Profile: General Petraeus

Gen David Petraeus has twice survived life-threatening injuries

General David Petraeus is moving from his role as the top US military commander in Iraq to head the US Central Command on 31 October.

In his new post, Gen Petraeus will be responsible is for overseeing US military operations across the Middle East, as well as in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

His replacement in Iraq is Lieutenant General Ray Odierno.

The move brings to a close 20 months at the helm in Iraq for Gen Petraeus, during which time his name became inextricably linked with the Bush administration's so-called surge strategy - widely credited with helping reduce violence in Iraq.

When he assumed control of the Multi-National Force - Iraq in February 2007, he was seen by many as the best, perhaps the last hope of President George W Bush's policy on Iraq.

He came into the job as Mr Bush announced his "surge" plan, and he oversaw its implementation, including the deployment of nearly 30,000 additional troops to trouble spots in Iraq.

Since then, the security situation has improved markedly, with less violence and fewer deaths, and progress on both the political and economic fronts.

Gen Petraeus departs amid continuing differences between Iraqi leaders and the US government over the terms of a security deal concerning the future of US forces in Iraq.

Iraq's cabinet has been demanding changes to a draft deal already agreed with Washington that would allow US forces to stay in Iraq until 2011.

In September 2008, President Bush announced that about 8,000 US troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by February - with 4,500 being sent to Afghanistan.

He argued that reduced violence levels in Iraq allowed for a "quiet surge" of troops in Afghanistan.

There are currently 146,000 US troops in Iraq compared to 33,000 in Afghanistan.

While Gen Petraeus has backed a drawdown, he warned that progress in Iraq was "fragile" and "reversible".

High profile

The general has not been afraid to make his strong opinions public.

Mr Bush has announced a cut in troop numbers by February 2009

His September 2007 testimony to Congress, with US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, on US military progress became a major part of the wider US political discourse on the Iraq war.

With Democrats pushing for an early withdrawal date, Gen Petraeus warned that could have "devastating consequences".

He has not shied from expressing fears about external influences on the situation in Iraq.

He has accused Iran's Quds Force, a branch of the Revolutionary Guards, of perpetuating the violence in Iraq.

And he expressed fears about the impact of a possible Turkish raid in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq months before Turkey launched a series of attacks on the Kurdish rebels.

Turkey ended the March campaign after being urged to withdraw by Iraq and the US, amid fears that Iraqi Kurds could get dragged into the fighting.

The four-star general has a reputation as one of the brightest generals in the US Army and helped to rewrite its counter-insurgency doctrine.

He is credited with subduing northern Iraq following the 2003 invasion, but his subsequent role - as head of a programme to train the new Iraqi security forces - led to greater criticism.

BBC world affairs correspondent Nick Childs says he has his detractors, even within the military.

He is intense, ambitious and hugely competitive, our correspondent says. But some resent his high profile, and complain he is a self-promoter.

Cheating death

Born in 1952, David Petraeus graduated from the West Point military academy in 1974 and was commissioned in the infantry. He also has a PhD in international relations from Princeton University.

He served as an officer in airborne, mechanised, and air assault infantry units in the US, Europe and the Middle East, before the invasion.

But he was lucky to ever reach Iraq, having twice suffered life-threatening injuries.

In a training exercise in 1991, an infantryman tripped and accidentally shot him in the chest with his rifle. He was five hours in surgery, operated on by Bill Frist, who later became majority leader in the last Republican-controlled Senate.

And during a parachute jump nine years later, his parachute collapsed 60 ft from the ground and he broke his pelvis.

'Hearts and minds'

He was commander of the 101st Airborne Division during the invasion of Iraq and its subsequent occupation of Mosul.

The division was charged with restarting the economy, building security forces and establishing democratic institutions in the city.

His success there appears to have been down to a combination of less aggressive military tactics than others employed and a very aggressive effort to win over the locals.

If the rest of the US military had adopted this "hearts and minds" approach, his supporters say, Iraq would not be in the mess it is today.

The same approach is credited with helping bring about the forging of alliances between US forces and Sunni tribes in Anbar province, in opposition to al-Qaeda forces.

In June 2004 he became head of the Multi-National Security Transition Command, where he was tasked with building a new Iraqi army and police force virtually from scratch.