It's His to Win

Meet the man who gets Iraq now. Gen. David H. Petraeus. By all accounts tough, a soldier's soldier, a counter-insurgency scholar, and has extensive dealings with the Iraqi military. Maybe, with sufficient backing, he can do it. In any case, as Barry McCaffrey says in this Washington Post article:

"... I'm sure he'll say to himself, 'I'm not going to be the last soldier off the roof of the embassy in the Green Zone.'

...Petraeus, if controversial among some peers who deem him arrogant or excessively ambitious, is seen by many others as perhaps the last, best hope for success in Iraq. "If anyone can pick up the baton and run with it, it is David Petraeus," said retired Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, a former Army chief of staff.

After spending 2 1/2 of the past four years in Iraq, as a division commander and then as the officer overseeing the initial reconstruction of Iraqi security forces, Petraeus is known to believe that a stable, pacified Iraq is still possible -- if not probable -- but not without dramatically improved security. Having also served in Bosnia after the catastrophic civil war there, he has told friends that he sees troubling parallels between that country and Iraq. Two months ago, he said, "I actually stay awake occasionally at night trying to figure out the path ahead."

I don't know. Bosnia went from open warfare and mass graves to uneasy peace. Not so bad if he can pull that off.