G&A Podcast – Episode 1

 

 

12.20.17 – General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker discuss their partnership in Iraq 2007-2008 during the surge campaign – as running buddies and political/military strategists. They review their bad cop/good cop approach and warn about Iran…

 

U.S. EMBASSY ANNEX, Baghdad, Iraq (Oct. 5, 2007) – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen speaks with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker (right) and Gen. David Petraeus, commander, Multi-National Forces, Iraq Oct. 4, 2007. Mullen is on his first tour of the central command area of operations visiting with the leadership and service members assigned to the region since becoming chairman Oct. 1. DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley (RELEASED)

 

General David Petraeus: General (Ret) David H. Petraeus (New York) joined KKR in June 2013 and is Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which supports KKR’s investment committees, portfolio companies, and limited partners with analysis of geopolitical and macro-economic trends, as well as environmental, social, and governance issues. Prior to joining KKR, Gen. Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands, five of which were in combat, including command of coalition forces during the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Following his service in the military, Gen. Petraeus served as the Director of the CIA during a period of significant achievements in the global war on terror. Gen. Petraeus graduated with distinction from the U.S. Military Academy and subsequently earned M.P.A. and Ph.D. degrees in an interdisciplinary program of international relations and economics from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He subsequently taught both subjects at the U.S. Military Academy and later completed a fellowship at Georgetown University. Gen. Petraeus has received numerous U.S. military, State Department, NATO and United Nations medals and awards, including four Defense Distinguished Medals, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, and the Combat Action Badge, and he has been decorated by 13 foreign countries.

Since leaving government, he also served as a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College for 3-1/2 years and he has, since 2013, been a Judge Widney Professor at the University of Southern California, a Senior Fellow at Harvard University, a personal venture capitalist, and Senior Vice-President of the Royal United Services Institute. Additionally, he is a member of the boards of the Institute for the Study of War, the Atlantic Council, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, and over a dozen veterans service organizations.

 

Ambassador Ryan Crocker: Ambassador Ryan Crocker is currently the dean of Texas A&M University’s George Bush School of Government and Public Service.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker was confirmed as Ambassador to Iraq on March 7, 2007. He assumed Chief of Mission duties at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on March 29, 2007 after serving as U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan from October 2004 to March, 2007. He served previously as the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College, where he joined the faculty in 2003. From May to August 2003, he was in Baghdad as the first Director of Governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from August 2001 to May 2003, and served previously as Ambassador to Syria (1998-2001), Ambassador to Kuwait (1994-1997) and Ambassador to Lebanon (1990-1993). Since joining the Foreign Service in 1971, he also has had assignments in Iran, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt, as well as Washington. He was assigned to the American Embassy in Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the bombings of the embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983.
He grew up in an Air Force family, attending schools in Morocco, Canada and Turkey, as well as the U.S. He received a B.A. in English in 1971 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2001 from Whitman College (Washington).

Ambassador Crocker received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 1994, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service in 1997 and the Presidential Meritorious Service Award in 1999 and 2003. He also holds the State Department Distinguished Honor Award, Award for Valor, three Superior Honor Awards and the American Foreign Service Association Rivkin Award. In January 2002, he was sent to Afghanistan to reopen the American Embassy in Kabul. He subsequently received the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for “exceptional courage and leadership” in Afghanistan. In September 2004, President Bush conferred on him the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the Foreign Service.