Redstate

Alas, My Fandom Does Nothing To Influence Policy

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Featured Stories | War — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I mentioned yesterday that I was glad to find out that David Petraeus would be the new senior commander in Iraq. A few articles will demonstrate why I am happy about this.

Let's start with the fact that Petraeus is both smart and tough. Consider this story (read on):

The son of a Dutch sea captain, Petraeus began his military career at West Point. And he is no ordinary general. He has a Ph.D. in history from Princeton. His thesis topic: The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam.

He also recently coauthored an Army manual on counterinsurgency operations. Petraeus and other officers say the Army collectively forgot how to fight an insurgency after Vietnam.

[. . .]

Once Baghdad fell, the 101st was dispatched to Mosul in northern Iraq, where Petraeus won praise for his work. He provided security, listened to tribal and religious leaders and focused on the economy, reopening factories and businesses.

In October 2003, Petraeus described the effort this way: "This is a race. This is a race to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. And there are other people in this race. And they're not just trying to beat us to the finish line. In some cases, they want to kill us."

Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane, a close friend, says Petraeus understands how to work with a local population and encourage them to break with insurgents. That's the essence of what the military calls counterinsurgency. He says Petraeus is the perfect choice for the job.

That's the "smart" part. Here's the "tough":

During a training exercise, Keane recalls, an accidental rifle shot hit Petraeus in the chest. Keane held his hand as he was flown to a nearby hospital. A surgeon named Bill Frist, who would later become Senate Majority Leader, was pulled off a golf course to treat him.

A few days after surgery, Petraeus demanded to be released. A doctor told him that it was impossible to release him so soon after major surgery. According to Kaine, Petraeus told the doctor to take out the tubes and then got down on the floor and did 50 pushups. The hospital sent him home.

Petraeus's almost fanatical devotion to physical fitness is legendary. He often challenges men less than half his age to contests. One story is that a young special forces soldier asked him how many push-ups he could do. "One more than you," replied Petraeus, who immediately proved it.

You have to love an attitude like that. And here is another story showing that the new commander has the right stuff:

I have an image of David Petraeus burned in my mind. It was just days after Baghdad had fallen to American forces, and Petraeus, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division, had joined other leaders of the division at a memorial service for two soldiers who had just been killed.

Before the service, I had overheard the battalion sergeant major reprimand a noncommissioned officer who had been shaken deeply by the deaths. His face was reddened with emotion, and that reaction, the sergeant major told him, was unacceptable. "Your soldiers need to see a stone face," the major told the NCO. Emotion is distracting; safety depends on soldiers staying focused on their jobs. Still, it seemed an inhuman command.

The exchange was still playing through my mind as my eyes scanned the seats at the service and found Petraeus. He wore the stone face; even in this tragic moment, he exuded calm and control. Yet the sadness, too, was unmistakable. It was clear in the way his eyes wrinkled at the corners and his mouth tugged downward. This was not the pure stoicism of the sergeant major. Here, I thought, was a man who knew leaders must inspire confidence but who also knew that human feelings cannot be denied.

It's exactly this sort of paradox that animates the work and leadership of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the American commander who for the past 15 months led the training of the new Iraqi security forces. Petraeus is one of the most fascinating people in the United States Army. With a Ph.D. from Princeton University, he is often referred to as the military's warrior-scholar. He has drawn deeply from his dual backgrounds to create a leadership style that is at once of a piece with military tradition, yet is at the same time innovative.

So . . . yeah, this guy is impressive. Indeed, he is a warrior-scholar in the very best sense of the term. And he could be just the commander who helps jumpstart the reconstruction effort in Iraq so as to bring about long-term stability and security, and eventually, a political system that values pluralism and transparency.

The question, of course, is whether he will have the chance. After spending so much time demanding the presence of more troops in Iraq, the critics of the war are now criticizing the idea of sending more troops to Iraq. Never mind that Iraq is not yet stabilized. Never mind that the Iraqis don't want us to go yet. Never mind that Petraeus's counterinsurgency tactics have not yet been put to the test. And never mind that a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq will only allow the terrorists and insurgents already in the country to fill the vacuum and turn Iraq into a base of operations from which further terror can be inflicted outwards.

I hope that David Petraeus has the same superhuman skills at persuading Congressional skeptics to give him time and space to carry out his goals that he showed in persuading his doctors to send him home early. Our national security goals in Iraq may depend on him being able to carry such an argument off.