David Petraeus

Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus is "the top American military commander in Iraq, part of a broad revamping of the military team that will carry out the administration's new Iraq strategy." 

Petraeus replaced Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., who was confirmed February 6, 2007, by the U.S. Senate, as Army Chief of Staff.

Petraeus, who has "served two previous tours in Iraq", "sees the need for additional troops in Baghdad." He "helped oversee the drafting of the military’s comprehensive new" Counterinsurgency Field Manual published December 2006. 

On September 8, 2005, Lt. Gen. Petraeus left Iraq "after handing off command" of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, which he had commanded for 15 months. He most recently served as Commander of the U.S. Army Combine Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 

Testimony in 2008
Petraeus returned to Congress in April 2008 to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He reported that he needed more time with elevated troop levels to consolidate progress in security, saying that he wanted to halt troop withdrawals for 45 days over the summer after the last of the 20,000 soldiers of the troop surge in Iraq pull out, with withdrawals to resume in September. This would leave about 140,000 soldiers still in Iraq by November. He called the decrease of violence in Iraq "fragile and reversible."

Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) were all present at the hearings. McCain criticized the withdrawal plans put forward by Clinton and Obama, Clinton said continuing current policies would not bring success and Obama called for a withdrawal timetable.

The following day President Bush announced that he was putting "Petraeus's" plan to halt withdrawals into effect.

Background
As commander of the 101st Airborne Division, Petraeus was in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, first driving towards Baghdad and then in Mosul. There Patraeus was was centrally involved in the reconstruction and political rebuilding efforts. Petraeus' experiences with the 101st in Iraq were the central subject of Rick Atkinson book, In the Company of Soldiers (book 2004) about last year's efforts by the 101st Airborne during the Iraq War and occupation."

When he returned to Fort Leavenworth, he participated in the refocus on counterinsurgency in the Army's training and education programs, which Jack Keane, the former Army general and vice chief, called him well suited for as "an imaginative commander who is experienced and [who] knows how to deal with irregular warfare."

Training Iraqi Security Forces
Petreaus, still serving as the commanding general of the 101st, was nominated on May 5, 2004 by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for the lieutenant general rank and assignment as chief of the Office of Security Transition-Iraq, in which he was responsible for training the new Iraqi army.

On April 20, 2004, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that Maj. Gen. Petraeus was being sent back to Iraq to "improve the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces after some either refused to fight or collapsed under attack by insurgents" during the early April 2004 Shiite Muslim uprising in Iraq.

"Petraeus will be responsible," the announcement said, "for 'training and mentoring and equipping' the new Iraqi army, police, border patrol, civil defense corps and facility-protection force, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing."

Petraeus recently "commanded the 101st Airborne Division and was responsible for Mosul and other parts of northern Iraq. His performance was praised within the Pentagon and he returned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, about two months ago."

Note: The previous section came from a now dead link posted on Yahoo! April 20, 2004.

Political Ambitions
Since the 2008 election, Petraeus' name has been mentioned as a possible 2012 presidential or vice-presidential candidate. According to the AP, Petraeus told reporters in March, 2010 that he will never run for office, yet his actions could indicate otherwise. For example, at that time, he was between speaking events at the New Hampshire Institute of Polititcs and nearby St. Anselm College, a location associated with past presidential candidates and debates.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * civil war in Iraq
 * Exit Strategy from Iraq
 * Iraqi Armed Forces
 * Iraqi Civil Defense Corps
 * Iraqi Intelligence Service
 * Iraqi sovereignty: June 30, 2004
 * Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq
 * New Iraq
 * Occupation forces in Iraq
 * Operation Iraqi Freedom: Year Five
 * Post-war Iraq
 * stay the course
 * troop surge in Iraq
 * The Petraeus Report
 * Petraeus' testimony before Congress


 * violence in the Middle East

Profiles

 * David Petraeus in the Wikipedia.
 * Graduate Alum Profile: Lieutenant Geneeral David H. Petraeus, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
 * AJFCN Biography: Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus, Commander, NATO Training Mission - Iraq and Chief, Office of Security Transition-Iraq (Baghdad, Iraq).
 * Commanding General Biography: Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center.

Articles by David Petraeus

 * "Battling for Iraq," Washington Post, September 26, 2004.

Interviews with David Petraeus

 * Martin Smith, "Beyond Baghdad: Interview with Maj. Gen. David Petraeus," PBS Frontline, November 23, 2003.
 * Transcript: Interview with David Petraeus, CNN SUNDAY MORNING,, CNN, February 15, 2004.
 * Interview: Lt. Gen. David Petraeus on Iraq’s Evolving Forces," Center for Strategic and International Studies, November 7, 2005. Includes link to audio and transcript.
 * Interview with U.S. General David Petraeus: "We Have to Raise our Sights Beyond the Range of an M-16," Spiegel Online (Germany), December 18, 2006.
 * Richard Beeston, Transcript of The Times interview with General Petraeus, The Times (UK), June 20, 2007.

Speeches & Briefings

 * Transcript: News Briefing with Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. Department of Defense, October 5, 2005.

2002

 * "David Petraeus *85 *87," The Best of PAW (Princeton Alumni Weekly), December 18, 2002.

2003

 * "Exporting Censorship to Iraq," Project Censorship, 2003.
 * Fred Kaplan, "More Dinars, Please. We've spent Saddam's stash, now let's have at Rummy's slush fund," Slate, December 2, 2003.

2004

 * "Our Man in Mosul. David Petraeus *87 got an Iraqi city running again after the war, but tougher challenges may lie ahead," The Best of PAW (Princeton Alumni Weekly), January 28, 2004.
 * David Kenner, "Petraeus Tells of Chaos in Iraq," The Hoya, March 26, 2004.
 * David Kenner, "Mentoring Iraq. A look at Major General David Petraeus, the man in charge of teaching Iraqis how to defend and protect themselves," The Weekly Standard, April 26, 2004.
 * Dexter Filkins, "Biggest Task for U.S. General Is Training Iraqis to Fight Iraqis," New York Times (truthout), June 27, 2004. Scroll down to article.
 * Tom Brokaw, "Can the Iraqis protect their own country? Getting them ready is Gen. David Petraeus' enormous challenge," NBC News/MSNBC, June 28, 2004.
 * Rod Nordland, "Iraq's Repairman. Mission impossible? David Petraeus is tasked with rebuilding Iraq's security forces. An up-close look at the only real exit plan the United States has—the man himself," Newsweek (MSNBC), July 5, 2004.
 * David Ignatius, "This Time, Maybe a Real Army," Washington Post, July 18, 2004.

2005

 * Sadye Teiser, "Petraeus says Iraqis need time," DailyPrincetonian.com, October 3, 2005.
 * Robert L. Pollock, "A Soldier's Story. 'The Iraqis are in the fight' says Gen. David Patraeus," WSJ OpinionJournal, October 15, 2005.
 * Julian E. Barnes, "An Open Mind For A New Army," U.S. News & World Report, October 31, 2005.
 * Opinion: "Voices From The Front: The Stampede In Iraq," Tampa Tribune, November 27, 2005.

2006

 * Fred Kaplan, "Counterinsurgency by the Book. The Lessons of a new Army Field Manual," Slate, July 8, 2006.
 * Charles M. Sennott, "Iraq's hard truths shape general's new battle plan. Wits, not might, called key to a win," Boston Globe, November 29, 2006.
 * irishkg, "Primer for Next Military Moves in Iraq," TPM Cafe Blog, December 16, 2006.
 * Matthew Yglesias, "Unsolicited Career Advice," MatthewYglesias.com, December 20, 2006.

2007

 * Greg Grant, "Lessons Not Learned. Produced to answer distress calls from commanders in Iraq, the Army's new counterinsurgency manual fails to map a response to 21st century enemies," GovExec.com, January 1, 2007.
 * Michael R. Gordon and Thom Shanker "Bush to name new general to oversee Iraq ," New York Times (Financial Times (UK)), January 4, 2007.
 * Mark Tran, "Bush poised to name new Iraq commander," Guardian Unlimited (UK), January 5, 2007.
 * Ralph Peters, Opinion: "King David Returns. Gen. Petraeus New Iraq Test," New York Post, January 5, 2007.
 * Mark Tran, "New general badged a good guy," Guardian Unlimited (UK) News Blog, January 5, 2007.
 * John Taylor, "Petraeus will take Iraq command, leave Leavenworth. General known as counterinsurgency expert," Lawrence Journal-World (KS), January 5, 2007.
 * Tom Bowman, "Leader of the Fabled 101st to Command in Iraq," All Things Considered/NPR, January 5, 2007.
 * Pauline Jelinek, "New Iraq Commanders Differ," Associated Press (1050 AM Federal News Radio), January 5, 2007.
 * William M. Arkin, "The Overrated General Petraeus," Early Warning / Washington Post, January 5, 2007.
 * Michael R. Gordon, "A New Commander, in Step With the White House on Iraq," New York Times, January 6, 2007.
 * Rick Atkinson, "Can Lt. Gen. Petraeus turn the tide in Iraq? General known to believe that peace is still possible," Washington Post (MSNBC), January 6, 2007.
 * "The appointment that opens an old wound," Turkish Daily News, January 6, 2007: "Lt. Gen. David Petraeus might be an obscure name for the world, but his expected appointment as the leading ground commander in Iraq opened an old wound in Turkey, known as the ‘hood incident’."
 * Rick Atkinson, "Iraq Will Be Petraeus's Knot to Untie. General Known to See Peace as Still Possible," Washington Post, January 7, 2007.
 * Thomas P.M. Barnett, "Can David Petraeus Rebuild a Nation?" Esquire.com, January 7, 2007.
 * Justin Peters, "Surge Overkill," Slate, January 7, 2007.
 * "Biggest challenge for 'pied piper of N. Iraq'," Telegraph (UK), January 8, 2007.
 * Toby Harnden, "Screaming Eagle to lead Bush's Iraq surge," Telegraph (UK), January 8, 2007.
 * Johanna Neuman and Julian Barnes, "U.S. command nominee terms Iraq situation 'dire'," Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2007.
 * Peter Baker, "General Is Front Man For Bush's Iraq Plan. Petraeus Making Hard Sell to Congress," Washington Post, February 7, 2007.
 * Kristian Williams, "Counterinsurgency 101. General Petraeus says he thinks the war in Iraq is winnable. His recent manual suggests otherwise," In These Times, March 5, 2007.
 * Ibon Villelabeitia, "U.S. commander urges talks, sees Baghdad backlash," Reuters, March 8, 2007.
 * Lolita C. Baldor, "Petraeus Eyes Long Commitment in Iraq," Associated Press (Spokesman Review), April 26, 2007.
 * Nico Pitney, "Murtha: Bush Administration Is Using Petraeus As A Political Prop," Think Progress, May 3, 2007. re John Murtha
 * AJ in DC, "Patraeus deluded about Iraq factors," AMERICAblog, June 21, 2007.
 * Dan Froomkin, "How Bush Uses His Generals," Washington Post, July 16, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "A decade more in Iraq according to Bush's General, David Petraeus. Yes, it's an endless war," AMERICAblog, August 10, 2007.
 * John Aravosis, "Dear General Petraeus, stop lying about the 'surge' - it has nothing to do with Al Anbar province and you know it," AMERICAblog, August 11, 2007.
 * Amanda Terkel, "Right Wing Pushing Petraeus For President," Think Progress, September 6, 2007.
 * Satyam Khanna, "O’Hanlon’s Conflict Of Interest Revealed On Fox News’ One-Hour Petraeus Special," Think Progress, September 23, 2007. re Michael E. O'Hanlon
 * Satyam Khanna, "O’Hanlon Defends His Old Friend Petraeus, ‘Convinced’ Pentagon Is Wrong On Iraq Stats," Think Progress, October 2, 2007.
 * Andrew J. Bacevich, "Sycophant Savior. General Petraeus wins a battle in Washington—if not in Baghdad," The American Conservative, October 8, 2007 (issue).
 * Satyam Khanna, "Casey: Army Needs ‘Three Or Four Years’ And ‘Substantial Resources’ To Recover From Iraq War," Think Progress, October 9, 2007. re George W. Casey, Jr.
 * A.J. Rossmiller, "Iran: destroying Iraq . . . except when it's not," AMERICAblog, October 9, 2007.
 * Satyam Khanna, "Petraeus May Renege On Withdrawal Plans If ‘Security Situation Deteriorates’ In Iraq Next Year," Think Progress, October 22, 2007.