My sense is that Abizaid has been told he's on the way out.
At the same time, hasn't he been there about 2 years? That would be what one would expect in terms of duration of command.
I'm betting that Schoomaker will also be shelved. In his defense, Gen Schoomaker took over after Shinseki was shelved, and it appeared no one wanted the role of working for Rumsfeld. Schoomaker's time should be just about up, too; and he came out of retirement to take the job.
Anyone who's seen too closely aligned with Rumsfeld will not get the job. My guess is that the command will go to some newly promoted 4 star who had 2 star time inside Iraq and kept his mouth shut.
In my view, the strategy today will be the same tomorrow.
It just needs more time to come to fruition. There really is not a lot of choices available other than stay the course or withdraw.
I'd say that Abizaid probably is probably just ready to retire after 30 years of doing a good job. I knew him in 1st Ranger Bn back in 1981, and he was already a senior captain fixing to take over his second company command. Without looking up his bio, I'd say he has at least 30 years on active duty, much of it in pretty tough assignments. He's probably ready for a change, especially since he probably isn't under consideration for the Chief of Staff job.