General Petraeus treated for prostate cancer

WASHINGTON: General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year but underwent “successful” treatment for the illness, his office said Tuesday.

Petraeus chose not to go public with his condition at first because he considered it a personal matter and because it did not interfere with his performance of his duties, the general’s spokesman at US Central Command, Colonel Erik Gunhus, said in a statement. “General Petraeus was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer in February” and had two months of radiation treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, he said. “The treatment is assessed to have been successful,” he said in the statement.

President Barack Obama and other top officials were kept informed of Petraeus’s diagnosis and treatment, it added. Petraeus oversees US military operations in an area encompassing Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the oil-rich Gulf. He rose to public prominence as the US commander who led the successful “surge” of US forces in Iraq, but Petraeus has taken a lower profile under Obama, as the new administration has debated whether to build up US forces in Afghanistan.

His low-key public role in the intensifying debate on Afghanistan is in contrast with his high profile part in selling the US Congress on the equally controversial buildup in Iraq in 2006. Based on his experience in Iraq, Petraeus has promoted and led the military’s embrace of counter-insurgency doctrine, a major shift after years of traditionally focusing on conventional warfare. A fitness fanatic, Petraeus was known to take pride in out-performing young subordinates in jogging and push-ups. afp

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