All In (47 page)

Petraeus never argued that counterinsurgency was the only way America should fight—only that it was the best way to pursue the wars at hand in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, while he was commander at Fort Leavenworth, he advocated readiness for “full-spectrum” military operations as the prudent goal, and he oversaw development of a field manual that emphasized that concept. He always noted that counterinsurgency includes plenty of hard-edged combat—including conventional clearing operations, counterterrorist force raids and use of airpower. Petraeus would later reflect that he might have spent too much time early on in Afghanistan talking about the success of the night raids. As a result, both the media and the Karzai government focused on them. His approach more correctly was a comprehensive one that also included “stability operations”—activities to support establishment of local governance and rule-of-law capability, foster economic development, counter corruption and drug trafficking, train host-nation security forces and reintegrate reconcilable members of the insurgency. These efforts aimed to improve basic services for the people so that they would support the legitimate government rather than the insurgent alternative. A comprehensive approach, and comprehensive readiness, were most prudent.

At his retirement ceremony, Petraeus reiterated this point, noting that “it will be imperative to maintain a force that not only capitalizes on the extraordinary experience and expertise resident in our ranks today but also maintains the versatility and flexibility that have been developed over the past decade in particular. I do believe . . . that we have relearned since 9/11 the timeless lesson that we don't always get to fight the wars for which we are most prepared or most inclined. Given that reality, we will need to maintain the full-spectrum capability that we have developed over this last decade of conflict in Iraq, in Afghanistan and elsewhere.”

MUCH LIKE AFGHANISTAN
for him at the outset, the inner workings of the CIA will be somewhat unfamiliar terrain to Petraeus. With his passion for mastering new systems and developing teams and people, he is likely to be a quick learner. Although the mission and personalities at the CIA will be somewhat new for him, Petraeus's leadership style there is unlikely to change.

From Central America and Haiti to Kuwait and Bosnia, from Iraq to Afghanistan and throughout the Central Command area, Petraeus succeeded in convincing fractious elements to work together. But he could have his work cut out for him in the U.S. intelligence community, where cooperation has never been a natural instinct. Most immediately, he will have to gauge how his approach is playing to members of the agency's powerful Clandestine Service, which includes a surging Special Activities Division, the CIA's paramilitary arm. Within his first month of assuming its directorship, in fact, CIA drones had killed two high-value al-Qaeda terrorist targets in Yemen: Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American imam, and a Saudi-born American militant, Samir Khan, who produced an English-language al-Qaeda Web magazine. Several “high value” al-Qaeda leaders were killed in the rugged tribal areas of Pakistan as well.

On the analytic side of the CIA, Petraeus will have to craft a constructive relationship with analysts in the Directorate of Intelligence who judged the war in Afghanistan a “stalemate” in an assessment issued as Petraeus was leaving Kabul (though, as Petraeus wryly noted, that judgment was an improvement over the CIA's assessment of the situation in the summer of 2010). Obama had already told him that he expected him to represent the position of his analysts—but that he also welcomed Petraeus's personal thoughts when they differ from the agency line.

As the eighth of twenty directors who came to the CIA from a military background and the second serving out of uniform, he is the first CIA director to have commanded large-scale combat operations and overseen a theater full of war and conflict. If the personal informs the professional, he will be well schooled in employment of these national assets.

PETRAEUS'S FORT MYER
retirement ceremony, on August 31, 2011, marked the end of one career and the beginning of a new one. Petraeus had requested a joint military parade, not an Army-only procession, to symbolically mark his succession of joint commands in combat. A communion of friends and family—from West Point classmates and Screaming Eagle comrades to diplomatic partners and beyond—and generous remarks from his friend and colleague Admiral Mike Mullen brought Petraeus a sense of closure. As Mullen put it:

 

What sets Petraeus apart is not just his ability to visualize the way to victory, but the will, the determination and the resilience to see it through. Afghanistan is now a more secure and hopeful place than a year ago, and while Dave would be the first to tell you that a lot of hard, deadly work remains, the progress has never been more real or the prospects more encouraging. David, you've run the race well, swifter and surer than the rest, and you now stand among the giants not just in our time but of all time, joining the likes of Grant and Pershing and Marshall and Eisenhower as one of the great battle captains of American history. You've expanded our view of the possible, inspiring our military on to historic achievements during some of the most trying times America has ever known. And today you depart our ranks with the sincere thanks of a grateful nation.

As you take the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency, your ability to see the next shot and around the corners will never be more important, and we are blessed that you will continue to serve and lead during these dynamic and uncertain times. T. E. Lawrence, a man who knew a thing or two about insurgencies, once said, “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible.” David Petraeus has indeed been a dreamer of the day, dangerous to our enemies but no greater friend to those with whom he fought alongside and fought for. He's been a dreamer with a vision and a plan to get there.

Petraeus, in his farewell address, spoke in terms of gratitude and caution. He thanked his family, his mentors and the troops for all that for which he had been lauded. He warned of cutting the military budget precipitously and beckoned decision makers to take care of the people—the cornerstone of the military. He noted the need to maintain full-spectrum operations capability, recalling once again that the military has to be ready for all contingencies, not just those with which they are the most comfortable. Implicit in his words was the question of whether the military would forget the hard-won lessons it had learned, or take the wrong lesson altogether, from the past decade of war.

He could have used the words he'd written in the concluding pages of his 1987 dissertation:

 

The senior military thus find themselves in a dilemma. The lessons taken from Vietnam would indicate that, in general, involvement in a counterinsurgency should be avoided. But prudent preparation for a likely contingency (and a general inclination against limiting a president's options) lead the military to recognize that significant emphasis should be given to counterinsurgency forces, equipment, and doctrine. Military leaders are thereby in the difficult position of arguing for the creation of more forces suitable for such conflicts, while simultaneously realizing that they may advise against the use of those forces unless very specific circumstances hold.

Petraeus ended his final address in uniform by quoting his favorite passage, from Teddy Roosevelt's 1910 “Man in the Arena” speech.

 

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

The White House seemed prepared to embrace the man whom pundits had tried to pit as an adversary. Immediately following Petraeus's ceremony, President Obama called to congratulate him on a historic career of service in the United States Army and commented on his “extraordinary contributions to our national security in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The words meant a lot to Petraeus, and so did the president's expression of gratitude for Petraeus's continued commitment to public service.

A week later, the irony at Petraeus's swearing-in as CIA director was unmistakable as Vice President Biden, the White House's leading Petraeus skeptic, administered the oath of office in the Roosevelt Room while Holly Petraeus held a tan-colored Bible Petraeus had received from his West Point roommate, Chris White, thirty-seven years earlier. Biden had opposed Petraeus's troop surge in Afghanistan and had reportedly seen the general, during the 2009 Afghan policy review, as an inflexible commander whose response to every request had been to demand more troops; more recently, Biden himself had pushed for a more aggressive drawdown in 2011, against the military's recommendations.

Yet those tensions seemed behind both of them now. Biden, in fact, revealed that he had been the one who had suggested to Obama in June 2010 that Petraeus assume command in Kabul. Now, as was customary for cabinet appointees, the vice president had been chosen to preside over swearing Petraeus in as director of the CIA. Petraeus, dressed in a tailored gray suit and burgundy-colored tie, placed his right hand on the Bible and repeated the oath of office after Biden.

“Duty, honor and country,” Biden said to Petraeus after reading the oath. “You've led and trained the 9/11 generation to become the greatest group of warriors this country has ever seen—I would argue that the world has ever seen. And not only your personal leadership but your strategic leadership has been invaluable. And now you've been called on to lead what I believe to be the leading intelligence agency in the world.”

Petraeus had gone through a transformation that summer. After six straight military commands leading up to the end of his career, the prospect of taking off his uniform had initially left him pensive. But he was grateful to have a demanding new job on the horizon, another opportunity to serve the nation. He hadn't lost his will to win by leaving the military. He hadn't forsaken his competitive nature. David Petraeus was still “all in.”

PHOTO INSERT

As a West Point cadet, Petraeus was noted for his drive and graduated in the top of his class, a star man in the class of 1974.

(Courtesy of David Petraeus)

Despite the antiwar sentiment of the time, Petraeus (right) remained dedicated to following his military heroes and set his sights on an infantry post after graduation.

(Courtesy of Robert Bassler and Steve Trauth)

Cadet Petraeus (fourth from left, front row) was assigned to Company C-1 (1970-1974).

(Courtesy of David Petraeus)