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Talk:David Petraeus

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Latest comment: 2 months ago by Justlettersandnumbers in topic COI tag (May 2026)
Former good article nomineeDavid Petraeus was a History good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
November 6, 2007WikiProject peer reviewReviewed
May 15, 2012Good article nomineeNot listed
In the newsA news item involving this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "In the news" column on July 4, 2010.
Current status: Former good article nominee

Are "questions" or "criticisms" about Bronze Star WP:DUE? Wikivoice claims are not backed by WP:RS, in violation of WP:BLP.

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Currently, our article states:

One additional aspect of Petraeus's career that has come under increased scrutiny since his affair came to light has been his lack of a direct combat record in relation to the many awards he received. In particular, his Bronze Star Medal with Valor device has been mentioned in several media reports and questioned by several former Army officers. The citation for Petraeus's Bronze Star with "V" device also notes his "leadership under fire", as does award of the Combat Action Badge, but neither provides a detailed account of his actions.

The relevant point is that he sat out the largest war of his lifetime (Vietnam) in the safety of West Point while draftees fought.  Preceding unsigned comment added by ~2026-76449-8 (talk) 06:38, 6 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

The sole cited source is a Business Insider article, which links only to a Buzzfeed piece, and which cites only the views of Colonel (Ret.) Douglas Macgregor. The article says that BI "has filed a Freedom Of Information Request for Patraeus' bronze star award citation"—but nothing about the outcome of that FOIA.

From what I can glean, both Wikivoice assertions about "several media reports" and "several former Army officers" are uncited and unsourced—and I'm unable to find corroboration for those phrases. Indeed, the only other piece I can find about the topic is a blog post on the obviously unreliable DailyKos. Worse are the claims about the "citation" for the award: as per above, the sole cited source didn't even have access to it.

Prior discussions regarding the topic on this Talk page have not cited additional, let alone better sources.

Most broadly, I would question whether a contentious claim in a single articles from a fairly low-tier source deserves mention in the article. Petraeus is one of the best-known, broadly covered, and roundly criticized military figures in recent history, and if there was legitimate concern about "stolen valor", I can only assume better sources would have been all over it. More urgently, given the patent lack of WP:RS for the above Wikivoice statements, I have removed the passage for now, simply to correct what seems like a self-evident failure to follow the strict requirements of WP:BLP. That said, I'm open-minded about whether the questions are WP:DUE, and am happy to see information about the Bronze Star medal if more/better sources can be cited and/or if our language can be reworked to conform to our high standards. Thanks, and please ping in response! Ekpyros (talk) 14:36, 25 March 2025 (UTC)Reply

Fox News citations

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The article contains 12 citations to Foxnews.com, and this is a topic that involves politics, including US politics. Six of the citations are to articles published after November 2020. Per WP:FOXNEWSPOLITICS, "There is consensus Fox News is generally unreliable for the reporting of politics, especially from November 2020 onwards. On the matter of science, and on the matter of pre-November 2020 politics, there is a consensus that the reliability of Fox News is unclear and that additional considerations apply to its use. ..." —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 01:59, 28 April 2025 (UTC)Reply

MDY or DMY date format

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After many years using MDY date format, the article was edited a few months ago without any Talk page discussion that I could find, so that it now says DMY dates should be used. Currently, I see that the article currently has a mixture  it contains a lot of MDY dates. Both formats are justifiable for this topic, but date formats are not supposed to be changed casually. Should that change be reverted? —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 01:59, 28 April 2025 (UTC)Reply

Yes, it should be reverted. He is an American, and MDY is the standard for Americans. ReferenceMan (talk) 13:16, 7 July 2025 (UTC)Reply
After further review, I change my conclusion. It should stay DMY, as this is a modern military biography, which should be DMY per MOS:MILFORMAT ReferenceMan (talk) 20:49, 7 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

COI tag (May 2026)

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clear and evident conflict-of-interest, editor has been asked to make disclosure but has not done so. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 14:46, 26 May 2026 (UTC)Reply