GEN Abizaid And The Bus
Posted on December 4, 2006
Looks like GEN Abizaid is heading towards the underside of a bus, and that is exactly what is happening:
Gen. John Abizaid, the overall theater commander, and Gen. George Casey, the ground commander, are exhausted and overdue for replacement. (”There might be a sense that a fresh perspective is needed,” said a senior White House aide.)
I wonder if “Go Big, Go Long or Go Home” has not been too popular.
This will be a great loss in the GWOT and will cause more erosion amongst the subordinate staff and commanders.
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One Response to “GEN Abizaid And The Bus”
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First, the Newsweek article is horribly written and resembles nothing like a legitimate news article. It’s a flawed op-ed piece at best. Is this typical of Newsweek? I don’t read them, but if it is, how pathetic.
The timing looks suspicious, but I don’t think this is a “throwing under the bus” situation. Tommy Franks was CENTCOM for a matter of months; GEN Abizaid has been CENTCOM commander for the Middle East since 2003. Commanders usually go 2 years at most in command positions, and in this stressful situation one year is probably reasonable. Abizaid has been CENTCOM commander for 2-3 times longer than expected. He’s done a fantastic job.
Here’s what really angered me about this Newsweek piece:
“It’s not clear whether the military made its frustrations known to the White House. Generals tend to salute and say can-do; if anything, the military has not been accurately portraying the dismal events on the ground..”
Who the *bleep* does Evan Thomas think he is? Now not only did Bush lie, but military commanders are lying, too? What a butthead. Generals don’t “salute and say ‘can-do’; they are at the top of the military food chain and advise the comamnder in chief. Order and decorum are obviously foreign to Thomas.
You can find and interview a disgruntled commander anywhere; they’re a dime a dozen. Note how he’s not quoting Abizaid or Casey.. I suppose THEIR comments are too positive and don’t accurately portray the “dismal events on the ground.” No, they’re just the guys over there doing the work and Thomas just a 2-bit reporter asking former commanders their opinions. Commanders are notorious for having large egos and this is evident in Thomas sources.
I’m not jumping on the “Iraq is doomed” bandwagon. It isn’t doomed. What we’re seeing is Iraqis “stepping up”. They are the ones taking the hits, taking the casualities, making centuries worth of conflict applicable. This won’t happen over night. Democracy in Iraq won’t look like Democracy in America. And it shouldn’t, isn’t that the point?
What we’re also seeing is the aftermath of the last US mid-term election. There’s a lot of volleying for power going on between Iran/Hezbollah/Syria/Jordan, Sunnis, Shiites, militias, al-Qaeda… because they think the US is pulling out of Iraq. Thanks to Bush’s underused veto pen, we won’t be leaving Iraq until at least ‘08.