Byline: BEN MONTGOMERY; AMY SCHERZER; Times Staff Writers

TAMPA -- In late September, a U.S. Marine Corps four-star general and the head of the Central Intelligence Agency sent letters to a court in Washington, D.C., testifying that a single mom in Tampa named Natalie Khawam was fit to parent her 4-year-old son.

Gen. John R. Allen praised Khawam - the twin sister of Jill Kelley, the woman who sparked an FBI investigation that exposed retired Gen. David Petraeus' affair - for her "maturity, integrity and steadfast commitment to raising her child." Petraeus told the court Khawam "dotes on her son and goes to great lengths - and great expense - to spend quality time with him."

The court had a different opinion.

"Ms. Khawam appears to lack any appreciation or respect for the importance of honesty and integrity in her interactions with her family, employers, and others with whom she comes in contact," a judge wrote after a litany of hearings and psychological evaluations. "The court fully expects that Ms. Khawam's pattern of misrepresentations about virtually everything, including the most important aspects of her life, will continue indefinitely."

She was more than $3 million in debt, records show. She had blown through four jobs in five years and sued a former employer for sex harassment. She had had three failed engagements, left her new husband and moved in with her sister where she quickly began hobnobbing with military brass and others in Tampa's elite circles.

What moved the top government brass to go to bat for a woman the court said suffers from "severe" psychological deficits? The answer can be found in Jill Kelley's social climb in the last decade, since she and her surgeon husband moved south from Philadelphia and found a niche hosting lavish parties for military brass from MacDill.

South Tampa's decades-long reputation for genteel hospitality toward the military has transformed over the past several days into a soap opera of sexual misconduct and improper emails that has already cost Petraeus his job and threatens Allen's career as well. Ground zero is not the Pentagon, but a mansion on Bayshore Boulevard inhabited by a family with lavish appetites and gigantic debts.

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In the spring of 2003, the Kelleys hosted a dinner party at Tampa's Palm Restaurant to celebrate their decision to make their adopted city a permanent home. Among the select group of Tampa's business, government and military elite were Marine Lt. Gen. Michael "Rifle" DeLong, then second in command to Gen. Tommy Franks at CentCom, former Mayor Dick Greco and his wife, Linda, and retired Tampa Tribune columnist Tom McEwen.

DeLong's wife, Kathy, recalls meeting Jill Kelley, 37, at a "patriotic function in Tampa."

"They (the twins) could work a room better than any politician," she said. "They're bright, fun, just who you'd want at your party."

The DeLongs began including them at base functions, "and once you're on the list, you're on the list," she said. That friendship extended to Gen. John Abizaid, who ran...