Americans must go to war to defeat old enemies -- not to create new ones.
That was the message delivered by Gen. David Petraeus at Brigham Young University on Thursday evening. The commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, delivered only a few minutes of prepared remarks, choosing instead to field a diverse and complicated array of questions from BYU students.
Top 10 reasons why BYU students make good soldiers
10 » They have already been on many a mission
9 » Army chow is no problem for folks accustomed to eating green Jell-O and shredded carrots.
8 » It's no problem if they don't know what rank someone is. They can just call that person "brother" or "sister."
7 » They never go AWOL -- the prefer to call it "less active."
6 » They will seize any objective swiftly if you tell them refreshments will be served.
5 » They know how to make things happen. If you ever need a base built quickly, you need only to plant a staff and say, "This is the place."
4 » They have innovative ideas for handling insurgents -- like assigning them as home teachers.
3 » They always have a year's supply of provisions.
2 » They are the world's most reliable designated drivers.
1 » They understand how far Iraq has come over the past 7 years -- and they believe that Iraq's old spot in the "Axis of Evil" can now be filled by the University of Utah.
Gen. David Petraeus
