Petraeus

Gen. David H. Petraeus has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan , Pakistan , Iran , Iraq and the surrounding region, while warning that the lack of development and the spiraling violence in Afghanistan will probably make it "the longest campaign of the long war. " The 100-day assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, a region in which Petraeus will oversee the...

WASHINGTON — Then CIA-Director David Petraeus objected to the final talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used five days after the deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, because he wanted to see more detail publicly released, including a warning issued from the CIA about plans for a break-in at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, a newly released email shows. Under pressure in the investigation that continues eight months after the attacks, the White House on...

It's a small irony of history that Gen. David Petraeus, attacked by the left for his role in revitalizing the Bush administration's effort in Iraq, is now being asked by a Democratic president to do much the same thing in Afghanistan. The Centcom commander intends to apply the same counterinsurgency tactics he developed in Iraq, but Afghanistan will be in many ways a tougher fight. Petraeus isn't a man who likes to lose, and he's assembling an all-star team. Gone is Gen. David McKiernan, a solid but uninspired commander; he will be replaced by Lt....

Armed with a Colt .45 and fluency in four languages, Rene Joyeuse spent five months undercover near German-occupied Paris for an American spy agency during World War II . Before and after the Normandy invasion of June 1944, the Swiss-born Joyeuse supplied vital intelligence and helped rescue more than 200 downed Allied airmen through an escape network. Joyeuse received the Distinguished Service Cross, the military's highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, then...

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus returned to Congress yesterday seeking more time to consolidate security gains in Iraq by halting withdrawals of U.S. forces this summer, all but guaranteeing that about 140,000 troops will remain at least through the fall presidential election. During a day of hearings against the backdrop of a heated campaign for the White House, Petraeus called security in Iraq "significantly better" than before last year's troop buildup but still "fragile and reversible.

Five years ago, when I covered David Petraeus's triumphant visit to Capitol Hill after he salvaged the war effort in Iraq, I likened the reception he received to that of conquering generals of Rome, who were feted with laurels, purple robes, trumpets and animal sacrifice. If anything, Petraeus's reception may have been superior to the ancients', I wrote, because he "didn't even have to endure, as Roman generals did, the slave holding the crown over his head and whispering in his ear: Sic...

Gen. David H. Petraeus warned at a pomp-filled retirement ceremony on Wednesday that the nation's leaders, faced with tough budget decisions, should be careful not to cut the military's budget too deeply in the years ahead. The vast majority of the hour-long ceremony at Fort Myer in Arlington celebrated Petraeus's 37 years of military service and his six years of leading troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Military bands played, medals were awarded, and Petraeus issued a long list of thanks to his mentors, his...

Gen. David H. Petraeus has served as commander in two wars launched by the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. If confirmed as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Petraeus would effectively take command of a third — in Pakistan. Petraeus's nomination comes at a time when the CIA functions, more than ever in its history, as an extension of the nation's lethal military force. CIA teams operate alongside U.S. special operations forces in conflict zones from Afghanistan to...

The resignation of the director of the Central Intelligence Agency over an extramarital affair was bound to be big news, no matter who held the job. That's especially the case when it fell just days after a presidential election and less than a week before hearings on intelligence questions in Libya are set to begin. But when that director is also a larger-than-life former general and "a man seen by many as the nation's preeminent military leader in the post- Sept. 11 world," the news takes...

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, President Bush's nominee to lead U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, supports continued U.S. engagement with international and regional partners to find the right mix of diplomatic, economic and military leverage to address the challenges posed by Iran . In written answers to questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he will testify today, Petraeus said the possibility of military action...

LOS ANGELES — In his first public speech since resigning as head of the CIA, David Petraeus apologized for the extramarital affair that "caused such pain for my family, friends and supporters. " The hero of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars struck a somber, apologetic tone as he spoke to about 600 people, including his wife and many uniformed and decorated veterans, at the University of Southern California's annual ROTC dinner on Tuesday night. "I know I can never fully assuage the pain that I...

We woke up on the morning of Nov. 9 expecting the usual: for one of us, the tending to patients; for the other, the morning rush of packing lunches and getting the kids to school. We were planning a party for our daughter's seventh birthday that weekend. What ensued over the next 72 hours not only overtook all attempts for a happy family celebration but also made us prisoners in our own home. Our lives were radically upended by the story that emerged after David Petraeus resigned as CIA...

At the start of the year, retired Gen. David H. Petraeus was flying high. He was the director of the CIA and was often mentioned as a prospective presidential candidate. He was the most recognized and heralded general of his generation, the subject of many adoring news stories and books. He had been the hero of the Iraq war, turning around an apparent disaster with the troop surge. And in 2010, he was called in to take over the Afghan war after Gen. Stanley McChrystal's dismissal.

Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, a husband-and-wife team of hawkish military analysts, put their jobs at influential Washington think tanks on hold for almost a year to work for Gen. David H. Petraeus when he was the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Provided desks, e-mail accounts and top-level security clearances in Kabul, they pored through classified intelligence reports, participated in senior-level strategy sessions and probed the assessments of field officers in order to...

Paula Broadwell, whose extramarital affair with retired Gen. David H. Petraeus led to his resignation as CIA director , will not be charged with cyber-stalking over e-mails sent to another woman, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Broadwell sent harassing e-mails to a Tampa socialite whom she apparently believed was threatening her relationship with Petraeus. The Tampa woman, Jill Kelley , shared the e-mails with an FBI agent, and the agency later opened an...

On April 16, 2011, Fox News contributor Kathleen T. McFarland met with Gen. David H. Petraeus, who was then head of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Below is an edited transcript of a portion of the conversation in which the two discuss Petraeus's future, his views of the news media and his reaction to the suggestion by Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes that he run for president. (Full story: Fox News chief's failed attempt to enlist Petraeus as presidential...

BAGHDAD, Sept. 9 -- Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the departing commander of U.S. forces in Iraq , said that the country remains "the central front" for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups but acknowledged that violence is rising in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- battlegrounds he will soon oversee as the next head of the U.S. military's Central Command. In an interview Tuesday, hours before President Bush spoke about the need to send more troops to Afghanistan, Petraeus said, "Iraq is still viewed as the central...

A t a time when our political system is said to be incapable of rising above poisonous partisanship to promote the national interest, Gen. David Petraeus's visit to Capitol Hill last week was instructive. What — you didn't know Petraeus was in town for make-or-break hearings on President Obama's Afghanistan policy? Well, in a way that proves the point. In September 2007 Petraeus returned from Baghdad at a comparable moment in the Iraq war. The week he was in town Iraq...

Roger Ailes, the longtime Republican media guru, founder of Fox News and its current chairman, had some advice last year for then-Gen. David H. Petraeus. AUDIO: Petraeus: ‘I'm not running' for president So in spring 2011, Ailes asked a Fox News analyst headed to Afghanistan to pass on his thoughts to Petraeus, who was then the commander of U.S. and coalition forces there. Petraeus, Ailes advised, should turn down an expected offer from President Obama to become CIA director and...

It seems hard to fathom now, but only 15 months ago, Gen. David H. Petraeus stood at attention on a sunny Fort Myer parade ground, listening to his peers compare him to the most accomplished generals in American history. Cannons boomed, sending clouds of white smoke billowing into the air. A band played patriotic marches. The moment was heady, the words intended for the ages. "You now stand among the giants, not just in our time, but of all time, joining the likes of Grant and Pershing and Marshall and Eisenhower...