Outside the Beltway

Petraeus ‘Home’ in Iraq

James Joyner · Friday, September 14, 2007 · 2 comments

Charles Krauthammer is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist but he might be reading a wee bit much into a slip of the tongue:

As always, the inadvertent slip is the most telling. Discussing the performance of British troops, Gen. David Petraeus told Sen. Joe Biden of the Foreign Relations Committee that he’d be consulting with British colleagues in London on his way back “home.” He had meant to say “Iraq,” where he is now on his third tour of duty. Is there any other actor in Washington’s Iraq war drama — from Harry Reid to the Joint Chiefs — who could have made such a substitution? Anyone who not only knows Iraq the way Petraeus does but feels it in all its gravity and complexity?

Now, there’s no doubt that Petraeus has spent a lot of time in Iraq and that he lives his mission. Certainly, he’s been there more than Biden and his other inquisitors.

Still, the psychology of the military man (and perhaps anyone who moves frequently) is that home is where you hang your hat. Indeed, when I was deployed in Southwest Asia during Desert Storm, I reflexively called my tent — and for the few days of the ground war my Humvee — “home.” I still find myself doing that even though I’ve been out of the service much longer than I was in, referring to my hotel room as “home” even on relatively short trips.