[wagglebee]

There is a long history of American servicemen being temporarily placed under foreign command. This is done through treaties and alliances, just as many foreign troop are under US command through NATO. Also, these agreements can be withdrawn by the Pentagon at any time.

From what I can tell, Michael New is probably a pawn of some xenophobes and doesn't really understand what his duties are.

[Calpernia]

I'm familiary (a little) with the temporary command. I read about it often when I do the ProCoalition/Multinational forces ping lists.

But from what I saw on Michael New's site, this sounds a little different. I think you reference to pawn may be more accurate. The significance seems to be the date. The date this happened was during the development of the Earth Charter and our relationship with it.