CARL PRINE: Pirates!

DAVID PETRAEUS: Yeah, the piracy issue is there. And Egypt is still part of Central Command. And the Seychelles, but otherwise... Well, again, there are a number of challenges. You have the whole Afghan/Pakistan -- really, you have to treat the issues, the challenges there, I think, in a common frame of reference.

So you have that issue. There's a variety of challenges in the 'Stans, but also there are a number of common interests as well. We've talked about Iran and Iraq. Again, we've talked about the very substantial progress but certainly the enduring challenges, which I've laid out to the Heritage Foundation group there.

Yemen presents challenges. Or, there are challenges to the government of Yemen, both in terms of insurgent threats and al Qaeda sanctuary issues that are of concern.

You have, of course, the continuing dynamics in Lebanon where the trajectory has been, arguably, positive. But, again, it faces the traditional and historical challenges.

We'll see which way Syria goes. There's been outreach to Syria by France. There's been some indication that Syria recognizes the looming economic issues they'll have to deal with and are recognizing increasingly that the answer to those will not lie with Iran but more with the Gulf states, the west and so on.

Of course, this is all in a strategic context of ongoing actions in the Mideast Peace Process, needless to say, that have a great deal to do with shaping the context in which all this plays out.

And, again, continuing and enduring strong relationship with countries from Egypt to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states and Jordan and so forth. So there's no shortage of rocks in the rucksacks.

CARL PRINE: I have one question. Actually, to 100 of my closest associates, I sent out a blast email saying, 'What would be the one question you would ask General Petraeus?' And it was unanimous. This was the Number One question, and actually I have it written down. This actually came from a Sergeant: 'During the recent presidential campaigns, both the Democratic and Republican candidates have referred to you and your statements to make political points in an effort to woo voters. Before important Congressional testimony by you and Ambassador (Ryan) Crocker, a partisan political group ran ads calling you "General Betray-Us." What do you make of your name entering political discourse as you take on an even more public assignment at CENTCOM?'

DAVID PETRAEUS: Well, I don't think that's something any military figure welcomes. You know, I made a private decision some years back when I was promoted to Major General that I was just going to stop voting. And I did that, again, not for public consumption, although it's subsequently become public consumption.

I did it because I thought senior leaders should be apolitical.

CARL PRINE: That falls into a long tradition.

DAVID PETRAEUS: It does. I'm certainly not the first to do it. General (George C.) Marshall obviously quite famously did that as well.

Clearly, a leader in the position I was in, along with Ambassador Crocker, we became the faces of the 'Surge.' It's inescapable. It's unavoidable, and you just have to deal with that while trying to provide, if you will, absolutely objective -- arguably brutally honest -- assessments.

I mean, we're the ones who kept saying, 'This is fragile and reversible.' We're the ones who said, 'There's been substantial progress, but it's uneven and there are substantial challenges.' Ambassador Crocker and I absolutely stand by the statements that we made in September and April and the 90/10 reports (periodic surveys of the situation in Iraq, given to the president and Congress) and all the other assessments and documents we were required to provide -- and with our statements to the press as well.

I think you will find that they were appropriately guarded, qualified and careful. And, more importantly, absolutely reflective of the facts.

CARL PRINE: Have you tried to reach out to the campaigns and say, 'I think you might've gone overboard?'

DAVID PETRAEUS: No. I don't think it's the place of someone to start counseling campaigns on their political strategy. In fact, we've had interaction with each of the candidates, as is well known -- perhaps more than actually is known. That is appropriate. Again, members of Congress -- and that's what they are -- have every right to contact members of the military and ask for their military views. That's something that you swear an oath to do or you pledge to do during your confirmation process.

Beyond that, again, I don't think it's appropriate to say, 'I don't think you should do this or that.' I think that at the end of the day, the American people are more than informed, and more than intelligent enough, to make their own decisions and their own assessments.

Again, what Ambassador Crocker and I have sought to do, and what General (Raymond) Odierno (the current commander of Multinational Forces in Iraq, Petraeus' replacement in Baghdad) is now seeking to do, is just to lay out the facts.

I mean, if you look at our counterinsurgency guidance is actually pretty clear on that account. We talk about being first with the truth, but it's with the truth, you know? Acknowledge setbacks and failures. Don't put lipstick on pigs, you know? Hold the press and ourselves accountable for accuracy.

SALENA ZITO: laughs at comment about lipstick on pigs.

DAVID PETRAEUS: They stole that. We had that first.

You know, manage expectations. Be cautious and measured in announcing progress. Note what's been accomplished, but also what still needs to be done. Avoid premature declarations of success. And so on.

Folks certainly have at times tried to take a snippet from here and a snippet from there. You make an incautious -- I don't know if it's incautious, but you make an accurate statement that there actually are amusement parks in Baghdad. 'Oh, well, that can't be.' Well, here are the pictures.

Anyway, we've worked pretty hard. I hope that once the election is over and, in a sense, we get back to business as usual and try to be, if you will, the 'professional model' of civil-military relations, in which the military's job is to offer its best professional, military advice -- certainly to be aware of the strategic context in which that is offered, but at the end of the day to offer military advice and to leave the political judgments and so forth to those who were elected rather than those who are promoted.

SALENA ZITO: What would you like the American people to know as you ready to take this command? Maybe that they don't know? Or maybe understand? I mean, what's not understood or consumed that you would really like them to know?

DAVID PETRAEUS: Well, I think the American people realize that our troopers and our Iraqi partners have achieved significant progress in Iraq, but that there are also significant challenges that lie ahead for Iraq. We think those are challenges with which Iraq can deal, but, again, there will be ups and downs. There will be moments of considerable tension, friction and emotion in the new Iraq as it moves forward. But it is clearly in a very, very different place than it was a year-and-an-half or two years ago.

With respect to Pakistan and Afghanistan, there's no question but that the security situation in Afghanistan has spiraled downward in a number of areas in the country. We have to be clear-eyed about that. We should acknowledge it. We should recognize that there are steps that we need to take to help the Afghans and the Coalition to arrest that downward spiral and, over time, to reverse it.

We should recognize that the effort to support Pakistan will require sustained commitment. Three years ago, after conducting an assessment for (former) Secretary (of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld of the training mission in Afghanistan I came back -- along with a number of observations of the training mission -- I also offered that my sense was that Afghanistan was going to be the longest campaign in what we then called 'The Long War.'

I think that that's been proven correct, and I still very much stand by that assessment. That's going to be very challenging, but I think we have to remember why we went there in the first place -- that it was the source of the 9/11 attacks, if you will. That's where the senior leaders were who had a sanctuary there in a country that had been taken over by the Taliban. That enabled them to plan and to direct the attacks that ultimately took place on 9/11.

So there are some very important national interests there, and we have to do everything we can to try to achieve the best outcome we can in Afghanistan and to help Pakistan -- who is more than determined to deal with its security challenges itself -- but to help Pakistan with a coalition of like-minded nations to deal with those threats as well.

And then for the two of them, if you will, to conduct more coordinated (operations) -- and ensure that the efforts in one country don't undermine the efforts in another.

SALENA ZITO: What would you tell them about our troops? What would you say about our troops?

DAVID PETRAEUS: Well, I strongly agree with (NBC broadcaster and author) Tom Brokaw, who has called them 'The New Greatest Generation.' And I don't think it's even arguable at this point that they are the best we've ever had in uniform. I think that's indisputable now. I don't think we've had a war that's professional that's fought a war of this length. We've never had a force with the experience, in terms of the commissioned and non-commissioned officer leaders.

Again, if you look at World War II, most of the folks who fought in World War II were in it for a year, year-and-an-half, what have you. But most of them, the vast majority, were conscripts, recruits if you will, drafted or volunteered for the course of that war and then went home and lived civilian lives.

This is a force that -- the vast majority of which now has collectively raised its right hand since 9/11, knowing that the action of raising its right hand and swearing the oath of enlistment means likely deployment to a combat zone.

I think as you know, on the Fourth of July I was privileged to raise my right hand along with 1,215 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who were reciting the oath of enlistment and enlisting for another tour in our military, and doing it in a combat zone, knowing that they are likely going to redeploy to a combat zone by raising their right hands.

SALENA ZITO: Every time you talk about them you light up.

DAVID PETRAEUS: Well, heck, people ask me, 'Why in the world are you doing this?'

(Goes off the record)

People have asked, 'Why did you agree to do this? You thought you had a lot of rocks in your rucksack in Iraq, and now there's more being added, considerably more being added to that rucksack.'

The reason is because our young men and women are raising their right hands, and if they are willing to serve how can their leader not continue to serve? In fact, I believe it is a privilege to serve with them.

SALENA ZITO: They inspire you?

DAVID PETRAEUS: They absolutely do. People would say, 'Hey, thanks for coming out and seeing us, sir. Thanks for walking the patrol.' And guys got all fired up and a lot of energy and everything else. And I'd write back and say, 'Actually, the guy who got the energy was me. Thanks for what you guys are doing.'

SALENA ZITO: Do they ever get discouraged by the political discourse? Or disappointed?

DAVID PETRAEUS: Well, there are all kinds of debates in the barracks, if you will, or in the Forward Operating Bases or the Patrol Bases and so forth. And every time I say that they're not keenly observing that kind of stuff I get a bunch of emails from young troopers.

You know, email is very accessible now. My address is on the military web. I have mothers write me and all kinds of other people. So clearly there are people who are watching this pretty intently and they'll make their views known on occasion.

But again, that's their right. They, more than anyone else, have earned that right. But at the end of the day, what they tend to do is -- not dismiss it, but to not get riveted on it, but rather to get riveted on the tasks at hand, which in some cases are life or death matters.

What they're riveted on is supporting the trooper on their right and left. And that's what it's all about. And that's why they're reenlisting. They're part of something that's very special. They realize it. They feel that they're serving a cause larger than the self, with these other great individuals who are selfless, innovative, determined, and courageous.

And, together, they're part of what we call the 'Brotherhood of the Close Fight,' and that's a very special fraternity.

(Goes off the record)

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