Petraeus Slated for CENTCOM; Odierno to Command MNF-I
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 11:06AM GEN Petraeus has been selected to command U.S. Central Command
Army GEN. David Petraeus has been asked to take over the U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno is expected to take command of coalition forces in Iraq,.
If he’s confirmed by the Senate, Petraeus would replace Adm. William Fallon, who stepped down in March amid reports that he disagreed with the Bush administration’s posture toward Iran.
He doesn’t expect Petraeus to leave Iraq until late summer or early fall.
You have to almost feel sorry that GEN Petraeus will have to endure another confirmation session with the self-righteous godheads of the Senate, but this is a good move. GEN Petraeus’ departure from Multi-National Force-Iraq is inevitable, later rather than sooner for most, but at CENTCOM he will oversee operations in both fronts of the war, Iraq and Afghanistan, and will bring his much needed expertise to the position currently held by Admiral William Fallon, who was not on board with current operations.
LT GEN Odierno has only been back from Iraq as GEN Petraeus’ deputy for 2 months, so his acceptance of the position as commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq is extraordinary. He is a great American and his family deserves our highest respect for their sacrifices.
The only concern regarding Odierno is that he’s a heavy armored commander (4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) and 1st Armored Division). Petreaeus’ resume is stacked light infantry commands, which is more suited to understanding successful counterinsurgency because those troops are always out with the locals using their feet, not tanks and heavy armored vehicles.
But Odierno’s collaboration with Petraeus in Iraq is a good sign that he has evolved into a successful COIN thinker. Please Lord, let Odierno be one of those commanders who truly “gets it”.
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Reader Comments (10)
Congratulations to Generals Petraeus and General Odierno.
They certainly deserve these promotions.
America and the world are seeing the enemies of freedom being defeated with these military leaders at the helm.
I'm just glad Petraeus' genius will continue to be utilized. Blessings to family for all that they've sacrificed for our country and people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and other parts of the world.
Surprise, surprise - Fallon out, fired, Petraeus in. Why am I not shocked?
In the meantime:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/22/va-hides-suicide-data/
The suicide data has been hidden. You can't trust Bush/Cheney stats. Or anything else for that matter.
While liberals like mud continue their pathetic little war on Bush,the leaders of our military continue to fight our REAL ENEMIES, the Jihadist.
Super intelligent liberals want to run from Iraq because they say it's a diversion from fighting our real enemy,
al-qaeda and the war on terror.
One of the top leaders of al-qaeda apparently didn't get their memo:
Ayman al-Zawahiri Declares Iraq “most important arena” in war on terror
Written by Ayman al-Zawahiri , translation by OSC
Friday, 18 April 2008 00:00
http://iraqstatusreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=337&Itemid=3
"Iraq today is now the most important arena in which our Muslim nation is waging the battle against the forces of the Crusader-Zionist campaign. Therefore, backing the mujahidin in Iraq, led by the Islamic State of Iraq, is the most important task of the Islamic nation today.” -- Ayman al-Zawahiri, audio message, April 18, 2008
Petraeus,Odierno,the American Soldier,and President Bush have taken out over 75% of al-qaeda's leadership,
over 30,000 jihadist,dealt al-qaeda a deadly blow in Iraq(their central front in the war on terror) and are now
bringing Sadr to his knee's.
It's called liberation.
while at home, the super intelligent liberals and their majority rule in Congress have issued over 900 subpoenas against the Bush Administration and have what to show for it.
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!
Petraeus and the American Soldier = 50 million Free in Iraq/Afghanistan
Liberal activists = lies,propaganda,conspiracy theories, and lots and lots of stupid bumper stickers.
Sure, mud, you can only trust Think Progress stats! If you call the entire Department of Defense liars, which you are, there's no point in discussing it further. DOD stats are where the buck stops.
We placed much hope in the abilities of Adm. Fallon, but he proved himself to be the wrong man. Good thing he voluntarily and without warning announced his retirement.
In Petraeus and Odierno, I hope we have found our Grant and Sherman, Marshal and Eisenhower
It's safe to say you have to have a team that's looking at the same compass. What GEN Petraeus enacted was clearly working but Fallon continued to press for a course that would completely ruin all the gains politically and militarily.
The dream team is Petraeus, Crocker and Gates. It'll change a little this year. I think Crocker is retiring.
Whose stats? Amy, you better actually read the article and click the links. I know you don't want to, but you really should.
Red if you think that Fallon voluntarily retired, you are living in the new Iraq Disneyland. Fallon had been pressured to resign for months. What do you think the "without warning" was about? Are you really drinking that much evian/naive water?
With all due respect, I'd rather be niave than negative, pessemistic, suspicious and unhappy.
In my opinion, you are negative, pessimistic, suspicious, and unhappy, about the fact that most Americans disagree with you, the war, and The Bush Administration.
You claim to love America, but you revile most Americans.