Gen David Petraeus: A ‘Dragon’ in Iraq?
New York artist Leonard Rosenfeld created this portrait of David Petraeus in 2004, inspired by Petraeus’s famous question on Iraq: “Tell me how this ends.�
Thank you Marc Schulman for the suggestion to read Jim Lehrer’s lengthy interview with the General Petraeus on PBS NewsHour.
I have been doing a bit of research on this General, and the Lehrer interview confirms my findings that this Chief of the US army in Iraq is not an ordinary soldier/human being…
Well, to be precise, he is a ‘Dragon’. Let me talk first about this dimension of his personality before I discuss the PBS NewsHour interview. Let’s have some fun…
David Howell Petraeus is a ‘pucca’ Dragon in the Chinese astrology (born November 7, 1952) and the element that governs him is ‘water’. And that’s it – fire and water!!! Contradictory?
Says my favourite Chinese astrologer Suzanne White: “Unlike other Dragons, this Dragon is a tad more moderate and his verve is tampered by the influence of Water. He gives the impression of high-born gentility, likeable and,well, scholarly and informed.”
She says that this Dragon cannot kowtow to a bunch of ‘witless cigar-smoking guys’…either success comes ‘because of his talent, his unusual gifts and his remarkable brilliance, or he simply cannot be bothered. He would rather go and live in the country and raise goats.’
“This Dragon is intuitive, and can advise you on almost any thing. He has the capacity to be a soothsayer.
“If he does not know an answer to a direct question he will say so”. (Those of you who have read Gen Petraeus’s interview given to PBS NewsHour would find how true this statement is. Read about this in my next post.)
“Love is his main objective…Family, children and long friendships are the mainstay of his emotional stability. He lives for improving the structure of his family and thrives on the approval and gratitude he receives from them.”
This Dragon is “creative,…innovative” and multi-talented. Does not like conformity. “He knows how to marry the new with the established and come up with plans which surprise us by their improvisational yet solid sturdiness…”
Well, I can’t go beyond this length in this post without annoying TMV’s editor-in-chief Joe Gandelman who keeps reminding us contributors to be brief. So I take up Gen Petraeus’s interview in the next post tomorrow.
But I can’t sign off without providing this ‘Dragon’ General’s Chinese astrological forecast for the year 2007: “…Your most divine dreams will start to come true this year. Harmony re-enters the picture too.
“Your private life smooths out…Behave modestly: It wouldn’t hurt to tone down your act, be gentler, lower your voice, take an occasional back seat in the arguments.
“Be more humble – if only for the purpose of gaining the goodwill of those who, previously, found you far too overwhelmingly fiery.
“My advice? Structure. Discipline. Focus.”
Meanwhile for General Petraeus’s profile please click here…
If you wish to buy Suzanne White’s book “The New Chinese Astrology” from the Amazon…please click here…
