Joshua Foust thankfully takes down the Petraeus cult and deserves to be quoted at length:
General Petraeus had a reputation his record simply could not support. It would be difficult to say Iraq was noticeably improved by his presence – certainly before 2006, but also during the Surge (which produced only a temporary cessation in the incredible violence). At CENTCOM (United States Central Command, where he was Director from 2008-2010), he oversaw the expansion of the war in Afghanistan, which has been a humiliating disaster. Additionally, his protégé, Stanley McChrystal, made a mockery of civil-military relations and was summarily fired. As ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) commander, Petraeus oversaw a dramatic rise in violence in Afghanistan, the adoption of “night raids” and a complete breakdown of relations between Kabul and Washington. And at the CIA, he has pushed the final transformation of an agency known more for its human element into a paramilitary engine of assassination – leaving a huge gaping hole where the country’s human intelligence capabilities used to be.
This is not a man who should be drummed out of office for having an affair. He should have been drummed out of office for not living up to his own legend. David Petraeus is a paper tiger: his personality cult looks impressive until you get close enough, and then the whole façade crumbles away.
That Petraeus could rise through the ranks as he did and could keep up the façade is only one sign of the dysfunction of the U.S. military and the associated political-industrial complex. Here is another such sign neatly expressed in one side sentence in a piece about the Asia pivot (itself a result of dysfunctional strategic thought):
Doubts persist among lawmakers and naval experts about the maneuverable and relatively small littoral combat ship, which is not designed to operate in a combat environment.
The biggest symptom of its dysfunction is the loss of two very expensive wars against minor enemies during the last decade.
A brown nosing, narcissistic but incapable officer corps, "combat ships" not designed for combat and a military not capable to win wars are sure signs of a decline in U.S. power. Unless the U.S. political elite goes through some upheaval and completely rethinks its approach to military force the U.S. will certainly lose more wars and accelerate its own decline.
The rest of the world will not be too unhappy with that. Unfortunately though even a dysfunctional military and a declining power can still create massive damage.