Perspective: Interview with David Petraeus

SPIEGEL: General Petraeus, you were in charge of combat operations in Iraq, you supervised the build-up of the new Iraqi security force and now you oversee the training and education of Army officers here at Fort Leavenworth. Would you agree that you are trying to impose a sort of a cultural revolution on the United States Army?

Petraeus: There is quite a big cultural change going on. We used to say, that if you can do the "big stuff," the big combined arms, high-end, high intensity major combat operations and have a disciplined force, then you can do the so-called "little stuff," too. That turned out to be wrong.

As I came here to Fort Leavenworth late last year everybody knew, from the chief of staff of the Army on down, that we needed to make substantial changes as an Army. My predecessor here, General William Wallace, actually coined the phrase "engine of change" for the overall organization that we oversee and that's what we try to be here for our Army. We're dealing here with new doctrines, new concepts on all levels, that, in turn, shape the education of our commissioned, warrant, and non-commissioned officer leaders, and then, in turn, influence the training of our units at our Army's major combat training centers. All that had to be modified in light of the lessons we've learned in our ongoing operations, and that is what we have tried to do.

SPIEGEL: What are those lessons?

Petraeus: We brought a lot of experiences back from Iraq but also from Central America and to some degree from other places like Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo. But there was a general awareness of the importance of understanding the huge impact of cultural, religious, and ethnic factors -- that knowledge of the so-called "cultural terrain" was as important in many cases as knowledge of the physical terrain in contemporary operations. We had to deal with these new challenges because it turns out they are key elements when you plan and conduct military operations.

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