David Petraeus (1952- ) is the American commander in Iraq. As a four-star general he is one of America’s top commanders besides being one of its leading experts on counter-insurgency: how to fight a guerrilla war.
This week, on September 10th 2007, he came to Washington to report on the war. He said it is getting better, that America can still win some kind of victory. Many did not believe him.
In January 2007, when many were calling for America to pull its troops out of Iraq, President Bush thought that America could still win and found a general who agreed: General Petraeus. He put Petraeus in charge and gave him 30,000 more men in one last push to try to turn the war. That last push has been called the surge – or, if you work for Al Jazeera, the so-called “surge”.
Bush said that by September 2007 we would know whether the surge was working. Now it is September.
Petraeus says that the surge is working. Iraq is less violent than it was before the surge, even if peace is still far away. Al Anbar, a Sunni part of Iraq west of Baghdad that once was given up for lost, seems to have turned the corner: leaders there are starting to join the Americans against Al Qaeda. Few expected that.
Petraeus said the 30,000 men could probably come home next summer, but we will not know for sure till March. In addition to the 30,000 America has 138,000 other soldiers in Iraq.
That is the good news that Petraeus could give. The bad news is that he believes America will have to be there for nine years – and even then the victory will not be an all-out one.
Of the two main parties in America, the Democrats are against the war and want to bring the troops home. But most of those in Bush’s party, the Republicans, are for staying there to bring peace to Iraq. The war promises to be the big issue of the elections in 2008 for president.
Petraeus has been in Iraq since the beginning: in 2003 when the war started he commanded the 101st Airborne division. He brought peace to the north, particularly Mosul. He worked with the leaders in his region rather than trying to bring peace by force alone. Other American commanders have been heavier handed.
In 2004 he was put in charge of creating Iraq’s new army and police force. That has not gone well at all: three years later Iraq still does not have enough well-trained men willing to keep the peace.
That is why, Republicans say, America cannot simply pull out: Iraq would sink into all-out civil war and Iran would step in. Al Qaeda would use Iraq as a safe place to train its men. Things would become far worse than they are now.
See also:
Abagond 
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