The Pentagon vs. Petraeus

Wall Street Journal ^ | 3-12-08 | Review & Outlook - OP/ED

[smoothsailing]

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

The Pentagon vs. Petraeus

March 12, 2008; Page A20

Yesterday's resignation of Admiral William Fallon as Centcom Commander is being portrayed as a dispute over Iran. Our own sense is that the admiral has made more than enough dissenting statements about Iraq, Iran and other things to warrant his dismissal as much as early retirement. But his departure will be especially good news if it means that President Bush is beginning to pay attention to the internal Pentagon dispute over Iraq.

A fateful debate is now taking place at the Pentagon that will determine the pace of U.S. military withdrawals for what remains of President Bush's term. Senior Pentagon officials -- including, we hear, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen, Army Chief of Staff George Casey and Admiral Fallon -- have been urging deeper troop cuts in Iraq beyond the five "surge" combat brigades already scheduled for redeployment this summer.

Last month Mr. Gates agreed to a pause in these withdrawals, so that General David Petraeus could assess whether the impressive security gains achieved by the surge can be maintained with fewer troops. But now the Pentagon seems to be pushing for a pause of no more than four to six weeks before the drawdowns resume.

It's possible the surge has so degraded the insurgency -- both of the al Qaeda and Shiite varieties -- that the U.S. can reduce its troop presence to some undetermined level without inviting precisely the conditions that led to the surge in the first place.....

[airborne]

Is it really a big deal that this old war horse is retiring after 41 years?

That’s a long time working for anyone.

[Chgogal]

May be just may be Bush will keep Stephen Coughlin and fire Hesham Islam???

[Old Sarge]

It's possible the surge has so degraded the insurgency -- both of the al Qaeda and Shiite varieties -- that the U.S. can reduce its troop presence to some undetermined level without inviting precisely the conditions that led to the surge in the first place.....

A "peace dividend". They're looking for another g*ddam peace dividend.

[org.whodat]

Is it really a big deal that this old war horse is retiring after 41 years?

They are calling this an early retirement. Jorge should have fired his butt about six years ago. Apparently the little admiral had no concept of commander-in-chief.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Admiral William J. Fallon
Commander, U.S. Central Command

Admiral William J. Fallon assumed duties as the commander, U.S. Central Command on March 16, 2007.

He was raised in Merchantville, N.J. A 1967 graduate of Villanova University, he received his commission through the Navy ROTC Program and was designated a naval flight officer upon completion of flight training in December 1967.

Adm. Fallon began his Naval Aviation service flying in the RA-5C Vigilante with a combat deployment to Vietnam, transitioning to the A-6 Intruder in 1974. He served in flying assignments with Attack Squadrons and Carrier Air Wings for 24 years, deploying to the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans embarked aboard USS Saratoga (CV 60), USS Ranger (CV 61), USS Nimitz (CVN 68), USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). He has logged more than 1,300 carrier arrested landings and 4,800 flight hours in tactical jet aircraft.

Adm. Fallon commanded Attack Squadron 65 embarked aboard Dwight D. Eisenhower, Medium Attack Wing 1 at NAS Oceana, Va., and Carrier Air Wing 8 aboard Theodore Roosevelt during a combat deployment to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Assigned as Commander, Carrier Group 8 in 1995, he deployed to the Mediterranean as Commander, Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group and commanded Battle Force 6th Fleet (CTF 60) during NATO’s combat Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia. Adm. Fallon served as Commander, 2nd Fleet and Commander, Striking Fleet Atlantic from November 1997 to September 2000.

Shore duties included assignment as Aide and Flag Lieutenant to the Commander, Fleet Air Jacksonville, and to the staffs of Commander, Reconnaissance Attack Wing 1; Commander, Operational Test Force, and Commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. He has served as Deputy Director for Operations, Joint Task Force, Southwest Asia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and as Deputy Director, Aviation Plans and Requirements on the Staff of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington. His first flag officer assignment was with NATO as Assistant Chief of Staff, Plans and Policy for Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic. He was then assigned as Deputy and Chief of Staff, U.S. Atlantic Fleet followed by assignment as Deputy Commander in Chief and Chief of Staff, U.S. Atlantic Command. Adm. Fallon served as the 31st Vice Chief of Naval Operations from October 2000 to August 2003. He was the Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Atlantic Fleet from October 2003 to February 2005. He served as Commander, U.S. Pacific Command from February 2005 until March 2007. Adm. Fallon is a graduate of the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., the National War College in Washington, D.C., and has a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from Old Dominion University.

His awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, and various unit and campaign decorations.

Updated: 4 December 2007

[quadrant]

If this article is accurate, it appears an unusual situation is emerging. The Army is concerned about the Army as an institution and wants out of Iraq. The Marine Corps wants to stay in Iraq and finish the job.

[smoothsailing]

That's a very good point. We don't hear the Marines griping.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Also there is a clear fight between the ground pounders and the Navy/Air Force about how to win the war. I’ll go with Petraeus. He’s there, not 10,000 up or on the water.

It is his troops who fight the enemy face to face and learn how to fight them. Boats don’t negotiate with Sunni tribal leaders; soldiers do, and they are doing a damned good job of turning the people of Iraq against Al Qaeda and Mookie’s mob of killers.

Some of the military leaders should have been retired years ago, which would have also lifted the Vietnam syndrome mentality that was present in some. It is a new war, with new thinking, but Petraeus and his staffers also went back to what worked in Vietnam, i.e. working at the village and hamlet level with the people, to deny the enemy a place from which to hide and operate. Called CORDS.

Let the groundpounders do their job and win.

My son was a groundpounder in an engineering unit. One of the first to cross into Iraq on March 21, 2003. Their goal was to build bridges and defeat the enemy. They did both, with honor.

[Dick Vomer]

You usually will not.... only Murtha's will complain.

but with all the JAG/NCIS cr@p going on now... I'm sure that the MSM will be able to dig up a Marine lawyer type or weasel to stab the administration in the back.

It's more of a cultural thing in the infantry units, to not b#tch to the press or in public. I find it hard to explain to most that haven't been in the Marines about the "culture" or personal code that you end up with if you give your all to the Corps.

I think if the admiral felt he couldn't carry out the CIC's orders, he did the honorable thing and resigned. I wish that more officers would do the same.

Either way we're going into Iran. I've said it before, I only wish I was 20-25 years younger and could do it all again. It's going to get messy.

[smoothsailing]

You usually will not.... only Murtha's will complain.

True, and how well I know.

[PzLdr]

Wonder when Admiral Fallon will start shilling for the Dems?

[smoothsailing]

I hope he doesn't, we've seen too much of that from some of these brasshats.

[SoCal Pubbie]

“Either way we’re going into Iran.”

Expand on this, please.

[Caesar Soze]

Where does the article in question say anything about the Marine Corps wanting to stay in Iraq? It treats the military pretty much as a whole, naming the Secretary of Defense, the CJCS, and “the Pentagon” generally as supporting the rapid withdrawal. Seems to be more of an institutional military vs. operational military thing. One side is tasked with fighting the war, the other is tasked with maintaining the military and preparing for the next one—definitely at cross purposes sometimes.

[Dick Vomer]

First of all this is all speculation. I can only write what I think is happening.

When the Soviet Union and the US had the atomic weapons cocked and loaded we both knew that neither one of us would fire the weapon. Because of what????

The 10 minutes after the Soviets or the Americans fired the weapons that country would be destroyed. Mutual Destruction....right?

Now what if a country had a leader that WANTED to die and that by starting a conflagration would insure his pious belief in the afterlife would be rewarded.

Well there you have it. In fact Ahmadinejad might be cynical and evil enough to start a war and get out of Iran before we level the place hoping for a world wide Jihad.

If your enemy isn’t afraid of dying and in fact is willing to die in order to kill you, then you best kill him on your terms and not on his terms.

Look at the current map of the mid and far east. If we destroy the refining capacity along the coast of Iran, destroy all electrical and water supplies...well that country would go native in about 1-2 weeks.

Then the propaganda war will start.... with the photos of kids starving etc....

Or we can wait till Israel, one of our carrier groups or a city in the US gets hit with a nuke. Either way, we’ll be in Iran within 2-3 years.

Of course that’s just my opinion and I could be wrong.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Thank you for our thoughts. Always interested in someone’s take on the situation.

[quadrant]

The article doesn't but clearly implies that the Commandant is not advocating a withdrawal, unlike the Army Chief of Staff.

[SFC Chromey]

Can you identify the paragraph you extracted that? The Pentagon generals that are creating issues come from all the services. All of the services at the top are trying to “modernize” as noted in the article:

“This ought to be apparent to Pentagon generals. Yet their rationale for troop withdrawals seems to have less to do with conditions in Iraq and more with fear that the war is putting a strain on the military as an institution. These are valid concerns. Lengthy and repeated combat deployments have imposed extraordinary burdens on service members and their families. The war in Iraq has also diverted scarce funds to combat operations rather than investment — much of it long overdue — in military modernization.”

I think they are misguided in many respects to their “modernization”, but it is also way above my pay grade. We need equipment NOW that is useful in this COIN fight, and that equipment doesn’t fit the “modernization” template. MRAP’s for instance were not in the Pentagon’s purchase plans until the political heat for NOT buying enough of them became too great. That resistance came from top generals in the Army, but also occurred in the Marine Corps.

Not too many months ago the Marine Corps was looking to take over the complete US part of the fight in Afghani-land. But as all institutions are concerned about THEIR institution, the other services wanted to stay there also.

[philly-d-kidder]

He was raised in Merchantville, N.J. A 1967 graduate of Villanova University
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Villanova University.... That explains it... all!
Being a St Joe grad we always thought they were out of Sync

[quadrant]

Equipment, like the boondoggle called the Future Combat System?

[yorkie01]

He may have been fired, but, he’ll move nicely into barry’s presidential campaign with excessive mouthwork.

[gr8eman]

If we destroy the refining capacity along the coast of Iran, destroy all electrical and water supplies...well that country would go native in about 1-2 weeks.

The most fun part will be destroying their "navy".

[meandog]

Fallon was one of Rumsfeld’s sacred cows: Good riddance!

[SFC Chromey]

Exactly, that instead of keeping soldiers/Marines alive now with MRAP’s, and a solid COIN strategy.