There are two types of Generals and Admirals; the warfighters and the politicos.
Warfighters are exactly that. They fight, and win wars. They command troops in active combat units.
Politicos work primarily at the Pentagon. They are critically important to keep supplies and manpower flowing the civilians off the Warfighters bask.
Don’t knock the politicos. Both are needed to win wars. History is loaded with great combinations of Warfighters/Politicos that brought us victory. Schwartzkoph/Powell. Eisenhower/Marshal, Halsey/King, etc.
The problem is that sometimes Politicos are placed in charge of units that Warfighters should command. General Franks is a fine man (2 months junior to me at Field Artillery OCS), but he is not a war fighter. He has primarily had support jobs, staff positions, etc.
General Abizaid is different. He is an archetypical Warfighter. Compare his resume to Franks: “Lieutenant General Abizaid was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in June 1973. He started his career with the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he served as a rifle and scout platoon leader. He commanded companies in the 2nd and 1st Ranger Battalions, leading a Ranger Rifle Company during the invasion of Grenada. Lieutenant General Abizaid commanded the 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Battalion combat Team in Vicenza, Italy, during the Gulf crisis and deployed with the battalion to Kurdistan in Northern Iraq. His brigade command was the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. He served as the Assistant Division Commander, 1st Armored Division, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Following that tour, he served as the 66th Commandant at West Point. Most recently, he commanded 1st Infantry Division, the "Big Red One," in Wurzburg. The 1st Infantry Division formed the core of Task Force Falcon in Kosovo.” Bottom line, Abizaid will be made ADC (Assistant Division Commander) for “Operations’ or “Maneuver” some thing like. He will kick ass, take names, and run the combat, the Warfighting end of this operation.
Not good news for Saddam.
A Muslim?
Post-clinton, this is quite understandable.
Eisenhower, if I recall correctly, was never more than a LTC in the Regular Army and was never seriously tested as a tactician until the big war games setup in part to test inexperienced officers in 1940-41. I believe MacArthur referred to him as "the best clerk I ever had."
Franks held two company-level commands as a captain, and they were REAL commands (not one tactical and then a basic training or recruiting command). He was a batallion commander. And he was a DIVARTY commander...isn't that considered a brigade-equivalent command? I think that missing brigade-level command is usually the first sign that an 0-6 won't make general, isn't it?
Anyway, he held division and army commands after that.
Based on experience, Ike was far more of a politico than Franks -- which is what made him acceptable to FDR, I'd bet. He was enough of a politico to avoid being political.
Where would Franks have gotten more time with troops? Do you feel that his staff assignments were too soft?
Incidentally, I've always wondered why if Field Artillery commanders (non-maneuver combat arms) are able to command infantry and armored divisions, why can't an air defense artillery officer (non-maneuver combat arms) or aviator (brigade-level maneuver combat arms) be trained to do the same thing? Aviators for example are able to command combined-arms squadrons with dismounted scouts, tanks and helicopters but then why not ground brigades or divisions?
Especially considering that aviation generally takes many of the most talented candidates (I'm not one of them, BTW!) every year, it seems like we are screwing ourselves by not opening our minds beyond having only artillery, infantry, and armor officers as the highest-level commanders. Combat engineers too, assuming they didn't spend too much of their career in COE civil projects, would be good candidates. In the old days, many of the best West Pointers with into the engineers but somewhere along the line somebody got the idea they couldn't become division commanders...when did we decide three branches should control it all?
Well that's one hell of a digression but it feels good to get it out of my system.