Petraeus' Soldier Scholars

By John

Phenomenal article from The Washington Post's Thomas Ricks on Petraeus Guys:

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the new U.S. commander in Iraq, is assembling a small band of warrior-intellectuals -- including a quirky Australian anthropologist, a Princeton economist who is the son of a former U.S. attorney general and a military expert on the Vietnam War sharply critical of its top commanders -- in an eleventh-hour effort to reverse the downward trend in the Iraq war.

Army officers tend to refer to the group as "Petraeus guys." They are smart colonels who have been noticed by Petraeus, and who make up one of the most selective clubs in the world: military officers with doctorates from top-flight universities and combat experience in Iraq.

General Petraeus' main brain is, surprisingly enough, an Aussie:

Petraeus, who along with the group's members declined to be interviewed for this article, has chosen as his chief adviser on counterinsurgency operations an outspoken officer in the Australian Army. Lt. Col. David Kilcullen holds a PhD in anthropology, for which he studied Islamic extremism in Indonesia. Kilcullen has served in Cyprus, Papua New Guinea and East Timor and most recently was chief strategist for the State Department's counterterrorism office, lent by the Australian government. His 2006 essay "Twenty-Eight Articles: Fundamentals of Company-Level Counterinsurgency" was read by Petraeus, who sent it rocketing around the Army via e-mail. Among Kilcullen's dictums: "Rank is nothing: talent is everything" -- a subversive thought in an organization as hierarchical as the U.S. military.

Not a subversive thought in the Special Forces, however, where the round-table concept is more doctrine than tradition.

I like Ricks. Making the Corps was outstanding. And while he was terribly harsh on Rumsfeld in Fiasco, seemed to have a high opinion of General Petraeus. You can catch that vibe in the article, he referred to Petraeus' leadership in Mosul as "one of the few notable success stories of the war."

Straight shooter who isn't afraid to embed. I wish Ricks would take over as the Washington Post's National Security Columnist....

February 5, 2007 11:51 AM Strategery

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Comments

military officers with doctorates from top-flight universities and combat experience in Iraq.

And all along the media is telling me the military is made op of nothing bu a bunch of ignorant mindless drones...

This Patraeus guy, I'm liking him more and more.

Lawrence · February 5, 2007 12:48 PM

I was at Ft. Campbell, but not the 101st, for a few months in 2003 when the 101st was deployed to Iraq. You just got that whole "respect" vibe for him from the whole base.

I'm hoping this is the start of a new ball game.

SGT Jeff (USAR) · February 5, 2007 01:25 PM

Mike Yon keeps saying that if Petraeus can't do it, no one can...

John · February 5, 2007 02:43 PM

Gen. Petraeus certainly seems like the right man for the job. Hope he can pull it off with 2/3's the resources his own counterinsurgency manual says he'll need just to control Baghdad.

Pretty good article on the subject here.

Freeman · February 5, 2007 08:52 PM