Petraeus

I was taking part in a mansaf - the traditional Arab meal where diners stand around a table and scoop handfuls of lamb and rice off huge platters - when the conversation turned to Gen. David Petraeus. The host, Abu Faysal, was an urbane Baghdad lawyer and prominent member of the huge Shammar tribe, which is based in the northern city of Mosul. Petraeus spent a year there commanding the 101st Airborne. Abu Faysal recalled Petraeus' popularity: "His door was always open. He even sent representatives to our funerals.

Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, yesterday offered a maddeningly familiar assessment of the war to Congress: progress, yes, but no end in sight. After spending $25 billion or so to rebuild Iraq's army, those troops still aren't able to stand up so U.S. troops can stand down. Sectarian violence still flares; Iraq's central government is corrupt and divided. In congressional hearings, Petraeus encountered all three U.S. senators campaigning to become the next commander in chief: Republican John McCain, a supporter of the war, and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, both of whom pledge to end the war as quickly as possible.

WASHINGTON - When David H. Petraeus retires from the Army this summer and starts his new job as CIA director, he will scrutinize the latest spy service reports about the war in Afghanistan, the same unpopular war he has run for the last year. But Petraeus will face a crucial question: Can a former four-star general objectively grade his own work? As chief of the agency that helps collect and analyze intelligence from Afghanistan, Petraeus will be expected to give President Obama a clear-eyed assessment of the progress so far and problems ahead.

WASHINGTON - Former CIA Director David H. Petraeus told lawmakers Friday that classified intelligence showed the deadly raid on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was a terrorist attack, but that the administration withheld the suspected role of specific al-Qaeda affiliates to avoid tipping off the terrorist groups. The recently resigned spy chief explained that references to terrorist groups suspected of carrying out the violence were removed from the public explanation of what caused the attack so as not to tip off the groups that the U.S. intelligence community was on their trail, according to lawmakers who attended the private briefings.

WASHINGTON - Gen. David Petraeus left open the possibility of recommending that President Obama delay his plans to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan next summer if the new commander can't turn around the stalemated war. "There will be an assessment at the end of this year after which undoubtedly we'll make certain tweaks, refinements, perhaps some significant changes," Petraeus told a Senate panel yesterday of the battle plan and the timeline Obama...

WASHINGTON - Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the Afghan war effort, has renewed orders to American troops to refrain from calling in artillery or air power when battling Taliban forces unless they are certain that no civilians are present. Petraeus' order, the first since he assumed command last month from ousted Gen. Stanley McChrystal, was an effort to fine-tune a McChrystal directive that had angered some U.S. troops, who said the restrictions on the use of artillery and air power exposed them to greater danger.

WASHINGTON - Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus told federal lawmakers Friday that classified intelligence showed that the deadly raid on the U.S. consulate in Libya was a terrorist attack but that the administration withheld the suspected role of specific al Qaeda affiliates to avoid tipping off the terrorist groups. Petraeus, who quit as spy chief on Nov. 9, explained that references to terrorist groups suspected of carrying out the violence were removed from the public explanation of what caused the attack so as not to tip off the groups that the U.S. intelligence community was on their trail, according to lawmakers who attended the private briefings.

For the second time in four years, a president has asked Gen. David Petraeus to ride to the rescue. Having sacked Gen. Stanley McChrystal for disrespectful behavior, President Obama turned to Petraeus to save the effort in Afghanistan, just as George W. Bush got the general to bail him out in 2007 in Iraq. Already, the Web is abuzz over whether Petraeus can do for Obama what he did for his predecessor. The answer depends on whether Obama recognizes that Petraeus is potentially a natural ally - not a rival trying to outsmart him. Only then is the president likely to give the general the support he needs to succeed.

When the first rumors surfaced weeks ago that Gen. David Petraeus would be named to head the Central Intelligence Agency, I thought it was a strange idea. My gut reaction: Why would you move our top general out of command in Afghanistan at such a critical point, with a U.S. troop drawdown starting in July, and all combat troops scheduled to be withdrawn by 2014? And if you were going to shift him, why not make him chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking U.S. military post, from which Adm. Mike Mullen is retiring this fall?

Our policy in Afghanistan may remain the same under Gen. David Petraeus, but his confirmation hearing this week offered fascinating clues about the very different way he will carry it out. The general is clearly determined to pull together the fractious team of U.S. diplomats and military officers who deal with Afghanistan, along with their NATO counterparts. (If he can succeed in this Herculean task, he deserves the next Nobel Peace Prize.) "Unity of effort" was Petraeus' mantra during the hearing.

LOS ANGELES - David Petraeus, who has remained largely in seclusion since being forced to resign as head of the CIA after the disclosure of an extramarital affair, returns to the spotlight Tuesday with a speech and an apology before a group of military students and veterans. Petraeus will deliver the keynote address to about 600 people at the University of Southern California's annual ROTC dinner. The New York Times, which obtained an advance copy of the speech, said he will begin by acknowledging and apologizing for the affair, then discuss his plans to become an advocate for veterans' and other causes.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon inspector general has cleared the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan of allegations that he sent inappropriate emails to a Florida woman who was also involved in the scandal that led to CIA Director David Petraeus' resignation. The inspector general determined that Gen. John Allen's emails to Jill Kelley, a married Tampa socialite with close ties to several senior military officers, did not constitute professional misconduct, a spokeswoman for the office said.

The Florida socialite with Philly roots who inadvertently toppled a CIA director has finally spelled out her side of the story. Jill Kelley told Howard Kurtz of thedailybeast.com that she was threatened with blackmail, didn't know the threats came from a woman, never pressed charges, never swapped 30,000 e-mails with a general, and never asked for an $80 million fee to land a deal with South Korea. In November, just after the presidential election, David Petraeus, who rose to fame as commander of allied military forces in Afghanistan, resigned as CIA chief, amid allegations of an affair with biographer Paula Broadwell.

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has decided not to charge David Petraeus' mistress, Paula Broadwell, with cyberstalking as part of its investigation into an e-mail scandal that led to the resignation of the CIA director and storied general. Broadwell's attorney, Robert Muse, gave the Associated Press a letter from U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill that said no federal charges would be brought in Florida related to "alleged acts of cyberstalking. " Petraeus resigned as CIA director in November after acknowledging the extramarital affair, which was exposed after Broadwell e-mailed socialite Jill Kelley, allegedly warning Kelley to stay away from Petraeus and Gen. John Allen, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

JILL KELLEY, the Florida socialite who triggered the FBI probe that led David Petraeus to resign as CIA chief, is shopping "a tell-all book" about the sex scandal, according to the New York Post . "Trust me, there is going to be a book in the New Year. You can count on it," said one of Kelley's friends, according to the London Daily Mail . Actually, Kelley, who grew up in the Philadelphia area, might be out to prove she doesn't have much to tell, at least about military affairs of the kind that retired general Petraeus allegedly indulged in with biographer Paula Broadwell.

TAMPA, FLA. - Jill Kelley wants the world to know that she didn't do anything wrong when she befriended top military brass. The Tampa socialite at the center of a scandal involving Gen. David Petraeus has hired a top Washington attorney and seems to be trying to change the narrative about her friendship with the general, her past and her role as an "honorary consul" to the country of South Korea. On Tuesday, Kelley's attorney Abbe Lowell released emails, telephone recordings and other material that he and Kelley say proves she never tried to exploit her friendship with Petraeus.

The sex scandal that led to former CIA Director David H. Petraeus' resignation, as well as a massive theft of personal data collected by a state in the heart of Dixie, shows the need for policymakers and individuals to take stronger steps to guard privacy in the digital age. The revelation that the much-decorated retired Army general had an extramarital affair with his biographer was the result of a sweeping FBI examination of e-mail messages between...

Petraeus not worth worshiping Thank you, Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, for speaking out against the idol worshipping of former Gen. David Petraeus ("More than one mistake," Tuesday). The adoration of Petraeus by members of Congress had a large part in allowing mistakes to be made in Iraq and Afghanistan. The fact that the general was caught committing adultery has brought him down, but his worst sin was his persistence in sending so many to their deaths for a lost cause. Diane L. Donato, West Chester, dianchrs1@verizon.net Don't let Norquist run state I did not vote for antitax promoter Grover Norquist for governor of Pennsylvania.

The web is crawling with ideas as to who should play the unprincipled principles in the inevitable flick(s) about the sordid/torrid/horrid affair involving Gen. David Petraeus and biographer Paula Broadwell. Let's throw out a working title, too: Embedded. The biography's apt actual name, All In , is likely off-limits. A Saturday Night Live skit this weekend even scripted a scene or two, as "read" from All In by newcomer Cecily Strong playing Broadwell: The deadbolt slid into place with loud thunk.