June 24, 2010
A Soldier For All Seasons
The WSJ's piece on the "Petraeus Hail Mary." Via the good folks at Hot Air. I had the pleasure of hearing Petraeus speak to a room full of battalion and brigade commanders at Fort Riley as I was getting ready to deploy in the fall of 2006. At the time, he commanded the Army Combat Center at Fort Leavenworth--the prep for the "surge" was already in the works behind the scenes and it was obvious that he was not going to be in Kansas for much longer. David H. is brillant, astute, well-read, a born leader, and media- and politically savvy. The man knows how to put together a team and how to inspire those around him. He is unquestionably the most talented general officer of this generation and possibly since the WWII greats of Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton. If there is anyone who can get Afghanistan back on track, it is Petraeus.
Posted by LMC at June 24, 2010 08:09 PM | TrackBackUnfortunately, if there's anyone who can screw things up irreparably, even for a general as great as David H, it's Barack H.
I'm a civilian, I can say that.
Posted by: B.B. at June 25, 2010 01:00 AMGen Petraeus was successful in Iraq in no small measure because President Bush and leading figures in the administration were behind him and the American Ambassador, Ryan Crocker, 110%.
President Obama needs to replace Amb. Eikenberry and send the message in clear text: You're on the Team (civilian & military) supporting The Mission or Get Out. The first person he should deliver that message to is the Vice President.
Posted by: kmr at June 25, 2010 06:08 AMLooks like the first thing Petraeus is going to do is change the RoE. I hadn't realized how ridiculously self-defeating and horrifyingly dangerous they had become under the current skipper.
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