Blame the Top Brass

January 22, 2007 issue (posted January 16, 2006)
Blame the Top Brass

Petraeus was an exception. While other generals were trying by force to crush the insurgents,
Petraeus was working to isolate them by winning the population's hearts and minds. The commander of the 101st Airborne, he labored to pacify Mosul, the area of northern Iraq under his control in the first year after the invasion, by satisfying the people's needs: security, jobs, the repair of local utilities and the rebirth of local democracy. His success there led the press and military
establishment to regard him as a "water walker"; the praise heaped on him—NEWSWEEK ran a
cover story in July 2004 asking, "Can This Man Save Iraq?"—is qualified only by
jealousy.