In My Time - Dick Cheney [245]
Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus spent sixteen or seventeen hours testifying in front of Congress on September 10 and 11, 2007. They did a tremendous job, delivering their honest, unvarnished assessment of the situation in Iraq. They exhibited professionalism and competence under some intensely partisan attacks, particularly from senators who were gearing up to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
A few nights later, as the president prepared to address the nation to sum up the progress Petraeus and Crocker had reported on, I found myself once again intervening in the speech-drafting process. Despite the fact that the president’s surge strategy was a repudiation of the Baker-Hamilton report, Steve Hadley had inserted a reference to the group into the speech. I am sure Steve thought he was working to forge consensus, but it didn’t make any sense. “Mr. President, you can’t refer to Baker-Hamilton,” I said. “Our strategy is Petraeus-Crocker, not Baker-Hamilton.” He agreed and removed the reference.
Given the opposition of politicians and the public to putting more troops into Iraq, George Bush was truly courageous to order a new strategy and the surge of troops to carry it out. The next ten months ratified his brave decision. Our troops, together with the Iraqis, defeated the insurgency, dealt a severe blow to al Qaeda, and created a secure environment so that the Iraqi political process could begin to take hold. When historians look back, George Bush’s decision will stand out as one that made a difference for millions and put history on a better track.
AS I REFLECT BACK on why the surge worked so well, the first credit for its success goes to our troops in the field, the men and women of the U.S. military, some of whom gave their lives securing this victory for our nation. The colonels who led these troops and were among the first to understand the importance of counterinsurgency also deserve tremendous credit, as do the generals who led them and one tremendously skilled American diplomat. General David Petraeus was the strategic visionary. Deeply knowledgeable about counterinsurgency doctrine, he took over command in some of Iraq’s darkest days and turned things around with his determination to prevail. General Ray Odierno, commander of the multinational corps in Iraq under Petraeus, took the Petraeus doctrine and made it operational. He designed and commanded simultaneous and sustained offensive operations that denied the enemy any place to hide. Generals Petraeus and Odierno were aided immeasurably by the tireless work of Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq from 2007 to 2009. The surge would not have succeeded without Crocker’s historic efforts to knit diplomatic and military strategies together and to work with the Iraqi government to forge a new relationship between two sovereign nations.
Finally, what we accomplished in Iraq would not have been possible without the work of General Stan McChrystal and America’s special operations forces. Their skill and bravery made it exceedingly dangerous to be an al Qaeda leader in Iraq. America’s special ops forces are among the most valiant warriors the world has ever known, and I was honored to join some of them at a dinner in 2008. Their chaplain, a young man from Wyoming, said this in his invocation:
We are soldiers, God, agents of correction. May our world see the power of faith. May our nation know the strength of selfless service. And may our enemies continue to