CENTCOM Commander Resigns: Adm. Fallon Opposed Attack on Iran (1 Viewer)

[blackadder]

Word was out Bush may fire Fallon last week:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/05/fallon-bush-fire/

I meant to post this but forgot.

Fallon "resigned" today.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080311/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fallon_resigns

Fallon had been quoted as saying there would be not attack on Iran "on his watch."

There are the standard denials of dissension in the ranks but Fallon had butted heads Bush's hawks:

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41500

One can only speculate whether or not this signals that Bush will leave us with another mess to clean up in the region before he departs.

 

[Creole in Kansas]

Hopefully, Martin Dempsey--the current Deputy Commander--gets the nod.

 

[blackadder]

Hopefully, Martin Dempsey--the current Deputy Commander--gets the nod.

What's his background?

 

[champ76]

I am not sure talking to Esquire magazine or the Financial Times of London is the best way for a military person to voice one's opposition to his boss' strategy, no matter how noble his intentions.

 

[JimEverett]

In Pentagon speak "resigns" has a different meaning. The journalist who wrote this piece should know that.

 

[LSSpam]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he also oppose Patreous' surge? It would strike me more as collateral damage over that fight then anything else (with the surge appearing to work, loser is out).

Yep, just looked it up
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39235
Maybe someone more versed in Pentagon style fights can weigh in but this strongly, strongly strikes me as a Patreous/Fallon power struggle that Patreous won on the strength of his "surge".

 

[DadsDream]

In Pentagon speak "resigns" has a different meaning. The journalist who wrote this piece should know that.

Actually...yes it does...

Gates said that Adm. William J. Fallon had asked for permission to retire and that Gates agreed. Gates said the decision, effective March 31, was entirely Fallon’s and that Gates believed it was “the right thing to do.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23578902/

 

[Saintman2884]

Black, Bush only has about 6-7 more months in office, he really would need more time to prepare a military attack on Iran or even an invasion. those things take time and we don't have either for Bush to do so on Iran. Plus to make an attack on Iran you need to make sure that your bombers know where they think the program is or the facilities are. Reports are that the facilities the Iranians are using are deep underground and spread far across the country so it takes time to find them all and their is no big reward of succeeding. Seymour Hersh is a good reporter but he needs to stop being a conspiracy theorist and thinking he has the inside information all the time.

 

[SaintJ]

In Pentagon speak "resigns" has a different meaning. The journalist who wrote this piece should know that.

lmao

 

[DadsDream]

A few generalizations here:

We have plans to invade every country in the world.
These are called War Plans.
We do not discuss specific War Plans.
We do not confirm or deny the existence of specific War Plans.
We do not confirm or deny any options the Commander in Chief may consider.

Fallon knew better.

 

[TPS]

>>Black, Bush only has about 6-7 more months in office, he really would need more time to prepare a military attack on Iran or even an invasion. those things take time and we don't have either for Bush to do so on Iran.

Iraq was planned in the 1990's. I'm sure Iran's been on the table for even longer. I can hardly imagine the bursting zippers of Likudists, neocons and the MID if we started making overtures to taking out the clerics, the democratically elected government or both.

TPS

 

[varanook]

Ir

aq was planned in the 1990's. I'm sure Iran's been on the table for even longer. I can hardly imagine the bursting zippers of Likudists, neocons and the MID if we started making overtures to taking out the clerics, the democratically elected government or both.

In Pentagon speak "resigns" has a different meaning. The journalist who wrote this piece should know that.

:_rofl: :17:

 

[blackadder]

Black, Bush only has about 6-7 more months in office, he really would need more time to prepare a military attack on Iran or even an invasion. those things take time and we don't have either for Bush to do so on Iran. Plus to make an attack on Iran you need to make sure that your bombers know where they think the program is or the facilities are. Reports are that the facilities the Iranians are using are deep underground and spread far across the country so it takes time to find them all and their is no big reward of succeeding. Seymour Hersh is a good reporter but he needs to stop being a conspiracy theorist and thinking he has the inside information all the time.

If the plans are on the shelf, it won't take much to get into position. It's most likely an air assault with newly enhanced bunker busters, some possibly "low yield" nuclear weapons.

If they decide to do that, a lot is in place already. Given recent tensions, I'd be surprised if it all isn't in place already.

 

[blackadder]

I am not sure talking to Esquire magazine or the Financial Times of London is the best way for a military person to voice one's opposition to his boss' strategy, no matter how noble his intentions.

Here's the Esquire piece.

http://www.esquire.com/features/fox-fallon#

It's been suggested by some that Fallon would resign before participate in an attack on Iran.

How does Fallon get away with so brazenly challenging his commander in chief?

The answer is that he might not get away with it for much longer. President Bush is not accustomed to a subordinate who speaks his mind as freely as Fallon does, and the president may have had enough.

Just as Fallon took over Centcom last spring, the White House was putting itself on a war footing with Iran. Almost instantly, Fallon began to calmly push back against what he saw as an ill-advised action. Over the course of 2007, Fallon's statements in the press grew increasingly dismissive of the possibility of war, creating serious friction with the White House.
Last December, when the National Intelligence Estimate downgraded the immediate nuclear threat from Iran, it seemed as if Fallon's caution was justified. But still, well-placed observers now say that it will come as no surprise if Fallon is relieved of his command before his time is up next spring, maybe as early as this summer, in favor of a commander the White House considers to be more pliable. If that were to happen, it may well mean that the president and vice-president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don't want a commander standing in their way.

And so Fallon, the good cop, may soon be unemployed because he's doing what a generation of young officers in the U. S. military are now openly complaining that their leaders didn't do on their behalf in the run-up to the war in Iraq: He's standing up to the commander in chief, whom he thinks is contemplating a strategically unsound war.

 

[Inkspot47]

He probably just hangs out with Spitzer.