Posted on 06/14/2011 7:37:39 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
Of all the members of President Obama’s new national security team, Lt. Gen. John R. Allen, tapped as the fourth commander in two years to run the war in Afghanistan, may have the toughest assignment.
In the coming days, Obama is expected to make a key strategic decision about how many troops the United States can afford to withdraw from Afghanistan without giving ground to the Taliban. To execute that high-stakes plan, he’ll turn to Allen, 57, a low-profile Marine with no Afghan fighting experience but with a reputation as a military turnaround specialist.
Unlike the household name he is slotted to replace, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, Allen has served in relative public obscurity for the past three years, as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command in Tampa.
Like Petraeus, however, Allen is known in defense circles as a scholarly leader whose strategic acumen helped reverse the tide of the war in Iraq. While serving as deputy commander in Anbar province in 2007 and 2008, Allen orchestrated the Sunni Awakening, the long-odds campaign to persuade hostile tribes to side with the U.S. military against al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters who were fueling the insurgency.
...
Gen. David McKiernan was fired in May 2009 after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said someone with “fresh eyes” was necessary. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal was forced to resign in June 2010 after he and his staff were quoted as making disparaging remarks about civilian leaders. Petraeus maintained favor with the White House, but he was not intended as a long-term replacement and is leaving after 14 months.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Career maker or career breaker, only time will tell.
He became the first Marine officer to be inducted as a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations ...
Of course not a word about US dead under Obama’s watch.
If this were a Pub administration, the Washington POS would have put in first paragraph.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/60-us-military-deaths-afghanistan-have-o
The pro-obama WAPO is reporting and propping him up, meaning he’s an obama stooge.
Thanks for the input, forces me to dig further.
He became the first Marine officer to be inducted as a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations ...
Not good.
Just keeping up the WAR effort. It’s the economy of a few, stupid.
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