[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1427 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1427

    Congratulating General David Howell Petraeus on being appointed 
Commander of the United States Central Command, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 11, 2008

 Mr. McCotter (for himself, Mr. Boustany, Mr. Brown of South Carolina, 
Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Fortuno, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Lamborn, 
and Mr. Linder) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Congratulating General David Howell Petraeus on being appointed 
Commander of the United States Central Command, and for other purposes.

Whereas, on November 7, 1952, David Howell Petraeus was born in Cornwall, New 
        York;
Whereas in 1974, General Petraeus graduated at the top of his class from the 
        United States Military Academy at West Point where he received a 
        commission in the United States Army infantry;
Whereas following commissioning and successful completion of Ranger School, as a 
        distinguished graduate, General Petraeus was assigned to the 509th 
        Airborne Battalion Combat team;
Whereas in 1983, General Petraeus earned the General George C. Marshall Award as 
        the top graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff 
        College;
Whereas in 1985, General Petraeus earned his master's degree and in 1987 his 
        doctorate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and 
        International Affairs at Princeton University;
Whereas from 2001 to 2002, General Petraeus effectively served a 10-month tour 
        in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of Operation Joint Forge where he was 
        the Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations of the North Atlantic Treaty 
        Organization (NATO) Stabilization Force and the Deputy Commander of the 
        United States Joint Interagency Counter-Terrorism Task Force--Bosnia;
Whereas in 2003, General Petraeus successfully commanded the 101st Airborne 
        Division, during which he led the ``Screaming Eagles'' in combat 
        throughout the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom;
Whereas in June 2004, General Petraeus was appointed the first commander of the 
        Multi-National Security Transition Command--Iraq which was responsible 
        for training, equipping, and mentoring Iraq's growing Army, Police, and 
        other security forces;
Whereas from 2005 until February 2007, General Petraeus served as Commanding 
        General, United States Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, 
        Kansas, where, under his intellectual and academic leadership, he 
        rewrote the military's counterinsurgency manual, which presents new and 
        innovative concepts, tactics, techniques, and procedures for executing 
        counterinsurgency doctrine for the post-9/11 world;
Whereas in January 2007, as part of a revised Iraqi strategy, General Petraeus 
        was appointed as Commanding General of Multi-National Force--Iraq;
Whereas, on February 10, 2007, General Petraeus took over command of the Multi-
        National Force--Iraq and oversaw the predeployment planning, training, 
        employment, and execution of strategic surge operations;
Whereas as Commander of the Multi-National Force--Iraq, General Petraeus has 
        worked closely with the Government of Iraq to carry out a successful 
        strategy which focused on securing the population and relentlessly 
        pursuing the enemy and taking back the streets for the Iraqi people 
        thereby creating a prodemocratic grassroots movement, in what has become 
        iconically known as an ``awakening'' among Iraqi citizens;
Whereas the successful surge is responsible for attacks plummeting from a daily 
        rate of 160 to 170 before the surge to about 25 to 30 most recently;
Whereas as Commander of the Multi-National Force--Iraq, General Petraeus 
        successfully continued to train, equip, and develop Iraq's security 
        forces to support local security forces and to integrate these forces 
        into the Iraqi Army and Police;
Whereas thanks to the success of our United States combat forces during the 
        surge, 70 percent of Iraqi Army battalions are now taking lead in 
        military operations;
Whereas due to the success of the surge, United States Armed Forces are able to 
        pull out and hand over security responsibility for cities in 13 of 
        Iraq's 18 provinces, including the Anbar province, to Iraqi security 
        forces;
Whereas in April 2008, General Petraeus was nominated to command the United 
        States Central Command; and
Whereas, on July 10, 2008, the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed General 
        Petraeus as Commander of the United States Central Command by a vote of 
        95 to 2: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) congratulates General David Howell Petraeus on his 
        well-deserved appointment as Commander of the United States 
        Central Command;
            (2) appreciates the impact General Petraeus's visionary 
        counter-insurgency strategy and tactics, including the 
        prioritization of ``localized reconstruction'' efforts, had in 
        providing security in Iraq, facilitating Iraqi construction, 
        and advancing the cause of our Nation's victory over the enemy 
        in Iraq;
            (3) commends General Petraeus for his tireless, prescient, 
        and invaluable leadership of the surge of United States Armed 
        Forces in the war for freedom against terrorism and leaving the 
        citizens of Iraq the opportunity to live in a sovereign, 
        stable, democratic, and free Iraq that is opposed to terrorism;
            (4) commends and expresses gratitude to the members of the 
        United States Armed Forces on their success and selfless 
        service to defend our liberty and extend liberty to the people 
        of Iraq; and
            (5) remains committed to honor the sacrifices of our fallen 
        and wounded soldiers by continuing to support the victory of 
        our United States Armed Forces in Iraq and all theaters in our 
        Nation's unsought struggle against terrorism.
                                 <all>