Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Petraeus To Take Over MidEast Command


General David Petraeus has been tapped by SecDef Robert Gates as the replacement for Admiral William Fallon to command CentCom:

The nomination, which must be approved by the Senate, puts Petraeus in charge of the US military's biggest challenges -- Iraq, an expanding military effort in Afghanistan, an Al-Qaeda revival in Pakistan, and challenges from Iran on various fronts.

Gates said he had recommended Petraeus, whose three-year term would extend into the next US administration, "because I'm absolutely confident that he is the best man for the job."


General Ray Odierno, Petraeus' day-to-day commander of operations during the "surge" would take over as C in C in Iraq...a great move for those familiar with this superb fighting general.

This is an interesting move,because it puts Petraeus, a man with no illusions on Iran in command of the theater directly involved with them,yet another sign that the wind may be changing.

And the Iranians may have already gotten the message, although I suspect that this new agreement with the IAEA to disclose certain aspects of their clandestine nukes program are just a device to buy some more time as the centrifuges keep spinning merrily along.

In any event, putting general Petraeus in charge of CentCom is anindication that we may finally be getting serious about confronting Iran..and that's a welcome change.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't thikn a US attack on Iran is going to happen, however, I think it is certain that an attack by Iran or its agents on US soil is going to happen. Mayber just maybe some in the American leadership have decided to be proactive and confront Iran rather than sit around and wait to be attacked.

Political leaders and media pundits who have been obsessing about trying to stop an American attack on Iran have been obsessing about the wrong thing. They need to be planning for the Iranian attack on the United States. They need to be thinking about how we are going to prevent and should we fail to prevent it how will emergency response teams respond to the disaster. Also, what will our military and diplomatic responses be.

If multiple "dirty bombs" or even a suit case sized nuclear warhead were detonated in several American cities, the death toll would be likely be in the millions. For a country with the sophistication of Iran who has the backing of Russia and China this would not be very difficult to pull off. Government officials need to be thinking about how they are going to prevent this.

I suspect the Iranian teams are already in place. Its likely only a matter of timing now.