Petraeus hangs up military uniform
Prepares to take over as CIA chief:
US: America’s most influential officer, General David Petraeus, bade
farewell to the military Wednesday with a warning against budget cuts
that could jeopardize the army’s ability to fight insurgencies.
As he prepares to take over as CIA chief, Petraeus voiced concern at
his retirement ceremony that fiscal pressures could undermine the force
he helped shape.
Amid “difficult” budget decisions, Petraeus said it was imperative to
build a force “that maintains the versatility and flexibility that have
been developed in the past decade in particular.”
During 10 years of war, Petraeus said the military had “relearned
since 9/11 the timeless lesson that we don’t always get to fight the
wars for which we’re 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, Afghanistan or elsewhere,” he said at a ceremony featuring honor
guards and martial music.
The 101st Airborne Division paratrooper, who rewrote the US Army’s
manual for counter-insurgency, embodies the military’s transformation
since the September 11, 2001 attacks as it shifted away from
conventional warfare.
His ideas have influenced a new generation of officers, who embraced
the model of a lighter, more agile force working closely with foreign
militia and US spy agencies. But fiscal pressures and the strain of two
ground wars have prompted calls to resume more conventional training and
move away from the counter-insurgency approach.
Petraeus, 58, left his mark on the US force in the post-9/11 era, but
history’s verdict on his time as commander in both Iraq and Afghanistan
remains an open question.
Celebrating a 37-year military career that began in the shadow of the
Vietnam War, top officers and former classmates turned out for the event
under sunny skies at Fort Meyer, next to Arlington National Cemetery
where fallen soldiers from current and past wars are buried.
Next week, Petraeus will don a civilian suit as he takes the helm at
the Central Intelligence Agency, where he will focus on some of the same
enemies he faced in the military, including Islamist militants from
South Asia to the Horn of Africa.
With his acute intellect and celebrity status, the four-star general
is revered by some as a hero, but his detractors on the left and inside
the military often portray him as a hyper-ambitious “King David” with
designs on the presidency. AFP |