Important piece by Brent Budowsky now, with
the permision of Brent, at www.NoQuarterUSA.net.
by Brent Budowsky
Gen. David Petraeus is a good man and a great soldier with a track
record of almost complete failure in his previous tours of duty in
Iraq.
Let this be said up front: While the president and Petraeus
maneuver
for him to testify on the anniversary of Sept. 11, the Speaker and
majority leader should hold firm and say that this matter is not
subject to discussion and the general will not testify on this date.
The fact that Petraeus would allow himself to be used in this
attempt at shameful exploitation of the one day on our calendar that
should be above exploitation, speaks for itself.
My views on the futility of the surge, which in fact is not a
surge
but a long-term escalation, have been stated before and will be stated
again. The truth is, the majority of generals and admirals in the
American military do not agree with the views advocated by Petraeus,
Gen. Odierno, and Gen. Lynch, who most recently violated the military
protocol for active duty commanders by criticizing and debating against
Sen. John Warner’s call for some troop withdrawals by
Christmas.
To lay the foundation for the historic debate that will begin
as
Labor Day ends, the point of this note is to highlight how wrong
Petraeus has been in his previous tours of duty in Iraq.
Fact: After the initial phase of fighting, in the areas under
his
command, sectarian warfare ultimately escalated and his efforts for
political agreements, while worthy, failed.
Fact: In his tour of duty commanding the training of the Iraqi
military, his training results were a dismal failure, and all
subsequent training programs have been to redo his failed efforts and
undo the damage done during that tour of duty.
Fact: There have been major disappearances, losses and/or
misplacement of large amounts of Iraqi weapons that were grossly
mismanaged (at best) under his command. Almost certainly those weapons
were ultimately sold on the Iraqi black market with some landing in the
hands of criminals, insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists who used them to
kill Americans and Iraqis.
Fact: The Army has recently expanded a major criminal
investigation
of the mismanagement, misuse and probable corruption that happened
during the Petraeus watch, under the Petraeus command. Petraeus is
undoubtedly 100 percent personally honest, but there are people close
to him under investigation for weapons and resources under his command,
which were stolen or lost, and he bears a substantial command
responsibility for bad management and bad judgment.
Fact: Shortly before the 2004 presidential election Petraeus
did
something that active-duty commanders should not do. In late September
he wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post obviously as a favor to
the Bush campaign, in which he applauded what he called major progress
by the Iraqi military, Iraqi police and Iraqi leadership.
It is bad enough that the general, a smart guy who knew what
he was
doing, interfered in the 2004 presidential election, in effect
advocating the position of the Republican candidate, the incumbent, on
the number-one issue of the campaign, only weeks before the vote.
Beyond taking a political position in a way that an
active-duty
general should never do, which demonstrates political tendencies that
in truth trouble many of the highest ranking military officers today,
his forecast and analysis turned out to be almost completely,
catastrophically wrong on every level.
We now learn the “Petraeus Report” was
never the Petraeus Report; it
was to be a report he drafted, to be rewritten and released with the
language, forecasts and recommendations not of Petraeus, but the White
House that has a long history of misrepresentation on matters regarding
Iraq.
Even worse, we now learn that there will be no written report
from
Petraeus or the White House that was to have received his original
paper. The whole exercise was a political sham, designed to buy time,
and now that the time has been bought, the truth comes out: The
Petraeus Report will not exist, anywhere, in written form.
As Petraeus prepared to issue what is called the Petraeus
Report in
September 2007, I am posting here the original Petraeus Report in The
Washington Post that preceded the election in September 2004.
Members of Congress should read this and judge for themselves.
In my
humble opinion, what follows, written three years ago almost to the
day, is a compendium of misjudgment and analysis and forecasts that a
reasonable person might call delusional, and even the most charitable
person would call disastrously wrong, with disastrous consequences for
those who served during the three years after this op-ed was written.
Here is Petraeus, in his own words, three years ago. Judge for
yourself:
Battling for Iraq
By David H. Petraeus
(From The Washington Post, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2004)
BAGHDAD — Helping organize, train and equip
nearly a
quarter-million of Iraq’s security forces is a daunting task.
Doing so
in the middle of a tough insurgency increases the challenge enormously,
making the mission akin to repairing an aircraft while in flight
— and
while being shot at. Now, however, 18 months after entering Iraq, I see
tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the
ground up.
The institutions that oversee them are being reestablished
from the
top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country
and their security forces courageously in the face of an enemy that has
shown a willingness to do anything to disrupt the establishment of the
new Iraq.
In recent months, I have observed thousands of Iraqis in
training
and then watched as they have conducted numerous operations. Although
there have been reverses — not to mention horrific terrorist
attacks —
there has been progress in the effort to enable Iraqis to shoulder more
of the load for their own security, something they are keen to do. The
future undoubtedly will be full of difficulties, especially in places
such as Fallujah. We must expect setbacks and recognize that not every
soldier or policeman we help train will be equal to the challenges
ahead.
Nonetheless, there are reasons for optimism.
Today approximately 164,000 Iraqi police and soldiers (of
which
about 100,000 are trained and equipped) and an additional 74,000
facility protection forces are performing a wide variety of security
missions. Equipment is being delivered. Training is on track and
increasing in capacity. Infrastructure is being repaired. Command and
control structures and institutions are being reestablished.
Most important, Iraqi security forces are in the fight
— so much so
that they are suffering substantial casualties as they take on more and
more of the burdens to achieve security in their country. Since Jan. 1
more than 700 Iraqi security force members have been killed, and
hundreds of Iraqis seeking to volunteer for the police and military
have been killed as well.
Six battalions of the Iraqi regular army and the Iraqi
Intervention
Force are now conducting operations. Two of these battalions, along
with the Iraqi commando battalion, the counterterrorist force, two
Iraqi National Guard battalions and thousands of policemen recently
contributed to successful operations in Najaf.
Their readiness to enter and clear the Imam Ali shrine was
undoubtedly a key factor in enabling Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani to
persuade members of the Mahdi militia to lay down their arms and leave
the shrine.
In another highly successful operation several days ago,
the Iraqi
counterterrorist force conducted early-morning raids in Najaf that
resulted in the capture of several senior lieutenants and 40 other
members of that militia, and the seizure of enough weapons to fill
nearly four 7 1/2-ton dump trucks.
Within the next 60 days, six more regular army and six
additional
Intervention Force battalions will become operational. Nine more
regular army battalions will complete training in January, in time to
help with security missions during the Iraqi elections at the end of
that month.
Iraqi National Guard battalions have also been active in
recent
months. Some 40 of the 45 existing battalions — generally all
except
those in the Fallujah-Ramadi area — are conducting operations
on a
daily basis, most alongside coalition forces, but many independently.
Progress has also been made in police training. In the past
week
alone, some 1,100 graduated from the basic policing course and five
specialty courses. By early spring, nine academies in Iraq and one in
Jordan will be graduating a total of 5,000 police each month from the
eight-week course, which stresses patrolling and investigative skills,
substantive and procedural legal knowledge, and proper use of force and
weaponry, as well as pride in the profession and adherence to the
police code of conduct.
Iraq’s borders are long, stretching more than
2,200 miles. Reducing
the flow of extremists and their resources across the borders is
critical to success in the counterinsurgency. As a result, with support
from the Department of Homeland Security, specialized training for
Iraq’s border enforcement elements began earlier this month
in Jordan.
Regional academies in Iraq have begun training as well, and
more
will come online soon. In the months ahead, the 16,000-strong border
force will expand to 24,000 and then 32,000. In addition, these forces
will be provided with modern technology, including vehicle X-ray
machines, explosive-detection devices and ground sensors.
Outfitting hundreds of thousands of new Iraqi security
forces is
difficult and complex, and many of the units are not yet fully
equipped. But equipment has begun flowing. Since July 1, for example,
more than 39,000 weapons and 22 million rounds of ammunition have been
delivered to Iraqi forces, in addition to 42,000 sets of body armor,
4,400 vehicles, 16,000 radios and more than 235,000 uniforms.
Considerable progress is also being made in the
reconstruction and
refurbishing of infrastructure for Iraq’s security forces.
Some $1
billion in construction to support this effort has been completed or is
underway, and five Iraqi bases are already occupied by entire infantry
brigades.
Numbers alone cannot convey the full story. The human
dimension of this effort is crucial.
The enemies of Iraq recognize how much is at stake as Iraq
reestablishes its security forces.
Insurgents and foreign fighters continue to mount barbaric
attacks
against police stations, recruiting centers and military installations,
even though the vast majority of the population deplores such attacks.
Yet despite the sensational attacks, there is no shortage of qualified
recruits volunteering to join Iraqi security forces.
In the past couple of months, more than 7,500 Iraqi men
have signed
up for the army and are preparing to report for basic training to fill
out the final nine battalions of the Iraqi regular army. Some 3,500 new
police recruits just reported for training in various locations. And
two days after the recent bombing on a street outside a police
recruiting location in Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqis were once again
lined up inside the force protection walls at another location
— where
they were greeted by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
I meet with Iraqi security force leaders every day. Though
some
have given in to acts of intimidation, many are displaying courage and
resilience in the face of repeated threats and attacks on them, their
families and their comrades. I have seen their determination and their
desire to assume the full burden of security tasks for Iraq.
There will be more tough times, frustration and
disappointment
along the way. It is likely that insurgent attacks will escalate as
Iraq’s elections approach. Iraq’s security forces
are, however,
developing steadily and they are in the fight. Momentum has gathered in
recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders out front and with continued
coalition — and now NATO — support, this trend will
continue. It will
not be easy, but few worthwhile things are.
The writer, an Army lieutenant general, commands the
Multinational
Security Transition Command in Iraq. He previously commanded the 101st
Airborne Division, which was deployed in Iraq from March 2003 until
February 2004.
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