MAIMI, May 9: Disgraced former CIA chief and retired general David Petraeus, who recently pleaded guilty to providing secrets to his mistress, has said that he would consider serving the US again if asked.
There is “nothing greater” than public service and “if some opportunity at some point comes along I would certainly consider it,” he told a group of French foreign trade advisors yesterday in Miami.
Petraeus, hailed by some in the US for changing the course of the Iraq war, was given two years’ probation and fined USD 100,000 in April for providing classified information to his mistress and biographer Paula Broadwell.
There was “no greater privilege than I had as a soldier and then as a spymaster and to some degree now in the business world,” said the man who led the US wars in Iraq and then Afghanistan.
Petraeus served as the head of the CIA after retiring from the military. He resigned from the post after his affair became public.
Once a rising star in the US who some regarded as presidential material, Petraeus ruled out a run for the country’s highest office.
“Even before the missteps that I’ve had I was never going to run for office,” he said. “My family is adamantly opposed to it and frankly my politics don’t necessarily work for the primaries of either of our parties.”
Petraeus chairs the KKR Global Institute that analyzes global trends as a branch of an American private equity firm.
Asked about the role of the US in the world, Petraeus said the country is rebounding to be a global leader after the taxing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The pendulum has swung back, there’s a keen recognition in Washington that US leadership is needed.” (AGENCIES)
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