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Petraeus Again Clarifies Statement on Mideast Peace

Speaking at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, was asked

Jul 31, 2020252.3K Shares3.6M Views
Speaking at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, was asked at the start of an hour-long presentation what he meant during recent congressional testimony when he waded into the treacherous waters of the Mideast peace process. His testimony that the lack of progress on Mideast peace helped set the “strategic context” for the region in which approximately 200,000 U.S. troops operate has been the subject of persistent criticism and, he said, “misconception.”
He didn’t mean, he said, that U.S. troops were directly endangered by the persistence of the conflict, nor did he formally request to have responsibility for security assistance to Israel and the Palestinian territories transferred to U.S. Central Command. But the conflict “does contribute, if you will, to the overall environment in which we operate,” Petraeus said. Reiterating a theme from his testimony, he cited that “moderate leaders” in the region typically tell him that the intractability of the conflict “gives the radicals, the extremists, the argument that the only time they have made progress on the issue has been when there is an intifada.”
Petraeus associated himself with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s near-contemporaneous remarks to AIPAC, particularly the stuff she said about how Israel “is, has and will be an important strategic ally of the United States.”
Rhyley Carney

Rhyley Carney

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