David Petraeus - and his joke about being important | News

General David Petraeus Photograph: Saad Shalash/REUTERS

The head of all international forces in Afghanistan, the American General David Petraeus, has been in the UK over the last couple of days and did a question and answer session at the thinktank, the Royal United Service Institute, this morning.

My colleague, RNT, has covered the news elements of this, so I won't repeat them. They should be on the website shortly.

But General Petraeus did tell quite a good story before all the serious stuff began. He was given a slightly over the top introduction from the director of Rusi, Professor Michael Clarke, who likened him to the singer Tina Turner - saying he was 'simply the best'.

Gen Petraeus was a little embarrassed by that, but it gave him the chance to tell the audience about a conversation that had taken place when he was a more junior officer. The subject was how to define 'importance'.

This was about 20 years ago when I was the aide to the Army Chief of Staff in the Pentagon and Colin Powell was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

One of my fellow aides overheard the joint chiefs killing time before they were waiting for the arrival of a foreign dignitary. And the topic of conversation turned to examples of true importance. And what it really meant to be truly important.

And after a bit of banter, one of the chiefs offered what seemed to be quite a good opinion on this.

In my view, he said, true importance is a meeting with the President of the United States in the Oval Office, during which the President asks all of the other attendees to leave so that he can do a 'one on one' just with you.
"All the chiefs nodded at that.

But then another chief chimed in. 'Actually chiefs, he asserted, 'true importance is a 'one on one' meeting with the President in the Oval Office during which the President is so intent on what you are saying that he doesn't even answer the hotline when it rings'.

Well that had all the heads nodding in agreement. Until General Powell , a man who had, of course, as the National Security Advisor, spent quite a bit of time in the Oval Office, settled the question once and for all.

"Chiefs," he said authoritatively, "true importance is a personal meeting with the President in the Oval Office, during which when the hotline rings, the President answers the phone, holds it out and says - Here Colin, it's for you".