David H. Petraeus, the general widely credited with rescuing a failing U.S. war in Iraq, retired from the Army on Wednesday with a word of warning: Coming budget cuts must not impair the U.S. military’s ability to fight a full range of conflicts, from major land wars to Iraq-like insurgencies.
Gen. Petraeus, 58, used his farewell speech to thank those who have mentored and supported him in 37 years of service. But he also made clear his concern that political pressures to lighten the nation’s debt burden could force the military to retrench in ways that hurt U.S. security and the troops.
“As our nation contemplates difficult budget decisions, I know that our leaders will remember that our people, our men and women in uniform, are our military,” he told an audience sprinkled with figures from his past, including former West Point classmates. “And that taking care of them and their families must be our paramount objective. Beyond that it will be imperative to maintain a force that not only capitalizes on the extraordinary experience and expertise in our ranks today but also maintains the versatility and flexibility that have been developed over the past decade.”
The Pentagon already is preparing to reduce defense spending by upward of $400 billion in the next 10 years, and Congress may demand even bigger cuts.
Gen. Petraeus looked back on his celebrated career, which began when he was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduating from West Point in June 1974. He recalled the unease he felt on his first day at the military academy and the pride that came from soldiering for nearly four decades.
He will begin a new chapter next week when he takes over as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, succeeding Leon E. Panetta, who gave up the spy-chief job to become defense secretary last month. Mr. Panetta, who is on vacation in California, did not attend the Petraeus ceremony.
Gen. Petraeus quoted President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous remark about men who dare to do great things, “so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Gen. Petraeus thanked those he has served with and said he leaves with confidence that the nation will avoid unwise decisions on defense spending cuts. He alluded to the difficulties the military faced at the outset of the Iraq and Afghan conflicts in adjusting to counterinsurgency warfare.
“We have relearned since 9/11 the timeless lesson that we don’t always get to fight the wars for which we are most prepared or most inclined,” he said. “Given that reality, we will need to maintain the full-spectrum capability that we have developed over this last decade of conflict.”
The Petraeus ceremony was hosted by Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, who presented the general with a Distinguished Service Medal, and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, who heaped praise on the man who many had expected to succeed Adm. Mullen as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Barack Obama instead chose to make Gen. Petraeus his next CIA chief.
“Dave has, over the last decade, advised two presidents, changed the course of two wars, transformed our military and, perhaps most important of all, reminded Americans once again that with the right ideas and the right leadership, almost anything is possible,” said Adm. Mullen, who is scheduled to retire Oct. 1,
Gen. Petraeus soared to public acclaim in 2007-08 with his surprising success in reversing an escalation of insurgent violence in Iraq and surviving the onslaught of anti-war groups. The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org dubbed him “General Betray Us” when accusing him of cooking the books for the Bush White House.
At a September 2008 ceremony in Baghdad marking the end of Gen. Petraeus’ 19 months in command, then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates credited him with dealing a “tremendous, if not mortal, blow” to an insurgency that two years earlier seemed beyond U.S. or Iraqi government control.
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