For a man who has arguably been assigned the worst job in the world, General
David Petraeus gives a good impression that he is enjoying his unenviable
assignment to bring security back to Iraq in the face of al-Qaeda bombs and
falling support for the war back home.
In his air-conditioned office in Saddam Hussein’s former presidential palace,
the lean and sprightly 54-year-old US commander still manages to flash a
Hollywood smile as he sets out his belief that America does not have an
option just to walk away from Iraq after more than four bloody years of
fighting.
Unlike those who devised the invasion of Iraq, his conviction is not
ideological, but practical and built on his experiences here over the best
part of three years, where he served as a divisional commander during the
invasion, the officer in charge of training Iraqi forces and now the
commander of coalition troops.
“Our assessment is that this is the central front for al-Qaeda. They have a
global war of terror, and Iraq is the central front. Whether you like it or
not. That is something that the leaders of the intelligence community in the
West and our joint special operations commander agree on. It is certainly
one very important consideration in looking at Iraq,” he told The Times.
He said terrorists were quite capable of increasing their attacks in the short
term and that al-Qaeda’s leadership in Iraq was still largely drawn from
foreign fighters. He estimated that 80 al-Qaeda volunteers crossed into Iraq
from Syria every month. He said that they still accounted for a large
proportion of the suicide bombings that have wreaked such havoc in the
country.
But he dented Democrats’ hopes that his crucial report to Washington in
September would help to make their case for the withdrawal of US troops.
September was “a deadline for a report, not a deadline for a change in
policy”, he said.
General Petraeus is overseeing what many regard as President Bush’s last
effort in Iraq, a “surge” of more than 25,000 troops who have been deployed
in and around Baghdad to restore security and allow the country’s leaders a
chance for political reconciliation and economic recovery.
Using a laser pointer he flicks a red dot across a map of Iraq picking out
hotspots, giving a potted history of the ethnic and sectarian make-up of
various provinces and outlining the dangerous strategy that his men are
executing on the ground.
In the most high-profile operation – codenamed Arrowhead Ripper – 10,000
American soldiers flooded the restive town of Baquba on Tuesday.
The area was a stronghold of al-Qaeda and the Americans are determined to
wrest it back.
“There are operations going on all around Baghdad (in the south, west, north
and east). This is part of an offensive around what we call the Baghdad
belt. This is using the five brigades and a combat aviation brigade and
Marine Expeditionary Unit. This is a combined effort,” he said.
But as General Petraeus is the first to acknowledge, his main enemy is just as
capable of a “surge” as well. Just as the first pictures were being shown of
US forces marching through Baquba, a suicide truck bomb exploded in central
Baghdad near a famous mosque. Nearly 80 people were killed, many of them
burnt in their cars.
“You are never going to eliminate sensational attacks in Baghdad. That cannot
be your measure of success. What we have to do is reduce their number and
their impact. We had done quite well until the attack yesterday that killed
a number of innocent civilians,” said General Petraeus.
How the headlines play back home is very much part of the general’s war. In
September he and Ryan Crocker, the US Ambassador to Baghdad, are due to
report back to Congress on the situation in Iraq.
The Democrats, with an eye on the presidential race, are expected to use the
occasion to redouble the call for US forces to be brought home. “Ambassador
Crocker and I intend to go back and provide a snapshot at that time . . .
and begin to describe what has been achieved and what has not been achieved
and provide some sense of implications of courses of action. Neither of us
is under any illusion.”
At the very least the Princeton-edu-cated paratrooper hopes to “put time back
on the Washington clock”. He has always maintained that there are two clocks
on Iraq. One ticks slowly away in the hot, grubby streets of Baghdad, where
progress is small and painful, while the other ticks furiously on the
Potomac, where patience is fast running out for a war that has claimed more
than 3,528 American lives and billions of wasted dollars.
Al-Qaeda is keenly aware of the Washington clock,” he said. “They are
obviously going to have a surge of their own. You saw an example of this
yesterday. They wanted to make sure that the headlines about the launch of
the offensive don’t create too much hope.” A more immediate problem facing
the general is the future of his largest ally in Iraq, the 7,000 British
troops who control Basra and provide key military and diplomatic know-how to
his command.
With Tony Blair about to hand over power to Gordon Brown in the coming days,
fears that the British will follow other allies, such as Spain and Italy,
and head for the exit, dominate speculation among US officers in Baghdad.
General Petraeus is adamant that America wants and needs the British presence,
not only because his men would have to fill the gap in the south if the
British went home but also because they bring unique experience in
counter-insurgency war.
He had particular praise for Lieutenant-General Graeme Lamb, his No 2, who
heads the Force Strategic Engagement Cell. It is responsible for secret
talks with insurgent groups, some of whom have been persuaded to change
sides, particularly in Anbar province, previously one of the most violent
areas of Iraq.
“It is very instructive to have as a deputy commander a guy like Graeme Lamb.
There is a guy who comes from a military where he sat down across the
negotiating table with people who were swinging pipes at their lads a few
years earlier. Every endeavour like this has ended by getting some folks to
change sides. That is what happened in Anbar province. It was described as
lost ten months ago,” he said.
As for Mr Brown, the general seemed sure that he would continue Mr Blair’s
policy. “I have talked to [him] a couple of times. I came through No 10 on
my way out here and he came here. That is the way we would like to continue
to carry on,” he said.
Fit for duty
Born in 1952, the son of a Dutch sea captain, General Petraeus graduated from
West Point military academy in 1974. He later gained a PhD from Princeton
University, with a doctoral dissertation entitled The American Military and
the Lessons of Vietnam
He has served two previous tours of duty in Iraq. In the first, in 2003, he
commanded the 101st Airborne Division in Northern Iraq – when he said of the
occupation: “This is a race to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.
And there are other people in this race. In some cases, they want to kill
us”
His second tour in 2004 involved overseeing the training of Iraqi security
forces. After that he spent 15 months writing the army’s manual on
counterinsurgency
He is renowned for his fitness. During a training exercise early in his
career, retired General Jack Keane accidentally shot Petraeus in the chest.
Just a few days after surgery he demanded to be released. When his request
was refused, because he would be too weak, he reputedly dropped to the
ground and did 50 press-ups
Source: US National Public Radio
