WP: Iraq Will Be Petraeus's Knot to Untie

[laststeamtrain]

Iraq Will Be Petraeus's Knot to Untie
General Known to See Peace as Still Possible

By Rick Atkinson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 7, 2007; A01

Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is President Bush's choice to become the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, posed a riddle during the initial march to Baghdad four years ago that now becomes his own conundrum to solve: "Tell me how this ends."

That query, uttered repeatedly to a reporter then embedded in Petraeus's 101st Airborne Division, revealed a flinty skepticism about prospects in Iraq -- and the man now asked to forestall a military debacle.

Long recognized as one of the Army's premier intellectuals, with a PhD from Princeton to complement his West Point education, Petraeus, 54, will inherit one of the toughest assignments handed any senior officer since the Vietnam War. He takes command of 132,000 U.S. troops in a country shattered by insurgency and sectarian bloodletting, with a home front that is divided and disheartened after 3,000 American combat deaths. If his riddle of 2003 remains apt, so does the headline on a Newsweek cover story about Petraeus in July 2004: "Can This Man Save Iraq?"

Skepticism is rife, inside and outside the Army. "Petraeus is being given a losing hand. I say that reluctantly. The war is unmistakably going in the wrong direction," retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey said in an interview yesterday. "The only good news in all this is that Petraeus is so incredibly intelligent and creative. . . . I'm sure he'll say to himself, 'I'm not going to be the last soldier off the roof of the embassy in the Green Zone.' "

<more>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/06/AR2007010601185.html?nav=rss_world/mideast/iraq

[msongs]

1. how about, "declare victory" and leave?

wmds dumped? yep of course they were never there but....

saddam dumped? yep pontius pilate bush washing his hands as we speak but...

democratic elections held? yep depending on who counted the votes but.....

freedoms reestablished? yep freedom for the new oppressors to take over but...

sounds like bush and petraeus won, so declare themselves the winners and get out of dodge :-)

Msongs
www.msongs.com
dems 2007 calendars

[Justitia]

2. Oh geez, what a fawning article. WaPo setting up another military messiah to "save" the war.

It recounts how he still deluded ly believes in a good outcome, and plays down his known arrogance, counting on his sheer strength of will to "see it through".

What a pantload of hero-worshipping bullshit.

"Thank you sir, may I have another?"

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Color Me Skeptical of Skepticism

If Petraeus were actually a skeptic of Bush's war, I suspect that he'd have been purged some time ago.

I think that what's left amongst the General Officers are mostly true believers and mutes.

[Drum]

6. Kick, for this plain logic!

Seriously, consider the litmus test passed...or the hot potato in any case. What a f%#kin' gamble. Let's hope this guy is really that smart, and not some other gilded egotist of W's stable-of-the-willing....

[Xipe Totec]

4. Petraeus is a good man

but not a miracle worker.

It galls me that he was in Iraq before, was doing a good job, and they pulled him out for ideological reasons. He was "too deferential" to the Iraqis.

It makes me want to scream.

[laststeamtrain]

5. Juan Cole on the new team. Vague hope & a lot of 'what ifs'.

The Adults take Charge
The Reality Based Community Strikes Back in Iraq

The professionals take charge. Bush is bringing in Ryan Crocker, a distinguished career foreign service officer, as the new US ambassador to Iraq. And Gen. David Petraeus will replace Gen. Casey as top ground commander in Iraq. Zalmay Khalilzad, the outgoing ambassador to Iraq, will go as ambassador to the United Nations, replacing the lying blowhard John Bolton.

I'm stricken with a case of the "what ifs" and "if onlys"! What if Gates had been at the Pentagon in 2003 and Petraeus had been in charge of the US military in Iraq and Crocker had been there instead of Paul Bremer? These are competent professionals who know what they are doing. Gates is clear-sighted enough to tell Congress that the US is not winning in Iraq, unlike his smooth-talking, arrogant and flighty predecessor. Petraeus is among the real experts on counter-insurgency, and did a fine job of making friends and mending fences when he was in charge of Mosul. Crocker has been ambassador to Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon and Pakistan, and knows the region intimately (as does Khalilzad). Bremer had been ambassador to . . . Holland. Despite all the talk of the resurgence of the Neoconservatives with their "surge" (actually ramped up occupation) plan, this team is the farthest from Neoconservative desires that you could possibly get.

I wish these seasoned professionals well. They know what they are getting into, and it is an index of their courage and dedication that they are willing to risk their lives in an effort that the American public has largely written off as a costly failure. If the US in Iraq can possibly have a soft landing, these are the individuals who can pull it off. It is a big if.

http://www.juancole.com/