David Petraeus: Who is the man likely to replace Michael Flynn in Trump's team?

He’s another general who has spent a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, and would be among the most reasonable voices in the new administration. But is he a bit too sane for some of Mr Trump’s supporters?

General David Petraeus was considered by Trump for the role of Secretary of State (Getty)

David Petraeus is being considered as a replacement for Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign as Donald Trump’s national security adviser over his liaison with the Russian ambassador to the US, in what is the shortest term anyone has ever served in that post.

The fall of Lieutenant General Flynn highlights the fact that the American intelligence agencies were regularly tapping the telephone of Sergey Kislyak, the ambassador, as well as the extraordinary ineptitude of the General, a former head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, in failing to realise that, as a result, details of the conversations would come out. The rise of Gen Petraeus highlights how the new President, a Vietnam draft-dodger, is continuing with his rather unusual policy of having a large number of military figures around him.

This is a good thing in the context of this presidency. General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, the Secretary of Defence, and Mr Petraeus, who spent a decade in the bloody conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan will, if he does get his job, be among the sanest voices in this government. General John Kelly, the head of Homeland Security, is another former military man who stood up for moderation when he flatly refused the demand of Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s chief strategist and standard bearer of the hard-right , to include permanent residents of the US in the banning of people from seven Muslim countries.

Mr Mattis’s nickname of “Mad Dog” is an affectionate one from the Marines who like his toughness and also his penchant for saying things like: “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet”. He is, however, a civilised and educated man who apparently surprised Mr Trump, who had vowed to reintroduce torture when he got to the White House, by saying he was adamantly against torture.

But is Mr Petraeus a bit too sane for some of Mr Trump’s supporters? He had been mooted in the past for the job of Secretary of State which eventually went to Rex Tillerson. There were major objections at the time to Mr Petraeus from the Republican right-wing, especially the gun lobby. He is a member of the Veterans for Common Sense, a group campaigning for stricter control on private ownership of assault weapons, which take such a toll of lives in America’s regular urban massacres. The organisation was co-founded by Captain Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and the husband of Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman who was shot and severely wounded by a homicidal anti-abortion zealot. Six others, including a nine year old girl, were killed in the attack.

Mr Petraeus is not the only military man to back the call for more gun control. Other members of the Coalition include General Stanley McChrystal, former US Air Force General Michael Hayden, and former chief of Nato forces General Wesley Clark.

But the possibility of Mr Petraeus serving in the Trump administration made him a target. A typical attack was a petition organised by the Firearms Policy Coalition, part of the gun lobby, declaring that “having a Secretary of State who openly advocates for more gun control and who has the ability to reinterpret regulations without Congressional oversight, would be disastrous for gun owners, hobbyist gunsmiths and manufacturers”. Influential Conservative radio show host Dana Loesch, the author of such seminal works of the genre as Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America weighed in saying that Mr Petraeus’s stance on the issue was a deal-breaker.

Some of us got to know Mr Petraeus while he was in Iraq and Afghanistan and found him to be a discerning commander who thought “out of the box” and tried to limit the scale of killings and destruction, insofar as it was possible in such wars.

Mr Petraeus’s subsequent career, however, has been anything but blemish free. He had to resign soon after being appointed CIA chief following revelations that he had shared classified information with his biographer and lover, Paula Broadwell, and faced subsequent legal proceedings, which ended with him being fined $100,000 (£80,000) and sentenced to two years probation, in 2015.

The probation runs out in April, But, in any event, Mr Petraeus will have to be confirmed by the Senate if Mr Trump chooses him as national security adviser. This may happen. He has already received support from a number of Republicans in Congress and even some Democrats, including Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey who said that the General is well qualified for the post with his security and intelligence background.

But the question is, would Mr Petraeus want to do the job ? The Trump administration appears to be dysfunctional, divided by partisan poison, almost certain to suffer more damaging disclosures, and likely to face official investigations over alleged links with the Kremlin.

Under these circumstances, General Petraeus may well think it wise to wait and see what more unfolds in the Trump show before beginning his rehabilitation back into public life with this particular administration.