Common Sense University

When it comes to Person of the Year for 2007, there should be no doubt for any common sense thinking person in America that there is really only one candidate who deserves this honor. Notwithstanding other choices by the more prominent and better known Time magazine’s annual selection, no single person has changed so drastically the landscape of the war in Iraq and all its worldwide perceptions. During 2006, things had gone from bad to worse over there, the situation looked so grim that it almost appeared hopeless after all the efforts and the monies that had accompanied this war. It was no wonder that the vast majority of Americans felt that a pull-out of our troops was possibly the best solution to bring an end to this disaster.

Retreat was the answer or so it appeared. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was allowed to resign from the Pentagon, the President was being blamed daily for all the things that went wrong in Iraq, the infighting between the various sections of ethnic groups in the country and among the duly elected politicians, the presence of foreign terrorists and especially Al-Qaida made it appear more and more hopeless to end this mess. Iraqis were fleeing the country by the hundreds of thousands; daily bombings resulted in tremendously high numbers of fatalities and casualties among the locals and the American troops. The war in Iraq became the major concern for the overwhelming majority of Americans.

Calls for a new strategy and a change in course of direction became the number one daily news story in the media together with the constant drumbeat of how the President had gotten us into this mess. At the beginning of 2007, members of the new Democrat majority in Congress thought they had the solution to this nightmare: End the war and withdraw our troops! Acknowledge our failure and abandon the country of Iraq! The American generals in charge in Iraq were tired, worn out and submitted their resignations or asked for re-assignments. It simply was not worth it any longer and appeared un-winnable.

Enter General David Petraeus. When called upon by the Commander-in-Chief, President Bush, he accepted the assignment to take charge in Iraq and implement a new strategy, part of which was an increase in American troops by approximately thirty thousand called the ‘surge’. The U.S. Senate confirmed the General by a vote of 86 to 0 in February. The approval of the additional funding took three months to approve by Congress and the mobilization of those additional troops to Iraq was not finished until June. But the General and his superior staff had completed their planning for the implementation of the so called ‘counter-insurgency’.

What has happened since then can only be called amazing; there has been a turn-around of incredibly magnitude: Fatalities are way down, the country is seeing a strong trend towards normalcy, thousand of Iraqi refugees are returning to their country. Al Qaida and other terrorist groups and militias have been attacked and essentially destroyed, they are on the run and the most important elements in all this are the various factions of people in Iraq. They have decided to fight the terrorists, band together with the American and Iraqi forces to help stabilize the situation. Entire provinces, previously known as strongholds for terrorists and Al Qaida, have been cleared of those groups and are seeing a strong return of normal life, safety and security.

We have to ask now, how could this happen? How is it possible that the people of Iraq who looked at the American troops as invaders and occupiers in 2006 and earlier are now joining forces with them and supporting their efforts? Is this a miracle without explanation? We think not. The answer is simply that a man of extraordinary abilities as a military leader had also the skills and sensitivity as a common sense based person to approach this nearly hopeless assignment with a strong plan and conviction that it could be achieved. He never wavered in his pursuit of the mission, he did not let criticism by members of Congress and in the media bother or sidetrack him. He knew more about the people of Iraq than all others together, he knew how to approach them, talk to the many sheiks and other civic and religious leaders in Iraq, gain their trust and in return received their commitments to identify the real enemies of that country and then to fight them together and chase them out of their nests and strongholds throughout the country.

General David Petraeus was the one person who could answer the call for this task that many had considered simply unachievable. The previous vast divide between the three religious sections of Iraq appears to be narrowing and while there is a lot of work yet to be achieved, all indications are that they will be achieved. And it is General Petraeus who had the plan and he has to be given the full credit for the results we have witnessed so far. His resume is impressive and we encourage you to check it out on Wikipedia.

At the same time, credit is due to Petraeus’s deputy and day-to-day commander, General Ray Odierno, who helped in the execution of the counterinsurgency campaign. Let us not forget the 160,000 American men and women in uniform who have performed heroically and whose contributions and sacrifices are spoken of but never really fully appreciated by the American public. Last but not least, some credit goes to President Bush who always believed to have the war executed by the military commanders on the ground and not by himself, his cabinet, members of Congress, media, or those influenced by media.. 

Nevertheless, our 2007 Man of the Year is General David Petraeus!

This article and others on Common Sense Author are designed to provoke further thought and investigation.   It is not the intent for the articles to be politically biased. Sources are referenced in each article to encourage readers to delve into the supporting material.  We welcome all readers to participate with their point of view either in support or contrary with additional information sources.

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