Retired Gen. David Petraeus returned to the public arena for the first time in three years Tuesday to argue that the United States must boost its actions against the Islamic State, including embedding advisers with Iraqi combat troops and creating a “safe zone” in Syria for civilians and opposition forces.
“While there have been significant accomplishments, the progress achieved thus far has been inadequate,” Petraeus, a former commander of U.S. troops in the Middle East and director of the CIA, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Some elements of the right strategy are in place, but several are under-resourced and some are missing. We are not where we should be at this point.”
Petraeus suggested that embedding U.S. advisers with Iraqi combat units at the brigade level would better enable them to fight the Islamic State. The Obama administration, backed by many Democrats in Congress, opposes this idea.
But when it comes to Syria, the retired general’s advocacy of a safe zone to protect civilians backed by U.S. and allied military power has broad bipartisan support among lawmakers, although the administration continues to oppose it.
“They would want to go back if there’s any hope. And an enclave gives them hope,” he said.
Petraeus criticized the administration’s insistence that there’s no military solution in Syria, saying protecting civilians from the government of President Bashar al-Assad is a minimal step necessary to build confidence among the Sunni Arabs whose support is needed for success in the fight against the Islamic State.
“Syria today is a geopolitical Chernobyl,” he said. “Like a nuclear disaster, the fallout from Syria will be with us for decades.”
Petraeus began his testimony by apologizing again for his affair with a former subordinate, Paula Broadwell, which forced his November 2012 resignation as CIA director, saying he had violated the public trust and his own values. He also pleaded guilty to passing classified information to Broadwell, who also was his biographer, and was sentenced to two years probation and a $100,000 fine.
“Four years ago I made a serious mistake. One that brought discredit on me and pain to those closest to me,” he said, thanking Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., for the opportunity to return to the public debate and pledging to go forward “with a greater sense of humility and purpose.”
McCain noted that Petraeus was the architect of the 2007 surge that he said saved the U.S. effort in that country from failure.
“There’s no reason President Obama couldn’t do the same,” he said, calling the administration’s current approach “a display of self-delusion that can rival the Bush administration’s Iraq policy at its worse.”
