General Petraeus?

Question

What do you think?

Answer 1

I have a very large amount of respect for this man, a hero who has put down his life to fight for his country. He is an amazing strategist and seems to be doing pretty well in the Iraq war. He is also starting to understand how to fight against Al Qaeda In Iraq, and has gotten very lucky that the Sunni arabs have turned on Al Qaeda in Anbar. Please understand that he and the rest of the army are fighting in unfavorable conditions.

First of all, the US army doesn't have the numbers to really do the job succesfully. Secondly, Iraq is starting to descend into a civil war between the shiites and the sunnis which US soldiers get caught in the middle of a lot of the time.

Thirdly, most of Iraq's government leaders do not want to seek peace just yet, and instead want to continue their fighting with their death squads and insurgency. Many of these government leaders actually have pledged allegiance to Muqtada Al Sadr, who is in charge of the Shiite Mehdi Army. Other government leaders have their own armies and death squads under their command and want to continue the act of ethnic cleansing.

The Sunnis are very afraid right now that the Shiites (vast majority) will not give the Sunnis any power in the government. Because of this, they don't trust and don't work well when trying to pass important government projects. The Shiites also don't want to give the Sunnis power in Iraq because they want most of the power for themselves, especially because the Shiites make up the vast majority in Iraq.

Fourth thing to add is that America is not fighting this war in a traditional way, and that America really doesn't have a defined enemy besides Al Qaeda whose ideology will create new members and will follow the American soldiers anywhere they go.

Fifth thing to add is that there is a lot of foreign intervention especially from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and other countries who have an interest in Iraq's situation currently. Iran and Syria would really like to have a new ally in the Sunni-Shiite rivalry in the Middle East and are making every effort to make sure that Iraq becomes Shiite dominated, although the suicide bombers coming from and through Syria want the Sunnis to have an equal say in the Iraqi government and are attacking Shiite civilians. There are also many suicide bombers coming through Saudi Arabia to fight for the Sunni insurgency and for Al Qaeda In Iraq.

Petraeus's answer about not knowing if America was safer suprised me a lot though, but I believe he really is not sure. Because of this answer though, people are saying that there is no point in staying in Iraq and it is an interesting point to make because the war in Iraq may not be helping and may even be hurting America.

But, I do agree with him that the consequences of withdrawing from Iraq will make the situation a lot worse and from what I know, most people agree with this type of assessment.

General Petraeus is a hero for the United States and definately should not have been called a liar and a betrayer by some from the left, and MoveOn.org. I found it atrocious to see what they said about him and I hope they take back what they said, because he is a very respected man.

His job in Iraq has only just begun, (unless all the troops are withdrawn soon) please understand this, and in my view, he is learning about fighting this war at a pretty fast rate.

Answer 2

General Petraeus is a very intelligent man, militarily and personally. He has worked to earn a PHD and was personally selected by the Senate to be selected as the Commander of Multi-National Forces here in Iraq.
A wise decison maker, with impecible military wisdom.

Answer 3

i'm an American and that i do no longer desperately desire a timetable for withdrawal. i think of regular Petraeus is a pretty intelligent and honorable guy, who's lots greater able to properly comparing the region on the floor in Iraq than anybody sitting in DC. As for the surge - did you study the Jones rfile? in spite of the incontrovertible fact that it reported that we commence reducing our troops, it highlighted the progression of the Iraqi military and expressed the perception that they are in a position to be able to take over greater duty for their very own risk-free practices - i.e. we can be able to commence reducing our troops sometime next 3 hundred and sixty 5 days as a results of fulfillment of the surge procedures. ... it sounds somewhat like what Petraeus is asserting.

Answer 4

A patriotic, brilliant Army general who accepted a tough job and is doing his best to accomplish it.

Some of what he has been able to do has bordered on miraculous.

I can compare him to some predecessors, such as Creighton Abrams, Dwight Eisenhower, Norman Schwartzkopf, and others but these comparisons are not totally fair. These had different styles. U.S. Grant may be the best comparison.

I'd say David Petraeus deserves our respect and trust.

Answer 5

Acted with more dignity than anyone else in the room.
Producted a report as requested. Cannot be held responsible if it didn't say what congress wanted to hear.
If we would ever run for president, he has my vote.

Answer 6

An honorable man. A man who has spent his life in service to our country. It makes me angry that liberals, especially Hillary Clinton have chosen to indirectly call this man a liar and smear his name! Liberals have no class.

Answer 7

A good man, dedicated soldier and the right choice to lead our guys in Iraq. A man that i am sure can get the job done.

Answer 8

I believe that he is an honorable, 4-star general that testified to congress telling 99.9% the truth about Iraq.

Answer 9

Good man. I'm proud of his many years of service to this nation.

Answer 10

Decorated war hero who gave the most unbiased report possible to Congress. See my blog for a transcript: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-DfkctJU7dK5B7LcNROoyVQ--;_ylt=AvKCmn92W_FCk0ugZGetFgflAOJ3?cq=1