The U.S. Senate on Thursday
confirmed General David Petraeus as the new director of the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The Senate voted 94-0 to approve the nomination of Petraeus, who
has been in charge of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan since June
2010. His predecessor, Leon Panetta, has been confirmed unanimously by
the Senate as secretary of defense to succeed Robert Gates, who
officially retired Thursday.
Petraeus has gained great esteem for successfully leading
multinational forces in Iraq. He was one of the architects for a
plan President Obama announced in late 2009 that called for a
significant troop surge in the country before a phased drawdown.
However, the general did not seem to fully agree with Obama on
the newly unveiled plan to withdraw from Afghanistan, though he said
he endorsed the president's decision.
"The ultimate decision was a more aggressive formulation, if you
will, in terms of the timeline than what we had recommended,"
Petraeus said at his Senate confirmation hearing last week.
