EXCLUSIVE Petraeus, Once Top U.S. General in Iraq, to Speak On Campus

Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command and earlier the top U.S. general in Iraq, will visit Saint Anselm College and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on March 24, N.H.I.O.P. executive director Neil Levesque told The Crier. The visit, expected at the end of this month, is among the Institute's highest profile and most distinguished guests recently.

Petraeus earned notoriety for leading U.S. troops in the Iraq "surge" strategy when commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq. In Oct. 2008, Petraeus, who holds a Ph.D. in international relations from Princeton University, assumed command of the United States Central Command in Oct. 2008. General Petraeus was also the first commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq from 2004-2005.

His leadership has earned commendation from U.S. News and World Report, Time magazine, Foreign Policy magazine, and Esquire magazine, according to his official biography. He has received numerous awards recognizing his service from the U.S. military.

Petraeus maintains that he is not running for the presidency, although he is considered a likely choice for the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or possibly Army chief of staff, according to the Associated Press.

The general experienced some controversial criticism in 2007 when Moveon.org ran a ten-page ad in the New York Times headlining, "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" The ad accused Petraeus of misconstruing facts about the Iraqi war, and attacked his credibility.

The N.H.I.O.P. considers hosting Petraeus to be a great honor for the college.