General David Petraeus will likely show more restraint than his predecessor when he kicks off a series of media interviews with a special broadcast of Meet the Press from Kabul Sunday. After he meets David Gregory, Petraeus will sit with Katie Couric on August 20, and with George Stephanopoulos later in the month when Good Morning America also broadcasts from Afghanistan. Other interviews will be “sprinkled” in between.
The three week media “blitz,” as the HuffingtonPost and Times are calling it, is designed to shore up support for the president’s surge strategy. Mike Allen writes that the interviews are being spread over three weeks “so Americans will be more likely to hear his message, even during the August duldrums.” From The New York Times today:
He is expected to cite examples of initial progress on the ground and to underscore that the full impact of the military’s counterinsurgency strategy will not take hold until the last of 30,000 additional American troops arrive in Afghanistan this month. He will also likely reaffirm that the troop withdrawal that President Obama said would begin next July would involve only small numbers. “July 2011 will mark the beginning of a process, not the date when the U.S. heads for the exits and turns out the lights,” the general told the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 29.
On the back of WikiLeaks and our deadliest month in the Afghan war, and on the eve of the arrival of yet more troops, we want to know: What would your first question be for General David Petraeus?
What you are about to see is nothing new with Gen Petraeus. This is the same type of process that he did in Iraq in 2007 and again in Tampa when he took command after leaving Iraq. He tends to not do too much if anything for the first 30 days to ensure he has time to see for himself the conditions on the ground before he starts talking to the media. He believes that it is a leaders responsiblity to inform the public and to do that, he must engage with the various media and reporters to talk to the public. You won't hear grand predictions, but factual information and the hard truth that what is happening is not easy.
#1 Posted by Steve in Kansas, CJR on Wed 11 Aug 2010 at 09:14 AM
With no meaningful civilian governmental institutions, such as an independent functional judiciary that can administer the law, nor a cultural history to support such institutions, Afghanistan will NEVER be stable enough for the U.S. Military to leave without an almost instantaneous reconstitution by Al Qaida, so why the charade?
#2 Posted by Edward Greenberg, CJR on Wed 11 Aug 2010 at 12:42 PM
I would like to ask Gen Petraeus if he is familiar with the life and works of
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940)
#3 Posted by Roch Séguin, CJR on Thu 12 Aug 2010 at 09:35 AM
I would be curious to hear "How often do you speak with the Obama administration?" and "How in touch do you think DC politicians are with the reality of the situation on the ground?" Also maybe "What is the mainstream media getting right/wrong about Afghanistan?"
#4 Posted by Lauren Kirchner, CJR on Mon 16 Aug 2010 at 10:09 AM
I would ask, "What do you say to foreign and domestic reporters concerned that their access will be limited in light of the Michael Hastings Rolling Stone article?" And, given that Petraeus has maneuvered expertly around more specific questions on Karzai, "Do you trust Hamid Karzai?"
#5 Posted by Joel Meares, CJR on Mon 16 Aug 2010 at 10:13 AM
Has anyone considered the instituting of powerful TV stations and free TVs with the stations broadcasting secular and more importantly, religious programming run by moderate clerics, refuting the religious lies of the Taliban and the use of the sharia laws? I think it is long overdue!
#6 Posted by bearboatskipper, CJR on Mon 16 Aug 2010 at 09:50 PM
Have you read John Hersey's little book "The War Lover;" and if not, what part of "Commander in Chief" do you not understand?
#7 Posted by Dick Bentley, CJR on Tue 17 Aug 2010 at 10:35 AM
My question: "How does the dependence of Afghan farmers on opium poppies impact our fight against the Taliban, and what do you plan to do about it?"
#8 Posted by Al Horne, CJR on Tue 17 Aug 2010 at 10:45 AM
I'd like the General to actually explain "progress" and "winning" as it applies in Afghanistan. As chief architect of the surge in Iraq, he's widely credited with helping bring that conflict to an "end" yet today we see a suicide bomber killing 50 at an Iraqi Army recruiting station. And there's still no working government there to speak of, as the traditional tensions of tribal, dynastic, Arab vs. Kurd and Sunni vs. Shi'a lie just beneath the veneer of "progress." That veneer is blown off every time another suicide bomb explodes.
As a former Marine I understand the traditional concepts of "winning" in war as the taking and holding of ground, the permanent clearing out and subjugation of the enemy and the ultimate establishment of a just civilian government that is widely and peacefully accepted by the people. None of this obtains in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Go, General Petraeus: How much more American blood and treasure will we squander in unwinnable wars?
#9 Posted by David Gaier, CJR on Tue 17 Aug 2010 at 11:30 AM
Beluga??
#10 Posted by Rajvinder Singh, CJR on Sat 21 Aug 2010 at 02:25 AM
How much ramen noodles do you purchase on a monthly basis?.
#11 Posted by Rajvinder singh, CJR on Sat 21 Aug 2010 at 02:28 AM
I would like to ask the General exactly how the U.S. Can "win a war" against the very culture of Afghanistan- how is it the US will succeed where other nations have failed? Isn't the cost of war at the expense of the US and it's economy the true trap of Bin Laden?
#12 Posted by Maryelens, CJR on Sun 22 Aug 2010 at 10:54 AM