General Petraeus is just too cool.

As Gen. David Petraeus shifts from the Afghan battlefield to run the CIA, he leaves behind a legacy of tactical and spycraft changes that spurred more killings and captures of Afghan militants while reducing insurgent attacks to their lowest level in years, senior U.S. officials in Afghanistan said.

That's from a recent AP article by KIMBERLY DOZIER. Swear to God, I read all I can about General Petraeus, and he just totally gets cooler each day. For someone known to espouse and practice soft power, he sure has created a powerful killing machine in Afghanistan...

From April to July this year, officials said, 2,832 special operations raids led to the capture of 2,941 insurgents and the killings of 834. That's twice the number captured or killed during the same period a year ago, when special operations forces captured more than 1,350 insurgents and killed 1,031 in roughly the same number of raids, according to figures shared with The Associated Press by NATO headquarters...

But the system Petraeus helped institutionalize — a fusion of intelligence, U.S. law enforcement and special operations hunter-killer teams — is operating at a higher pace and level of synchronization than in any previous year.

I know that a lot of people are sick of nation building, especially when some folks simply refuse to be helped; But freedom and democracy in the Middle East is essential to America's national security, and so many troops have already lost their lives trying to lead two broken nations away from the Dark Ages and into a bright promising future. I still wholeheartedly support the war effort.

I understand the frustration so many people feel about Iraq and Afghanistan. I get pissed off too, especially when I see ungrateful nuts rallying and burning American flags on the streets. At least General P isn't all about winning over hearts and minds...

That picture of Petraeus, as precision-killer-commander, is somewhat at odds with the familiar portrayal of the four-star military champion of "soft power" counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan — using the army's might to first take territory, but then to help foster nation building.

But many who have worked for him said Petraeus has always been a keen proponent of accurately killing the enemy. Petraeus frequently complains that political leaders, and the media, fail to understand that counterterrorism — tracking and killing the enemy — is a subset of counterinsurgency.

Read the rest of the article here.