I see General David Petraeus has been named to head the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for all operations in the Middle East, including both Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, Lt. General Raymond Odierno, who was most recently Petraeus’s number two man in Iraq, has been named to replace Petraeus as the top commander in Iraq.
I will be interested in what other people say, but I think these could be very significant appointments. Appointing Odierno to replace Petraeus in Iraq insures that the counterinsurgency ("COIN") strategy that has worked so well in the last year will be continued.
Appointing Petraeus to head the Central Command (in place of Admiral William Fallon, who resigned several weeks ago and did not seem to support Petraeus’s strategy in Iraq) indicates that there will be continued support for our COIN strategy in Iraq.
Obviously, the strategy in Iraq was going to continue while Bush was President. But if somebody other than John McCain is elected in November, how is that new President going to like having these generals in place? And what will these generals do when that new President orders them to implement the "get out now" policy that both of them have been promising to implement?
This could be interesting.
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Update [4/23/08 4:53 p.m.]: Here is Senator Harry Reid's statement on the Petraeus and Odierno promotions. Hmmm. Does this mean, in spite of all the progress we have had in Iraq in the last 15 months from a military point of view, that Senator Reid is going to try to get the Senate Democrats to delay voting on these promotions - or maybe even not vote on them at all? This could be a "support the troops" issue like we have never seen before.
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