[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIbl28O99Lg[/youtube]
By Jeff Schogol
In one of the most sickening displays of disrespect toward a veteran since the Vietnam War, students swore at and harassed retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, who recently began teaching a class at the City University of New York.
A video posted on Youtube titled “CUNY Students Confront War Criminal David Petraeus” shows Petraeus walking through a gauntlet of students who aggressively taunt him for close to 90 seconds.
“There’s blood all over you, I can smell it,” one student yells.
Petraeus, who served as the top U.S. commander in both Iraq and Afghanistan, takes the abuse stoically despite attempts by the students to provoke him.
It is not clear if the taunting continued after the end of the video.
30 Comments
What’s funny is that his past military service defends their right to say whatever they want.
i agree that it is a sickening show of disrrespect. how many of the students that were harassing general pateraeus have ever even thought of joining any of the services. if not then they need to STFU.
I agree with you Lindsey,However, the right that we uphold is the freedom of speech without disrespect.
Right to say whatever they want! Yup duly noted. But dang that just straight disrespect! Freaking douchebags!!! That General Served and Defended this great nation and gets disrespected like that. GO to class or serve this nation. Do something productive..! Fcktards!
These kids, and that is what they are have no idea what they are talking about. Not one of them has a clue what the military is actually like. They only know what they get from the biased media, if they spent a few minutes and did some of their own research they would understand, maybe, that what they think is not really the truth
This is sickening…… we have allowed freedom of speech to become the excuse acting like a jacka$$. What about freedom from harassment? If you want to protest peacefully fine, but to attempt to ridicule and shame another American is awful. They are not making any point, they are not working for a cause or rights etc., just harassing a citizen who served his country for 30+ years and is now trying to make a living as a private citizen.
I am firm believer that citizenship should not be a birth right. You should have to earn it through some sort of service, be it military or civil in nature. Then you wouldn’t have a bunch of idiots like these running around he streets, and for those that did, they would not have the right to do so as they have not earned those rights.
What a stpendous change for the general. From a world where everyone jumps up when you enter a room to a world where people scream insults at you as you walk down the street. And this is a man the press used to tout as an “intellectual.” An oddity in the military they said. In other words…most soldiers are dopes. He chose to put himself in the womb of liberal intellecuals. New York. I doubt that the general would be treated like this at Old Miss or Texas State. Sad to see. Like the old days during the Vietnam war. Foolish people blaming the soldiers and marines. Yet voting the same politicians into office time and time again. The general went from the military to the CIA. Always a chance of bad things happening in that job. Then, the bimbo explosion. Well, we can’t keep fighting for years and years with no end in sight. America is tired. People are out of work. Folks are angry and some of them are just plain stupid.
I would say it’s amazing how much like sheep they sound, but it’s not at all amazing. They are the products of a liberal mindset that, apparently, wants us all living under sharia.
Kudos to the General for maintaining his military bearing during this disgusting situation. And I agree with you Ted. Blaming the military instead of the politicians. And where do they get off calling him a war criminal?
Uncalled for and terrible treatment. The man is still great military leader in my book. The fact is not one of those kids could take 10 secs of the treatment they were dishing out but in their own minds they were standing up for something. What that something is, who knows. I would attend any class he taught in a heartbeat. Those idiots need more education.
I am just angry that they are so disrespectful, childish little kids! Hope one day they will end up in the military and experience what is like being Soldiers!
The insults you would equate with ‘war crimes’ and human rights issues within the military context are without merit. As a military officer there was never anything to suggest GEN Petraeus was of the ilk to commit such actions. He actually had a good reputation for attending to and protecting human rights and avoiding war crimes on the battle field, to my knowledge.
Was he likely guilty of feeling too entitled due to his status? Most definitely. The generals and admirals are busy with meetings and so forth, but their butts are kissed, for sure. But that’s hardly justification for the ire being shown.
What the idiots in the video, which seems to be a generous description, don’t understand is GEN Petraeus shows us part of the hypocrisy that goes on within the military. He admitted to adultery, while the commander in Afghanistan. His actions should have been punished. If he were a junior officer or junior enlisted, he would have been. The double standard for military justice, ethics, and professional responsibility, is the issue that needs to be examined. It undercuts morale, esprit de corps, ethos, and the regulations the military operates within. The buffoons exercising their 1st Amendment speech rights would be well advised to exercise another part of that amendment: silence, and go sit in the library and study the relevant issues of our time and the lessons history provides us. They will gain more from that, than the ‘high fives’ on twitter from their cohorts.
The wild card in this whole mess, of course, is the timing of those adultery revelations which could be another matter entirely.
When the General admitted to killing 9 boys in Afghanistan and wounding 1 while they were collecting firewood, he changed a lot of thoughts towards him.
Just because a person has served in the Military does not automatically give them a pass to easy life, just ask the thousands who are homeless and suffer everyday. They are the same ones many of you turn your nose up to, or your backs on as you pass them in the streets. Yet you defend this man. Help a veteran who is truly in need, the General, I believe, will be fine…
Cathy the general didn’t seek out children to kill and he didn’t press the button nor did he select the target. He apologized on behalf of the US military for actions that cost the lives of those children. War is ugly and sometimes unjust, but I don’t believe the man deserves taunting from these idiots. These people attend city college and seem to be doing this for attention. Most of the rants are off base and don’t really pertain to the general, but they believe they do.
Why should they show him any respect? Get off your high horse and undeserved privileges.
Two noticeable things, one, the guy that is yelling at him, isn’t even eligible to know what a Soldier goes through, as he wouldn’t meet Height/Weight standards, what a shame, it would’ve been nice to put him in one of the valleys in the Kunar Province, Afghanistan and know what his fellow American citizens (Soldiers) are doing each day so he can go to class. Second, he is of a different ethnic, which only shows that much more what Soldiers are fighting to defend every day. The freedom for liberty and equality. I would think, that by the time these kids made it to college, American History was already instructed to them. Instead, focus your time and energy on thanking a U.S. Soldier every day for allowing your unappreciative minds to act like this.
Until the day when these kids have gotten their heads cut off by the extremists like al-Qaeda and be shown on TV…then they will understand what it means to wear the uniform and serve this country honorably like General Petraeus. You will always get my respect sir.
Beyond disappointing… Everyone has an opinion, but this was hurtful for me to watch. GEN Petraeus is and will always be one of my heroes. These students are cowards and do not deserve the freedom they enjoy today. 6 weeks of boot-camp would bring a new perspective to their immaturity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FnO3igOkOk
As a retired GO, the students behavior is not free speech but harassment no matter who is the target. kids can be uncaring, as the recent comments about bullies notes.Unfortunately, there is a double standard for seniors officers, as the sentence for the 173rd former commander is a glaring example.
@Steve; comment #15: Have you served in the military? I bet not. I bet you have NO idea what its like to be away from your loved ones for a year or longer in a war you may or may not believe in but are willing to die for. It’s people like you who are making progress in this contry come to a screeching halt. Please close your mouth and open your mind before speaking. Go to college and educate yourself, since you’re not man enough to be part of the solution. When you’re ready to help the cause, join the ranks of the brave who fight everyday, for your freedoms.
I imagine it’s pretty easy to hurl insults when you’ve done nothing with your life, never made a tough decision, and never had to stand for anything.
Total disrespect! Hire some well trained body guards General!
Hmmm….where are the liberals on this? If this isn’t a case of bullying, I don’t know what is. Change the situation to a high school where these dirtbags are the bullies picking on an openly gay student, they would be braying for blood and finding out EVERYTHING they could about every person in that video. They would post where they lived, any skeletons they could dig up in their closet, and try to destroy them financially by attacking their employer for hiring bigots. The double standards in this country make me sick.
haha not one of them taunting him are or seem to be “American”. Keep living our dream aliens!
As an Active Duty SSG, Gen Petraeus (RET) is one of my heros. Regardless of what happened with the adultery, we have our flaws and who are we to judge another man. If I were around at that point in time I would have more than likely gone to jail for fucking up some libtarded students. Yes we have made our mistakes and he may have killed some people overseas but guess what…in war shit happens and you just have to pick yourself up and move out. I wonder if their Dad’s or Mom’s had been deployed and gotten shot or w/e if they would be doing this. No, they wouldn’t. Spoonfed libtards like this that spout their bullshit need to go back to the gutter and rich white trash neighborhoods they came from. to Gen Petraeus (RET) you are my hero and I would still follow you into battle any day.
Actually I think the kids are just fine doing what they did. I personally think that Patraeus misused military equipment to have his girlfriend flown around the battlefield when it was required by soldiers, and was indulging in a little slap and tickle while in uniform, and in a war zone, so how focused was he, and how many were killed because he couldn’t keep it zipped? And then to tell us it all started after he left the military so the cheap skate could keep his pension, when his staff knew it was hot and heavy in combat… he can take the good with the bad… he’s a war hero after all… isnt he???
GEN Patreus, you Sir are a hero!
You do not have a freedom to verbally assault someone else. Try that shit with me and see how I uphold my Rights.
Jeff Schogol Thank you for writing and sharing this piece. I am APPALLED at these #CUNY students for their disgusting acts towards General #Petraeus – He is not a war criminal and they are repulsive in their actions and words. He made a huge moral mistake.. that is between him, his wife and God. They have no place to judge. Where were these CUNY students when 9-11 happened…. oh yah, in diapers.