In the wake of Petraeus' promotion, Esquire is featuring part of Tom's article for them, Monks of War, calling it Can David Petraeus Rebuild a Nation?. Unfortunately, Monks of War is still behind the pay wall.
Matthew Stannard's article on Petraeus, which quotes Tom and which Tom posted about yesterday, is up. Tom's part:
"This is the guy who came into Iraq during his first tour and seemed to get the nation-building stuff better than anybody. But he also was sharp in terms of doing the necessary killing," said Thomas Barnett, who profiled Petraeus for Esquire magazine in March. "He brings a lot of native skills to the entire process."
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Comments (4)
You can read The Monks of War online at Esquire.com (printer friendly)
Posted by Prasenjeet | January 6, 2007 9:50 AM
thanks, Prasenjeet! very helpful!
Posted by Sean Meade![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 6, 2007 11:07 AM
Happy to reread the Petraeus chunk of "Monks." Only my second attempt at journalism, and it felt pretty good for this old dog.
Posted by Tom Barnett | January 6, 2007 11:10 AM
I have been following Gen Petraeus (and Col McMaster) since word of their successes was first published. The story of ordering funds release and requiring a “stamp” are certainly making the rounds. While Gen Petraeus was interviewed by the ISG, Col McMaster was not. There were several Lt. Col’s interviewed, so it was not a matter of rank. Col McMaster was certainly successful during his tour in Iraq, and I am surprised he was not consulted.
Gen Petraeus will have his detractors in the Pentagon of never having commanded a major command with multiple divisions. He has risen rapidly from Major, Lt, full Gen to major command. His predecessor, Gen Casey, put together an impressive consulting staff on addressing the issues in Iraq. Why the lack of success? Was it a lack of backing from the DOD, White House or State? Was it a lack of listening to their recommendations? Was it a lack of failed execution? Was it the lack of cooperation of the Malaki government or was it the lack of creative solutions?
While late in the game, Gen Petraeus has not only his own successful experiences, but previously analyzed lessons learned (Vietnam, Malaya, and Algeria). The only question is, are those lessons timely and applicable? So far we have been late in applying some of them.
Posted by Steve Skalski | January 6, 2007 1:37 PM