DENVER — The man who penned most of America's strategy to counter al-Qaida and stop the insurgency in Iraq told a packed theater here that a new strategy to roll back the terror group that calls itself Islamic State will likely work quickly in Iraq.
"In Iraq, all the ingredients are there," retired Army Gen. David Petraeus told an audience gathered by Denver's Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab to mark the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Petraeus said America's years on fighting in Iraq put structures and an Army in place that will lead to the defeat of Islamic State, which now holds large swaths of Syria and Iraq.
"It's not that desperate," Petraeus said.
President Barack Obama announced a plan to strike the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in a Wednesday speech. The plan includes bombing and arming opposition groups in Syria.
"This is not the kind of Iraq on fire, complete desperation we had during the surge," Petraeus said.
Petraeus made his mark in northern Iraq as a two-star general where his campaign to pacify Mosul in northern Iraq was seen as revolutionary. He used those techniques in 2007 when he led the American surge that slowed the erosion of Iraq. He went on to lead the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
He resigned from the CIA in 2012 amid a scandal over an extramarital affair but remains one of the nation's most influential thinkers on defense issues.
In the two years since Petraeus left government, the Middle East has seen mass uprisings, a revolution in Syria and the rise of Islamic State, an outgrowth of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Petraeus claims that the new terror threats are weaker than their forebears in Iraq.
"It has nowhere the roots and the structure of al-Qaida in Iraq," Petraeus said.
Petraeus said the key to tackling the Islamic State can be found in America's surge. He said with the backing of American air power, Iraqis can clear and hold areas held by Islamic State and work to reconcile sympathizers.
"It's a new Iraqi government now," he said. "There's new hope, there's outreach."
Petraeus blamed the failure of the Iraqi military when the Islamic State invaded on sectarian loyalists and a failed chain of command.
"The third failing was the population was not happy with sectarian and loyalist leaders," Petraeus said.
The trouble faced by America and its allies, he said, is tackling the Islamic State in Syria, where it began. Petraeus said while America has ready-made allies in Iraq, the opposition to the militant group in Syria is scattered. Petraeus said American leaders need to build a credible force in Syria and support it by tackling both Islamic State and the Syrian military.
Petraeus said ridding Syria of the Assad regime could be a key to ridding that country of terrorists.
"This is going to be years, not months," he predicted.
©2014 The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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