From the Article:
The defense official, who insisted on anonymity because formal announcements are still pending, said that Bush wants to replace Abizaid with Adm. William Fallon, the top U.S. commander in the Pacific and that Casey's replacement would be Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who headed the effort to train Iraqi security forces.
Not sure where this sits with Frank, but these individuals were not on his list of recommended replacements. I would guess that if a tank commander isn't a good fit for insurgent fighting, an Admiral isn't going to be much better. At least Petraeus has direct experience with the Iraqi forces and their culture.
I'm sure that we will hear from Frank on this.
2 comments:
Frank is a very amiable,"going for the roses", talkative guy with decided opinions! However, twenty years in the Army and out as Staff-Sergeant, doesn't honestly make him the Judgement Icon you seem to have painted him. No offense, but come-on!!
I do know that Frank was the only place that I saw in both the print media and the blogosphere that was cluing us in to the possibility that Abazaid and Casey would be replaced and broke down why they were wrong for the job and who would make a good replacement by name. It actually happened and the after-the-fact reporting and analysis generally available isn't as good as Frank laid out before the transfer.
I would also bet that the number of contacts that Frank has on the inside of forces in Iraq and the military hierarchy is several degrees better than the made-up AP stringers that we usually get our Iraq reporting from.
Overall, there are very few people in Tucson who we could get a better perspective from, and I'm happy it happening on MY blog.
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