David Petraeus
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus AOis a retired American military officer and public official. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a highly decorated four-star general, serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Forceand Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistanfrom July 4, 2010, to...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWar Hero
Date of Birth7 November 1952
CountryUnited States of America
I am not a politician, and I will never be, and I say that with absolute conviction.
I think no commander ever is going to come out and say, 'I'm confident that we can do this.
I think Putin wants to recreate as much of the Soviet Union as he can through a variety of different means. He's invaded parts of Georgia, took Crimea, southeastern Ukraine, bases in other countries.
This cannot be the United States being the air force for Shia militias, or a Shia on Sunni Arab fight.
The president and I sat down in the Oval Office, and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.
I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago - I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago - whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden.
There is no military solution to the challenges of Syria.
If you don't want to have to kill or capture every bad guy in the country, you have to reintegrate those who are willing to be reconciled and become part of the solution instead of a continued part of the problem. And then, above all, the resources.
Every civilian's death diminishes us, collectively.
After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair.
Fighting in cities is a totally different endeavor than obviously fighting out in the open.
President Obama has said that our aspirations should be realistic. We are not going to turn one of the poorest countries in the world, that was plunged into 30 years of war, into an advanced, industrialized, Western-style democracy. What we want to achieve is Afghanistan's capacity to secure and govern itself.
Political progress will only take place if sufficient security exists.
The art of coalition command - whether it is here in Afghanistan, whether it was in Iraq or in Bosnia or in Haiti - is to take the resources you are provided with, understand what the strengths and weaknesses are and to employ them to the best overall effect.