Admiral William Fallon, CENTCOM commander who has been in command of the wars in both
Iraq and Afghanistan, had vowed that the planned nuclear attack on Iran
would never occur on his watch. In the end he was forced to resign, and
would be replaced by General Petraeus, who believed a solder should simply
"take orders and ... follow them."
What the Petraeus Promotion Means
Democrats are unlikely to mount a campaign to block Petraeus'
promotion. Yet Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the next CENTCOM
commander must come with new plans for Iraq "if directed to by a
new President." Petraeus hedged last month when asked what he would
say if a new President were to order a withdrawal plan within 60 days of
taking office. He verbally juggled risks and objectives before
conceding, "We take orders and we follow them."
The impact of promoting Petraeus, however, may be even greater in the
national security establishment than on Capitol Hill. It's a wake-up
call to old-school Army officers and their vanishing dreams of massive
tank battles and artillery skirmishes, some of whom privately call
Petraeus "King David" for his high self-regard and chumminess
with reporters. Gates has made clear that wants commanders able to carry
out the messy, irregular kind of combat championed by Petraeus that the
Defense Secretary envisages the U.S. fighting for years to come. The
promotion reinforces the message he delivered to young Air Force and
Army officers on Monday, when he criticized
their leaders for devoting too much time and effort to future
potential wars, and not enough to the real wars now under way.
"The kinds of conflicts that we're doing, not just in Iraq but
in Afghanistan, and some of the challenges that we face elsewhere in the
region and in the Central Command area, are very much characterized by
asymmetric warfare," Gates said. "And I don't know anybody in
the United States military better qualified [than Petraeus] to lead that
effort." Gates said he had discussed Petraeus's promotion with
Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the armed services
committee, and said he didn't "anticipate any problems" in
winning Senate approval. Petraeus, in a brief statement from Baghdad,
said he is "honored to be nominated for this position."
U.S. Central Command is the core of the U.S. military's current
operations — it includes both Afghanistan and Iraq — stretching from
the Horn of Africa to Pakistan. Although its headquarters are at an Air
Force base in Tampa, Fla., recent commanders have spent much of their
time at their forward headquarters in Qatar. Petraeus will assume
command late this summer or early fall, replacing Admiral William
Fallon, who requested early retirement last month after he was portrayed
in a magazine interview as the lone officer preventing a U.S. war with
Iran. Petraeus's former deputy in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno,
will return to Baghdad in the Petraeus slot, giving up his new
assignment as the Army's No. 2 officer after only two months back in the
U.S. "There is no question that there are a handful of generals,
like a lot of captains and enlisted soldiers and the NCOs," Gates
said, "who have had repeated tours in Iraq."
"What
the Petraeus Promotion Means", by Mark Thompson, Time,
May 23, 2008
