Nearly a year ago, staff officers told Gen. David H. Petraeus that they couldn't help but notice the striking similarities between his situation and one of the most famous moments in U.S. military history.
They told Petraeus -- then in charge of Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas, and soon to take over as U.S. commander in Iraq -- that he had the opportunity to turn the war around and thereby repeat the achievement of Ulysses S. Grant, who rescued the flagging fortunes of the Union army in the Civil War.
"We talked to him about it before he left Leavenworth -- that he was in a position like Grant was," said an officer who worked with Petraeus.
Now eight months into his command in Iraq, Petraeus faces a pivotal moment.
On Monday, as President Bush has been promising for months, Petraeus will appear before Congress to offer his assessment of the war's progress. He will bring to the witness table not only months of his observations, but years of experience carefully honing what many say are uncommon skills as a communicator and soldier, but especially as a politician.
Petraeus may yet turn out to be the Ulysses Grant of the Iraq war. But his upcoming appearance in Washington has other historical echoes, involving a military leader to whom history has been far less kind.
Forty years ago, Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland was brought to Washington in an effort to shore up public support for the Vietnam War. In November 1967, at the behest of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Westmoreland left Saigon to appear before Congress, deliver speeches and take questions from the press. His command later ended amid the turmoil of public debate about the wisdom of the war.
" '67 was the year you really saw erosion of public support starting, and that is why Johnson brings Westmoreland back, because he senses the public is getting tired," said Mark Moyar, a military historian and author of a book about the Vietnam War, "Triumph Forsaken."
"Westmoreland comes back and says progress is being made and there is light at the end of the tunnel," Moyar said. Westmoreland's comments in Washington led some to accuse him of being a political pawn of the White House, a charge that has begun to be leveled at Petraeus.
It may take years for history to judge whether Petraeus is a Grant or a Westmoreland. But it is clear today that Petraeus is perhaps uniquely suited for the challenge he faces Monday.
'A true intellect'
