Terror threat

Petraeus: Syria 'Geopolitical Chernobyl' of Extremism

Former CIA Director David Petraeus, the architect of the US troop surge in Iraq in 2007, told lawmakers Tuesday that Syria has become a “geopolitical Chernobyl” of extremism and chaos, and called for the US to act more aggressively against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its air power.

“Like a nuclear disaster, the fallout from the meltdown of Syria threatens to be with us for decades, and the longer it is permitted to continue, the more severe the damage will be,” Petraeus testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The retired four-star general once commanded military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.