~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
USA Today
March 8, 2007
Pg. 9
Petraeus Strategy Takes Aim At Post-Vietnam Mind-Set
Seeks to change military views on insurgencies
By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY
Twenty years ago, David Petraeus, then a young Army officer, wrote a Ph.D. dissertation for Princeton University, saying many of the lessons U.S. military leaders learned from the Vietnam War were wrong.
Generals had become hesitant to commit forces except when they could win conventional battles with superior American firepower. "The senior military have universally been more cautious since Vietnam," Petraeus wrote.
That hesitancy posed a problem in Petraeus' view. The U.S. military was turning away from the very fight - insurgencies - that it would likely confront. The United States' enemies had also learned from Vietnam and would not want to confront U.S. military might head-on.
Now the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Petraeus is following his own advice. Since he arrived in Baghdad last month, U.S. troops are moving off large bases and into combat outposts in the city's turbulent neighborhoods. Aides insist the new strategy is beginning to show positive results, particularly in the capital:
oSectarian fighting between Sunni Arabs and Shiites is down by between 50% and 80% in some districts in Baghdad, says David Kilcullen, Petraeus' senior counterinsurgency adviser.
oBetween 600 and 1,000 families have returned to Baghdad in the past month, says Kilcullen, a former Australian army officer on loan to the U.S. military. Prior to that, about 20 families fled the capital daily.
oSunni insurgent leaders have renewed talks with top U.S. officials about political accommodation, according to Jack Keane, a retired general and former Army vice chief of staff.
Keane is a longtime friend and mentor of Petraeus, and they shared numerous assignments during their careers. Keane also pushed a troop-escalation plan similar to President Bush's plan to add 21,500 combat troops to Iraq. Keane recently spent two weeks in Iraq.
Petraeus, 54, has brought some of the Army's top counterinsurgency experts to Iraq to implement the new strategy. "We are doing something completely different," Kilcullen says.
At first, U.S. forces in Iraq focused on killing or capturing insurgents, Kilcullen says. The sometimes heavy-handed tactics angered ordinary Iraqis.
Then the Pentagon shifted its emphasis to training Iraqi forces to take over security operations and allow U.S. forces to leave. Many Iraqi units weren't up to the mission. Sectarian violence in Baghdad exploded; some Iraqi forces were accused of siding with militias.
During his Senate confirmation hearings in January, Petraeus said Baghdad residents just want security, and they don't care if U.S. or Iraqi troops provide it.
"One of the critical things that is different now is the way we're using troops," Kilcullen says. "We're getting a much bigger bang for the buck." Moving U.S. troops from heavily defended bases makes more of them vulnerable to attack. Even supporters admit the outcome is far from guaranteed. "We won't know if it's too late until we try it," Kilcullen says.
Violence over the past several years has risen sharply. Iraqis are angered about a lack of security and basic services. "The situation in Iraq is dire," Petraeus acknowledged at his confirmation hearing.
Violence since Petraeus' arrival remains high. Two different attacks Monday killed nine U.S. troops outside Baghdad. Twin suicide bombings Tuesday killed 120 people in Hillah in southern Iraq. At least 30 people were killed by a suicide bomb in a cafe northeast of the capital Wednesday.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that the Pentagon has approved a request by Petraeus for an extra 2,200 military police in Baghdad, according to the Associated Press. Gates said that the request for extra MPs is in addition to the 21,500 combat troops that Bush is sending to Iraq.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, who works under Petraeus, has recommended that the higher troop level be kept until February 2008, The New York Times reported on its website Wednesday night, quoting unnamed military officials.
Petraeus said at his confirmation hearings that he expected to see positive results by late summer.
Petraeus has done two previous tours in Iraq. When he returned to the USA, he began tackling a problem he first identified 20 years ago: the lack of strong counterinsurgency training and doctrine in the U.S. Army.
"We got so far out of this business when we got back from Vietnam," says Andrew Krepinevich, a counterinsurgency expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
Petraeus oversaw the creation of a new counterinsurgency manual. "He was the driving force behind it," says Army Lt. Col. John Nagl, who wrote a book on insurgencies and now helps train military advisers.
The manual is an attempt to get past the post-Vietnam fear of insurgencies, acknowledging fighting rebellions are often lengthy and ambiguous affairs.
"These wars are long, messy and slow," Nagl says.
The Petraeus file
Age: 54; born Nov. 7, 1952.
Career: Commander, Multi-National Force - Iraq, Feb. 10 to present; commanding general, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth (Kansas), 2005-07; first commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq, 2004-05; various positions, including commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), assistant chief of staff for operations of the NATO Stabilization Force and deputy commander of the U.S. Joint Interagency Counter-Terrorism Task Force in Bosnia.
Education: B.S., U.S. Military Academy, 1974; MPA and Ph.D. in international relations, Princeton University, 1985 and 1987.
Family: Wife, Holly; a son and a daughter.
Sources: Associated Press, U.S. Army
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RESTORE THE REPUBLIC!
R.W. "D1ck" Gaines
The Original
"Gunny G"
GnySgt USMC (Ret.)
1952- (Plt #437PISC)-'72
Sites & Forums For... The Thinking Marine!
~~~~~~~~~~~
GyG's Globe and Anchor! --Sites & Forums
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/dickg/sites.html
~~~~~~
GyG's Old Salt Marines Tavern ~Interactive~
http://network54.com/Forum/135069
~~~~~~~~
GyG's Globe and Anchor Weblog
http://gunnyg.blogspot.com/
~~~~~~~
GyG's History/Traditions, etc.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/220604/
~~~~~~~
The GyG Archive/Bookmarks @FURL
http://www.furl.net/members/gunnyg
~~~~~
RSS Feed-GyG's FURL Archive
http://www.furl.net/members/gunnyg/rss.xml
~~~~~~~
Want On GyG's E-Mail List?
~~~
Send: GunnyG@GMail.com
ADD In Subject Line....
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
|
