Previous | Next :: General Petraeus : Iraq Command ? | January 26, 2007, 3:37 am

So here is the man facing a task most of us would never want and could not begin to imagine actually taking on, today General Petraeus moves one step closer to heading US forces in Iraq. He was unanimously approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee and is expected to pass a full vote in the Senate today or tommorrow.

"The situation is dire, the stakes are high' there are no easy choices. The way ahead will be very hard" he said. "But hard is not hopeless"

Petraeus 54, is the most celebrated General to come out of the Iraq war, and the Bush administration has pointed to his record of success as the best indicator that this new surge tactic could work.

He commanded the 101st Airbourne Division during the invasion of Iraq and pacified the restive area around the northern City of Mosul in its aftermath by rapidly reviving the local economy and establishing Iraqi governing bodies.

After early attempts to create Iraqi security forces failed, Petraeus was called back to rebuild what is now a 325,000 -member Iraqi Security force.

He was back in the States when I made this picture at his command the US Army combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he wrote the army's first manual on counter-insurgency warfare in 20 years.

But the escalating insurgent and sectarian violence has eroded many of General Petraeus's previous achievements in Iraq.

Good Luck to him...........Cheers Jez XX