They bonded over a long run along the Potomac River: the general and his curvaceous biographer, conducting a Q&A while keeping a six-minute-mile pace.

For West Point graduate Paula Broadwell, the 2008 workout was her entree into the world of four-star Gen. David Petraeus patriot, potential presidential candidate, married father of two.

Four years later, Petraeus stellar 37-year career is in tatters and Broadwell has mostly been missing in action after their adulterous May-December affair exploded in a blitzkrieg of headlines.

The news broke just after Election Day and on a night when Broadwell and her hubby were sharing a romantic dinner to celebrate her 40th birthday.

The disgraced Petraeus, 60, quickly resigned from his job as CIA director, while Broadwell bolted from the North Carolina home where she and spouse Scott were raising two sons. Broadwell has been staying out of sight, though she was glimpsed last week through a window in her brothers Washington home, and she and her husband were spotted walking Saturday on a street in the nations capital.

As the sex scandal mushroomed, its epicenter emerged far from the battlefields of Afghanistan, the halls of power in Washington, or even the suburban Virginia offices of the CIA.

It was through Southern beauty Jill Kelley that the world learned about Petraeus romance and that he wasnt the only officer who isnt a gentleman.

The vivacious Kelley, 37, was a fixture at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, where she served as a volunteer social director of sorts. She hosted a party for Petraeus and his wife at her six-bedroom, 41/2-bath spread in a ritzy Tampa neighborhood, sharing a kiss with the general after presenting him with a civic award.

Their friendship apparently irked a jealous Broadwell, who targeted Kelley with several toxic emails. The nasty notes were cat-fight stuff, a source told Daily Beast columnist Michael Daly.

Originally posted here:
Anatomy of a General disaster