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'Petraeus Generation' Is Making Muslim Allies

Posted Mar 17, 08 7:45 PM CDT in World 

(Newser) – US officers in Iraq and Afghanistan are learning to talk first and shoot later—a sea change for CO's trained to win by force, Newsweek reports. But their early gun battles only sparked insurgency and mired them in baffling street battles. Now, says David Petraeus, “You can’t kill your way out of an insurgency." A generation of US officers is absorbing Muslim culture and trying to make allies of insurgent foes to win.

Commanders are even leaving mega-bases to live in Iraqi communities. "Stop by, don't drive by," Petraeus tells them. Newsweek recounts the triumphs of one captain in Iraq who has recruited and built the trust of powerful locals who once battled US troops. He calls it a rocky road, with allegiances often hanging on a thread, but he’s learned that human intelligence is built from the ground up.

Source Newsweek

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U.S. soldiers of 3rd Brigade Combat team, 3rd Infantry Division carry an injured Iraqi volunteer civilian 60 kilometers (40 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 7, 2008.   (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
U.S. Commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, speaks at the Pentagon in Washington in this Sept. 13, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
An Iraqi girl carries her brother as U.S. Army soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment patrol a market in the Azamiyah neighborhood, north Baghdad, Feb. 11, 2008.   (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
Two US soldiers of Charlie Company, 1st Platoon, 1-15 Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat team, 3rd Infantry Division, patrol at Salman Pak city about 30 miles, south of Baghdad, March 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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Iraq war • Afghanistan • David Petraeus • troop surge • human intelligence


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