This diary is long because I feel responsible to be complete and give readers enough text to see the contradictions in these two accounts of the same incident - one by a Pulitzer-Prize newsman, the other by the Army. Once again, I do not know David Petraeus and harbor no personal malice against him. I wish he was just a soldier and I could simply thank him for his service.
General David Petraeus is descrbed in his bios as having been "under fire" in the battle for Najaf. This is the only story I know of which includes such an incident. The first version is by Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Rick Atkinson from his book In The Company of Soldiers. Mr Atkinson was pretty much in the David Petraeus business, but at least he's rational.
The second account is by an outfit called the "Operation Iraqi Freedom - Study Group" out of Fort Leavenworth. I do owe them one apology. In this recommended diary (my first big one) I did suggest that the OIF-SG got even the number of generals at the incident wrong. They did actually get the number of generals right. As to the rest.......
First, as to why this is important:
*General Petraeus has been pimping his medals all over Washington. They were listed in the recent Senate amendment. One important one is phony.
- To get the Bronze Valor Star, General Petraeus had to have been under real and dangerous enemy fire.
- He is described to have been under enemy fire in the battle for Najaf.
- The only incident of enemy fire reported near General Petraeus in Najaf was on March 30th.
If you still don't get quite why it's important, ask Admiral Jeremy Boorda - oh, I'm sorry you can't. He was so ashamed at having worn a valor medal improperly he killed himself. I will give another perspective on the significance of a claim of combat valor at the end.
All bracketed text is my own alteration for proper part of speech, clarification or occasional light snark.
On March 30th, 2003 Atkinson reports that in Najaf, Iraq, four hundred yards up the highway from an intersection known as Checkpoint Charlie, "troops had spent the day rooting Fedayeen out of [a government institute] compound, dodging occasional mortar rounds."
"That’s why we’re here, to kill these dudes down," Specialist Ryan Miller, a twenty-one-year-old from Missouri told me as we stood near the Humvees. "Heck of a job. No other job like it."
Without warning a mortar round exploded forty yards to the southwest, very close to the SF [Special Forces] gun trucks. Amazingly, no one was hurt, perhaps because the sand absorbed most of the blast. I ducked between two Humvees, while the three generals [Wallace, Petraeus and Freakley, by rank] made a conspicuous show of nonchalance. "Getting fucking close, huh? Better get out of the friggin intersection," an SF soldier bellowed with what struck me as penetrating if unheeded wisdom. [Captain David] Fivecoat picked up a shell fragment but tossed it away after concluding that the steel shard would "bring me bad karma if I kept it." Later, he noted in his green notebook the importance of looking "cool under mortar attack when around the SF."
Atkinson writes that radar picks up the trajectory of the mortar, two Kiowa armed reconnaissance helicopters are dispatched, and some moments later five F-18 fighters hit the area with a missile each.
"Petraeus and Wallace watched through their field glasses, murmuring encouragement like trifecta bettors at a racetrack. "This is a very good combined-arms operation," Petraeus said. "We’re very proud of the tankers, the Kioawas, the dismounted infantry, close air support." As Wallace turned to leave, I mentioned that the Washington Post editorial page that morning had applauded his public candor. He smiled, thinly. "I’ll put it on my resume," he said.
NOW, we read the same incident according to the Army’s "Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group" entitled (and I do mean "entitled"):
"Mortars at Checkpoint Charlie:
The American Soldier’s View of Senior Officers"
American solders expect their senior leaders to exhibit physical courage and to face the dangers of combat without flinching. They have an informal network that passes information about leaders quickly, nor beyond the immediate area of the incident. Nothing a senior officer dies is ever really hidden from soldiers. They see....They hear...They Know.
[Do they.]
The details of one such incident involving several senior officers’ actions under fire were soon known across V Corps and positively affected the confidence and morale of soldiers far from the actual fighting. On 30 March [2003], the 101st Airborne was assaulting through An Najaf [Najaf]. Mortar fire began impacting near a crowded road intersection known as Checkpoint Charlie. There was a group of senior officers and other personnel at the checkpoint, including the V Corps Commander Lieutenant General Wallace, The 101st Airborne Commander Major General Petraeus, and ADC-O, Brigadier General Freakley, and a special forces liaison team. The senior officers huddled around the hood of a HMMWV [Humvee], using it as a desk while they discussed the ongoing battle.
The initial mortar round landed 300 meters away. Rounds started walking in at 100-meter intervals. The three general officers continued their hood-top meeting, seemingly oblivious to the creeping mortar fire. A round landed unannounced [they often whistle through the air before landing] less than 30 meters away, causing everyone to jump a little. One sergeant recalls that generals backed up about 10 feel and continued with their business.
Without warning, a sudden burst of small-arms and automatic weapons fire broke out near the checkpoint. Lieutenant General Wallace and the other general officers moved immediately to the sound of the guns, with their MP squad security detachment running to keep up. Another mortar round landed not 20 meters away from them as they ran. Fortunately, the firefight ended quickly [almost before it began] and a Kiowa Warrior armed reconnaissance helicopter finally spotted the mortar tube and initiated a call for fire that destroyed it.
The story of the calm way which the generals reacted circulate quickly among the men [I’ll bet it did]. The military policemen assigned to protect General Wallage told their comrades about it and it spread from there. That the corps commander was willing to put himself up so near the fighting, and that he and Major General Petraeus seemed to move to the fighting instinctively, impressed many of the soldiers who heard of it. They said it gave them a high regard for Lieutenant General Wallace and made them admire him as a leader.
Oh, please. It's absolute mendacity.
Why is this important? Because in 2003-2004 General Petraeus received the same medal as the young Marine Corps hero pictured below. The same. That medal is a claim of honor. Without honor, Petraeus is not a soldier but a fraud, a scandal, a dishonest civil servant with a gun.
Why is it important? Because valor is still handmade - by the hands of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen
and Marines.