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Gen. Petraeus Teaches a Lesson -- 'With Respect' -- to Sen. Scott Brown -- Politics Daily (http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/16/gen-petraeus-teaches-a-lesson-with-respect-to-sen-scot/)

At a Senate armed service committee Gen. Petraeus made the following comment to newly elected conservative Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusettes that I have issues with. It makes me wonder if the following statement was made more to impress liberals rather than committee members.

"As a military commander, Petraeus went on to explain in dulcet tones, "you have to create conditions in which your soldiers can live our values. One of those values is that if someone puts his hands in the air you detain him instead of shooting him ...''

IMO, Petraeus's comment implies that the right conditions would have to be created in order for a soldier to respect our values and to acquire sense enough to know when the enemy surrenders you don't shoot him.
Our military has always played by the rules and there are very FEW incidents in past wars where a disciplined US soldier has shot anyone when he put his hands in the air or waved a white flag.

I agree that 99.9 (with a line over it) % of our military want to do the right thing, regardless of what "created conditions" they might have. The problem I see with the comment, is they continually use cookie-cutter examples like the old "hands in the air" - he must surrendering.

Maybe this is too off topic so I'm sorry if I digress....but.....

In today's warfare, the "surrendering person" could have his hands in the air all day, and still refuse to obey the commands of "stop" as he continues to approach your check-point, the media may see him get shot ---- "but his hands were in the air?!?!?" they say; Yes they were, he also had a demolition charge vest under his clothing and allowing him to approach could have cost everyone their lives.

I do not like civilian casualties, I know that there are innocent people over there, just as they are here, but the media, the government...and sometimes the military leadership, really needs to step back and put themselves in the shoes of a 20 year-old kid on the ground, who would like to see his family again. Worry more about that than things like a "Medal for Restraint."

Let the Warriors fight the War.

Having briefed and worked closely around Petraeus in Iraq, I believe he was talking more about the soldiers' leaders than the soldiers himself. Sometimes it's hard to know exactly what Petraeus is really saying. He's a political general. But in a good way. For example, I'm sure he personally thinks telegraphing a timeline is stupid beyond belief, yet in his confirmation hearing for Afghanistan, he publicly backed the President. But that's a basic tenet of military leadership. Rake someone over the coals or disagree with someone in person, not in public. It pissed me off that he backed Obama regarding sticking to the timeline, but his "diplomatic" skills have a lot to do with his success. What matters is what he really thinks behind the scenes, and how good his results usually are.