Interview With Gen. Petraeus

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
NBC
September 7, 2008

NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM
LESTER HOLT: It was announced today that U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, head of American forces in Iraq, will officially relinquish his command next week. Petraeus, who is credited with overseeing the troop surge that curbed Iraqi violence, will become head of the U.S. Central Command.
NBC’s Tom Aspell sat down with the general today in Baghdad for an exclusive interview, where he hinted at some upcoming news on troop withdrawals.
TOM ASPELL: Petraeus’ exit from Iraq comes at a time when there is increasing speculation about a reduction of America’s 146,000 troops here. But today he wouldn’t talk numbers.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS [Commander, Multi-National Forces-Iraq]: I’d rather not do that just because there are probably announcements coming this week that will lay out some of that and I think that would – I don’t want to preempt that kind of announcement.
ASPELL: As he prepares to leave Iraq, Petraeus says the success of the surge – 30,000 extra American combat troops who fought and lived alongside Iraqi soldiers to take and hold areas controlled by insurgents and militias – was a highlight. He worked with American and Iraqi troops in the field and talked with Iraqi civilians as the security situation improved.
PETRAEUS: We watched a soccer game, no body armor, no Kevlar, buying bread, talking to the merchants and got a cell phone call from the speaker of the Council of Representatives who reported that they’d passed three laws that day – not just one, but three, and they were very significant laws.
ASPELL: Petraeus moves on now to head Central Command, in charge of not only Iraq, but Afghanistan too, where analysts say more American troops are needed to take on a resurgent Taliban.
Were there lessons learned in Iraq he could apply to Afghanistan?
PETRAEUS: You have to craft a strategy obviously that is appropriate to that particular context. And so that’s by way of saying that you can’t take everything that we’ve done here and transplant it to Afghanistan.
ASPELL: Perhaps the most important lesson Petraeus will carry with him is the will to win.
Tom Aspell, NBC News, Baghdad.
 
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