Gen. David Petraeus

101st Airborne Division

Petraeus’ resume also includes several assignments with the prestigious 101st Airborne Division.

He commanded its 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment. And from 1993 to 1994, Petraeus held two senior posts with the 101st: assistant chief of staff for plans, operations and training; and installation director of plans, training and mobilization.

He later commanded the 101st Airborne Division in combat operations during the first year of the ongoing Iraq conflict (Petraeus' first combat experience). He became the first commander of Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq in June 2004, a post he held until September 2005. From there, he took command of the U.S. Army’s Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in October 2005. It was during this tour that Petraeus revamped the Army’s counterinsurgency manual. That propelled him back to the Iraq theater for a 20-month tour as commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq. He became Centcom chief in October 2008.Gen. David Petraeus Biography  

82nd Airborne

He also spent several tours with the Army’s other prominent airborne division, the 82nd. From 1995 to 1997, he was commander of that division’s 1st Brigade. Petraeus would return to the 82nd Division in 1999 as a brigadier general with the post of assistant division commander for operations, and later, acting commander. During this run with the 82nd Airborne, Petraeus deployed to Kuwait as part of Operation Desert Spring, follow-on to the Persian Gulf War (code named Operation Desert Storm).

In 2001 and 2002, Petraeus conducted a 10-month stint in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he was assistant chief of staff for operations of the NATO Stabilization Force and deputy commander of the U.S. Joint Interagency Counterterrorism Task Force.

"Warrior-Scholar"

Petraeus is widely known in military and media circles as the modern version of the “warrior-scholar.” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), penned a piece for Time on the reason for the moniker. “Bright, studious, morally committed, physically brave, willing to carry a heavy rucksack without complaint and with clear-eyed resolve, Petraeus—along with the courageous men and women he has the honor to command—is our best reason to hope that we might yet avoid the catastrophe of an American defeat in Iraq,” McCain wrote.McCain, John Sen., “General David Petraeus,” Time 100, Time magazine

Petraeus is said to be as comfortable wielding complex concepts and policy ideas as he is a rifle. For instance, during a 2007 chat with Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), an Iraq war opponent, Petraeus made the argument that Bush’s policy should be given time to evolve. "I find him as genuine as can be," Baird said of the general.Kiely, Kathy, “Scholar’s Intellect, Warrior’s Intensity,” USA Today 

Petraeus picked up master’s and doctorate degrees at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Government, where he wrote his dissertation on ""The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam."Atkinson, Rick, "THE MAKING OF A COMBAT GENERAL, 'Tell Me How This Ends: 'The Long, Blinding Road to War Unexpected Challenges Tested Petraeus in Iraq," The Washington Post, March 7, 2004,U.S. Central Command Leadership Biography, Gen. David Petraeus

In September 2009, the general's spokesman disclosed that Petraeus had been treated for early-state prostate cancer since its diagnosis in February 2009. Schmitt, Eric, The New York Times, "Petraeus Has Prostate Cancer," Oct. 6, 2009

Iraq

Petraeus will be expected to implement whatever withdrawal plan is crafted by the Obama administration and lawmakers, but he will have a decided influence on its shape and enactment.

In early 2009, Obama announced that most U.S. troops will leave Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, but that a force of about 35,000 to 50,000 were likely to remain there until the end of 2011.Barnes, Julian E., “Gates on Board With Obama’s Iraq Plan,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 3, 2008

The U.S.-Iraqi withdrawal agreement is structured in two major phases: first, it mandates that U.S. combat troops be out of Iraqi cities and towns by June 30, 2011; and second, it requires all U.S. forces to be completely out of Iraq by the end of 2011. In July 2009, Gates argued that American troops could leave Iraq even earlier then expected because violence levels were down.Bumiller, Elisabeth, "Gates Sees Faster Iraq Troop Pullout," New York Times, July 29, 2009

For the most insightful clues about how Petraeus will navigate the rocky political waters, one needs only look into similar moments under the last president. Veteran Washington Post reporter Thomas E. Ricks noted that during his tenure as the top U.S. general in Iraq, it was Petraeus’ skillful tactics in the political arena off the battlefield “that would determine the fate of the [2007 troop] surge.” Ricks calls the general “a master on every front.”

Petraeus is said to respect the military’s strict rules about the chain-of-command, but, as Ricks notes, he is not afraid to dismiss it when necessary. “Throughout his time in Iraq, Petraeus bypassed the chain of command and answered directly to Bush,” Ricks wrote.Ricks, Thomas E., “A Military Tactician’s Political Strategy,” Washington Post,

‘The Forgotten War’

The shape of any eventual Iraq withdrawal plan will be directly linked to Obama’s Afghanistan strategy. Petraeus' handpicked Afghan commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, wrote an August 2009 memoCOMISAF's Initial Assessment, Unclassified Version published Sept. 21, 2009 in the Washington Post to Defense Secretary Robert Gates contending that a U.S. troop increase  in Afghanistan over the ensuing year was necessary or the mission "will likely result in failure."Woodward, Bob, The Washington Post, "McChrystal: More Forces of 'Mission Failure,' Sept. 21, 2009 McChrystal got his way when President Obama announced on Dec. 1, 2009 that he would send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan on an 18-month deadline.Transcript of Obama's speech, The Washington Post, Dec. 1, 2009

As Petraeus’ Tampa-based Centcom continues a soup-to-nuts review of the many hot spots in its area of responsibility,its commander has been busy sending signals about his area’s successful elements. And many of those ingredients, he says, won’t be found in the Pentagon’s spice rack. "One of the concepts we embraced in Iraq was recognition that you can't kill or capture your way out of a complex, industrial-strength insurgency," Petraeus said in an interview with Foreign Policy. "The challenge in Afghanistan, as it was in Iraq, is to figure out how to reduce substantially the numbers of those who have to be killed or captured."

Other hard lessons Petraeus gleaned in Iraq “may be applicable to Afghanistan,” including “the importance of securing and serving the population and the necessity of living among the people to secure them.” But, Petraeus cautioned in the Foreign Policy that interview, “the application of those ‘big ideas’ has to be adapted to Afghanistan. The ‘operationalization’ will inevitably be different.”Glasser, Susan, “Counterinsurgency Field Manual: Afghanistan Edition. An Interview with Gen. David H. Petraeus,” Foreign Policy

Pakistan

Petraeus has said repeatedly that any revised Afghanistan strategy must include plans for how Washington and its allies handle neighboring Pakistan. That is where many anti-American Taliban and Islamic extremist fighters allegedly train, arm, regroup and plan for attacks on U.S., coalition and Afghan forces.

In late January 2009, Petraeus told reporters following a meeting with Pakistani leaders that those talks “focused on ways the United States and the international community could assist Pakistan in acting against the militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the North-West Frontier Province, and other parts of the country bordering Afghanistan. He said the U.S. could help the “new democracy get itself established as it undertakes the difficult decisions that it has recently reached to be in compliance with the International Monetary Fund agreement.”Mass, Warren, “Petraeus Prepares for Afghan Military Buildup,” The New American