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(CENTCOM's Admiral)Fallon didn't get it
The Los Angeles Times ^ | March 12, 2008 | Max Boot

Posted on 03/12/2008 5:08:59 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

To see why Tuesday's "retirement" of Navy Adm. William "Fox" Fallon as head of U.S. Central Command is good news, all you have to do is look at the Esquire profile that brought about his downfall.

Its author, Thomas P.M. Barnett, a former professor at the Naval War College, presents a fawning portrait of the admiral -- a service he previously performed for Donald Rumsfeld. But evidence of Fallon's supposed "strategic brilliance" is notably lacking. For example, Barnett notes Fallon's attempt to banish the phrase "the Long War" (created by his predecessor) because it "signaled a long haul that Fallon simply finds unacceptable," without offering any hint of how Fallon intends to defeat our enemies overnight. The ideas Fallon proposes -- "He wants troop levels in Iraq down now, and he wants the Afghan National Army running the show throughout most of Afghanistan by the end of this year" -- would most likely result in security setbacks that would lengthen, not shorten, the struggle.

The picture that emerges of the admiral -- "The Man Between War and Peace," as the overwrought headline has it -- is not as flattering as intended. "He's standing up to the commander in chief, whom he thinks is contemplating a strategically unsound war [with Iran]," Barnett writes. And:"While Admiral Fallon's boss, President George W. Bush, regularly trash-talks his way to World War III ... it's left to Fallon -- and apparently Fallon alone -- to argue that, as he told Al Jazeera last fall: 'This constant drumbeat of conflict ... is not helpful and not useful. I expect that there will be no war, and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions.' "

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: admiralfallon; afghanistan; bush; dod; esquire; fallon; georgebush; gwot; iran; iraq; islam; jihad; jihadists; losangelestimes; media; missiles; msm; mullahs; nuclearweapons; presidentbush; wot
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This is the LA Times?
1 posted on 03/12/2008 5:09:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Just read this in the St. Pete Times, he’s planning on cutting CentCom staff by 1/3, sort of weird timing I think.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/03/as-fallon-retir.html


2 posted on 03/12/2008 5:13:34 PM PDT by dawn53
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"as he told Al Jazeera last fall: 'This constant drumbeat of conflict ... is not helpful and not useful. I expect that there will be no war, and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions.' "

Uhh...as he told al-jazeera? Am I the first to say WTF?

3 posted on 03/12/2008 5:15:19 PM PDT by Eagles6
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
This is the LA Times?

It is definitely Max Boot, a cheerleader for American empirical aspirations.

Fallon was removed so that there wouldn't be a voice contradicting the cries to attack Iran. Expect conflict before November.

4 posted on 03/12/2008 5:22:25 PM PDT by LordBridey
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To: LordBridey
"It is definitely Max Boot, a cheerleader for American empirical aspirations.

Fallon was removed so that there wouldn't be a voice contradicting the cries to attack Iran. Expect conflict before November."

So you feel it is safe to believe Iran's assurances that their nuclear program is for "peaceful purposes" only and does not entail weaponization?

5 posted on 03/12/2008 5:30:50 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (http://www.fourfriedchickensandacoke.blogspot.com)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Now, Fallon will be free to grovel before Clinton and Obama as a potential VP pick.


6 posted on 03/12/2008 5:35:48 PM PDT by rabidralph
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To: LordBridey

>> a cheerleader for American empirical aspirations

Uh, “empirical aspirations” is nonsense.

did you mean “imperial aspirations”?

That’s nonsense too.


7 posted on 03/12/2008 5:36:07 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (I'm not voting FOR John McCain -- I'm voting AGAINST Hillary/Obama)
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To: rabidralph

>> Now, Fallon will be free to grovel before Clinton and Obama as a potential VP pick.

& while he’s waiting for them to sort out the nomination, the turd can get busy writing his Bush-bashing book...


8 posted on 03/12/2008 5:37:27 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (I'm not voting FOR John McCain -- I'm voting AGAINST Hillary/Obama)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It seems to me Fallon is a Rat lapdog.


9 posted on 03/12/2008 5:37:48 PM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Never say never (there'll be a VP you'll like))
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To: Nervous Tick
did you mean “imperial aspirations”?

yes, thanks

10 posted on 03/12/2008 5:41:59 PM PDT by LordBridey
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
So you feel it is safe to believe Iran's assurances that their nuclear program is for "peaceful purposes" only and does not entail weaponization?

Nope, but this administration's credibility isn't flawless either.

11 posted on 03/12/2008 5:48:36 PM PDT by LordBridey
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To: Nervous Tick

During the build-up to the war Boot was quite the nation-building advocate, writing that America should be running the world in jodhpurs and pith helmets, an allusion to the British empire. I haven’t seen anything by him in a number of years. Maybe his reappearance is a sign of things to come too.


12 posted on 03/12/2008 5:54:50 PM PDT by LordBridey
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To: LordBridey
"Nope, but this administration's credibility isn't flawless either."

In re: Iraq? Is that what you are alluding to?

13 posted on 03/12/2008 5:56:59 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (http://www.fourfriedchickensandacoke.blogspot.com)
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To: LordBridey
Fallon was removed so that there wouldn't be a voice contradicting the cries to attack Iran.

Fallon was removed due to his public statements against the war, not his obvious feelings.

For a Naval Officer whose expertise is boats, he has no business criticizing the successful decisions of a land commander such as Petraeus.........

Jimmy Carter was a Naval officer too........

14 posted on 03/12/2008 5:57:18 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (There's three ways to skin a cat but not one is worth the effort.......)
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To: Hot Tabasco

According to Barnett’s article, Fallon would have gone to West Point but his local Congressman botched the recommendation, so he wound up going to a college with a Navy ROTC program.


15 posted on 03/12/2008 6:00:15 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
“provide a check on the eager-to-please General David Petraeus in Iraq”

Imagine FDR appointing an Admiral to provide a check on George S Patton LOL.

16 posted on 03/12/2008 6:05:39 PM PDT by Griddlee
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Like a lot of smart guys (or, at any rate, guys who think they're smart), Fallon seems to have outsmarted himself. He thinks the war in Iraq is a distraction from formulating "a comprehensive strategy for the Middle East," according to the profile. The reality is that the only strategy worth a dinar is to win the war in Iraq. If we fail there, all other objectives in the region will be much harder to attain; if we succeed, they will be much easier.

The "smart" admiral didn't understand this? It's a "Duh" to this former Cpl E-4.


17 posted on 03/12/2008 7:41:57 PM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made." Groucho Marx)
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To: LordBridey
During the build-up to the war Boot was quite the nation-building advocate, writing that America should be running the world in jodhpurs and pith helmets, an allusion to the British empire.

Unfortunately it's our burden.


18 posted on 03/12/2008 7:52:39 PM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made." Groucho Marx)
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To: Eagles6
Am I the first to say WTF?

It does sort of leap off the page and poke you in the eyes, three stooges style.

19 posted on 03/12/2008 7:57:01 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Griddlee
“provide a check on the eager-to-please General David Petraeus in Iraq”

Whaaa??? Petraeus has not exactly been a go along to get along tell them all what they want to hear kind of guy.

20 posted on 03/12/2008 8:00:27 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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