Free Republic

No doubt Rudi Guiliani, a staunch loyalist and the face of our grieving Nation on 9/11, would make an excellent Secretary of State. That said, he is more Richard Armitage than Colin Powell, more cut to the chase than the 35-year military man, more maverick than mollifier. Mitt Romney? Steady mollifier, a proven manager-in-chief, turn-key source for dispassionate counsel. But is that what the Trump/Pence Administration is hunting, as they prepare to remake America’s Foreign Policy? Or is the best choice General Keane, General Kelly, Senator Corker? Maybe. Maybe not. Comes now a new name, General David Petreaus. Here...

In was an interesting coincidence that as the Intelligence Community Inspector General Charles McCullough III was writing to the heads of the House and Senate Intelligence committees, among others, that Hillary Clinton had above-top-secret SAP (Special Access Programs) information on her private email server, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, the Daily Beast reports, is preparing to demote Gen. David Petraeus, former CENTCOM commander and CIA chief for mishandling similar SAP information while in uniform.

This week's news from Iraq isn't good, though when has it ever been? Well, maybe during those exceptional times when Washington was paying close attention and American troops were being given the support and leeway to do their job right. Indeed, superlatively. As they can be given their head and led by field commanders like David Petraeus, a thoughtful leader who had prepared himself -- and our whole military culture -- for a new kind of warfare called counterinsurgency. Gen. Petraeus would later become a-cropper about a matter quite outside the military realm but all too common among the male...

The Associated Press is reporting that Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, has rewritten, er… cleaned up language in an earlier directive by former commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, that the troops there said tied their hands when it came to rules of engagement. Now that we have the politicians fighting the war on terror it’s clear that this thing will drag on until America once again tires of media reports of the war and of more American casualties and we pull out with our head hung low in defeat. What happened to the generals...

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

CORNWALL — Thirteen-year-old Megan Gagnon is killing time outside her middle school on Thursday afternoon, waiting for police and federal agents to finish a sweep of the building. This is a big deal. Gen. David H. Petraeus is about to arrive. He grew up here, she says, graduated from Cornwall High, then West Point. “Now he runs Iraq and Afghanistan.” Gagnon's dad is in the Army too, deployed to Iraq for the past nine months. She told him, over a webcam, that Petraeus was visiting on Thursday so the town could name a street after him. The band was going...

Petraeus Has Prostate Cancer By ERIC SCHMITT Published: October 5, 2009 WASHINGTON — Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American military forces in the Middle East, received a diagnosis of early-stage prostate cancer in February but has undergone “successful” radiation treatment to deal with the illness, according to a statement issued late Monday. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American military forces in the Middle East, at the Newseum in Washington last week. He received a diagnosis of early-stage prostate cancer in February. General Petraeus, 56, who as head of the United States...

General David Petraeus was back in Washington last week. President Bush has promoted him to chief of Central Command (CENTCOM), which requires Senate confirmation. Under Petraeus's leadership, Iraq has changed dramatically. Why can't the Democrats change with it? Bush announced the surge in January 2007. Iraq was a violent place. Al Qaeda in Iraq held large swaths of territory. Shiite death squads roamed much of Baghdad. The Iraqi political class seemed feckless. Hence Bush's decision to send more troops, replace General George Casey with Petraeus, and change the mission from force protection and search-and-destroy to population security. The new strategy's...

As Gen. David Petraeus testified under the glare of the klieg lights before Congress this week, we were treated to a close-up of the character of not just the commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, but also those attempting to sit in judgment of him. [snip] Among those who have attempted to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is that self-proclaimed champion of "hope," Sen. Barack Hussein Obama. [snip] Someone who hasn't been absent from the pews of the church of Obama-mania is a woman named Jodie Evans, who happens to work for the anti-American group Code Pink. Campaign...

I didn't see a live thread up yet for the Wednesday House hearings, so here it is.

Live-Blogging from Capitol Hill: General Petraeus Testimony Written by Melanie Morgan    Tuesday, 08 April 2008 Michelle Malkin is doing a stunning job of keeping track of the bloviating from Senate Democrats, heckling by CodePink, and the reports of REAL progress taking place in Iraq. Go here.Or click over to Sister Toldjah here.Ron Winter sums it with his withering criticism of Senator Carl Levin. Disgusting.Also, I got a call from Kristinn Taylor at FreeRepublic.com who brought a banner into the Senate chambers in D.C. It read "Thank You General Petraeus."Naturally, the Capitol police snatched his sign. And let the CodePinkos wave...

So where do we stand with Democrats denouncing the MoveOn.org attack on Gen. Petraeus? Joe Biden has said he didn't agree with the attack and the general is an honorable man. Wesley Clark denounced the attack, but he's not running for president at the moment. Today Hillary Clinton passed on the opportunity to make a full-throated denunciation of the ad, saying: "I've never had that opinion, and I've said publicly on numerous occasions, including at the last hearing, how much I respect Gen. Petraeus and his service to our country." Well, OK, but several bricks short of a load. Richard...

General David Petraeus has finished two days of being insulted, slandered, browbeaten and patronized by Democrats, which will have to pass for reporting to Congress on the progress being made by the troop surge in Iraq. What we found out, in the moments that those pompous, grandstanding blowhards and the lunatic protesters in the gallery let him get a word in edgewise, is that Iraq is coming along slowly but steadily, enough that gradual troop drawdowns are scheduled to begin by spring. This is good news for everyone – except Democrats and their moonbat base, as they are completely invested...

Mr. Chairmen, Ranking Members, Members of the Committees, thank you for the opportunity to provide my assessment of the security situation in Iraq and to discuss the recommendations I recently provided to my chain of command for the way forward. At the outset, I would like to note that this is my testimony. Although I have briefed my assessment and recommendations to my chain of command, I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress. As a bottom line up front, the military objectives of the...

The grand finale of this effort will be a giant pro-troop rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007. A coalition of pro-troop organizations will team up to amass a giant crowd of proud, patriotic Americans who will send a message that the American people support our troops and their missions, and we won't stand for surrender to the terrorists. Here's a list of just some of the participating organizations that have pledged their support of this effort: # Move America Forward # Gathering of Eagles # Eagles Up # FreeRepublic.com # Protest Warriors # Victory Caucus # OpposeReid.com...

To the Iraqi People: Monday, April 9, 2007 will mark the 4th anniversary of the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein's regime. For many in Iraq and around the world, it will be a time for reflection on the early days after liberation in 2003 and on what has transpired since then. As one of those who was part of the "fight to Baghdad," I remember well the hopes and dreams of the Iraqi people when coalition soldiers pulled down Saddam's statue in Firdos Square in April 2003. Looking back, I recall a sense of enormous promise -- promise that,...

Home along with his soldiers after a one- year deployment in Iraq, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) called the division's experiences in Operation Iraqi Freedom "a roller coaster" of highs and lows. Since the first elements of the division began leaving their sprawling post that straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border north of Nashville in February 2003, Army Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus said they experienced amazing high points in Iraq. Division troops engaged and killed Saddam Hussein's two sons, Uday and Qusay, in Mosul, and also captured Asa Hawleri, third in the terrorist group Ansar al- Islam's...