the public we thought we were serving! Besmirching us as "losers" of a war they wouldn't let us win, made us outcasts in our own country while glorifying traitors like the "Hanoi Songbird" John McShame and "Swiftboat" (once anti-war activist) John Kerry, praising others like "Hanoi Jane" Fonda, or the "Mai Lai massacre" ("I was only following orders") criminal Ollie North, and making professors, scholars, and teachers of people like Ayers and Alinsky educators of our children.

It is indeed a sad, sad world we live in today and why I carry the views I have, why I'll call our leaders by the pet names I have for them, and not trust a word from their mouths, or their agendas, despite the ridicule I might receive..... for I, and ANY soldier, have EARNED the right to our views (pro or con) with our sweat and blood!

Many, like myself, are still fighting for benefits and care we were promised after more than 40 years since our return!

While my mantra through life has been 'I love my country but FEAR MY GOVERNMENT'...we seem to be able to do some really heinous things to our people in uniforms; just because we've got them on a government payroll and mind control to 'follow orders'!



These were just a couple of the examples where our OWN government has done such really horrible/vile things to our own citizens; and that is one of many reasons why our preaching humanitarian practices to the entire world tends to fall on 'DEAF EARS' --- we who live in this glass house should not throw stones!

As for as Patraeus; I've never viewed him as a 'Yes, MAN' and I've read and heard quite a few other political active people say just quite the opposite and that's why his EGO and ATTITUDE led him into this huge error of judgment



Snowden; well - spying is what nations do to one another and J Edgar Hoover provided the example and tweaked the ability to do that to American citizens - government officials - Hollywood celebrities - and anyone that he just felt like it! SPYING - it's what nations do to keep us safe and 911 changed those parameters to a entire wider scope of who they listen too. Got nothing to hide then you've nothing to worry about - seems pretty simplistic to me!

I'll say this - Sojourning_Soul; we seem to be on the same side of the issue about our military personnel and I for one wish to hell we'd stop starting a war that we couldn't afford and then denying benefits for those veterans when they return home and truly need us/their support system the most! But sadly, if the president put a budget request out there for money for the VA and the Veterans & American Legion back it/support it and it's needed then why would the party in control of the budget VOTE IT DONE??? And keep voting it done - year after - year after - year?



SMH --- and our veterans pay the price for this bureaucracy and they can ill afford to with the emotional/physical/financial issues that they are facing and many just end up HOME LESS!

Great Planning; these wars that we do.

I agree except for the "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" scenario.

It's our "rights and privacy" being so easily "reasoned", explained, and given....taken... away

It's not about whether you have "something to hide" or not..... it's about what you are losing or giving away...... OUR 4th amendment.... and OUR other Constitutional rights and freedoms.....


What do we say to our children? "Sorry"?

You just reminded me of a conversation that I had with my brother; he was hired by a corporation called ZORBA {circa 80's} and they were one of the first global satellite installation receiver companies and he was setting up those huge 10' - 14' receiver pans around the world. And we started talking about the application and what the 'future' held for all this technology and even then he knew that there was testing going on for 'SPY' - listening into our phone calls/air waves/radio/media and that followed the 'RIGHTS TO PRIVACY' and where our freedom and safety left off!

Believe me when I say...we often butted heads and we rarely backed down from our different POV; and that is one that his Sci-Fi education seems to have been so SPOT ON and I was highly na�ve and WRONG about.

BTW...Did you catch '60 Minutes' last night?

I'd have to youtube it.....I don't watch TV. Netflix and HULU much cheaper, and better, than cable TV. Cable internet is already a luxury

I just went to the website to watch it. I assume you were referring to the section about space capabilities?

Yes...found it really shocking/funny HA-HA that the Chinese managed to hit one of their own satellites in their inept attempts to shoot a missile into space and now we have more space debris out there to 'AVOID' and that other one managed to go beyond our farthest distanced military spy satellite --- 'CHINA' is into getting ahead of us and we hear people wanting to cut our NASA budget???

While I understand and feel for those Americans that support the 'Whistle Blower' mentality of Mr. Snowden {who took an oath of position prior to his hiring} and had he not been allowed to establish a barrier of blankets and other foreign objects around his 'CUBBY' he'd not been able to steal copies and documents from his place of work - as he did! = NUT JOB & THEIF...IMHO The subcontractor didn't vet that crazy *** fool very well and yet all those other employees are still in there doing their job and gee-lousie none of them have followed suit as with the honorable Mr. Snowden
Does something smell about this to you?

My point is thus: Spying on each other is what nations do...and with this increased mobile media internet era it's a 'catch-up' age for those CIA AGENCIES to do all that they can to keep us safe! Some times they win and sometimes they can't figure out what the hell-they heard and what the hell it means {ie 911} but now they know they have to listen to more civilian population --- because domestic terrorism has become the 'NEW NORMAL' and they aren't the professional people that James Bond fought in the movies!

As stated in the show, we did it 1st, not China. There are many reasons to be thankful for being born an American, not all can be measured with pride.

You mean like our founding fathers who fought what their govt was becoming, exposing the Imperial lies, high taxes, invasions of privacy, and the censored press of their time?

The "New Normal" is just a repeat of old history in the new age!

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it

"Now is the time for all good men....." and women

Enemies are created, not born