So far, the only thing I'm aware he's accomplished - is removing insane ROEs and unnecessary risks to our warriors by the EOF and ROE..
These insane measures should never have been implemented..
The 5th star will have to wait until he can take credit for achieving something of merit against the enemy...
Commanding the "surge" that temporarily has driven most of the Jihadists into hiding, awaiting our retreat from the field -- rather than stacking corpses like cord wood, isn't exactly a military victory...
Rather than "going to ground" as the surge seems to have caused -- I would prefer to see the enemy IN the ground or UP in red mist or black smoke...
We'll see...
Semper Fi
He has done a hell of alot more then that.
He wrote the new counterinsurgency manual. It was his idea to treat the insurgency as a local neighborhood policing problem which I have been saying for three years. Putting up 100 police stations on steriods with US troops, Iraqi troops, and Iraqi police was something I have wanted done for two years.
He is absolutely right about how the insurgency works. It works like a normal gang would. They get into neigborhoods and intimidate using violence loyals. If US and Iraqi troops are around long term the loyals won't fear if they rat on the insurgents a week later the US will leave and they will die. That is why we already see in Baghdad a doubling of tips since the surge began. The troops instead of being on giant FOBs are now out in the steets collecting intel and making connections with people and they are also watching the Iraqi Security Forces, giving them confidence and keeping them much more honest.
Petraeus also was tasked with the incredibly difficult task of building the Iraqi Army from the ground up in late 2004. A year and a half into the war the Pentagon finally figured out that a small National Guard isn't good enough for Iraq and it needs an Army. And, he did a damn good job building the Army from scratch.
This late Newsweek cover with Petraeus on it isn't from 2007 it is from late 2004.
http://www.dickinson.edu/news/features/2004/petraeus/petraeus.jpg
