Rumsfeld Quietly Sidesteps General Franks With Proven Airborne Ranger Warfighter.

WashTimes "Inside Ring" | Gertz/Scarborough

[MindBender26]

Pentagon chatter says Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld finally has his own man at U.S. Central Command to supervise a war against Iraq: Army Lt. Gen. John P. Abizaid.

Officials said the hard-charging Mr. Rumsfeld was not always happy with the way Gen. Tommy Franks ran the war in Afghanistan. He has worried that Gen. Franks, chief of U.S. Central Command, will not be innovative enough in waging war against Iraq.

Now, however, Mr. Rumsfeld has plucked a general from the Joint Staff at the Pentagon and sent him to Central Command as Mr. Franks' deputy. In fact, Gen. Abizaid is already at CentCom's warfighting command center in Qatar getting ready to direct a war.

It was an odd move, given that CentCom already had a deputy commander, who is staying at its Tampa headquarters. But it does give Mr. Rumsfeld a deputy in the Gulf region whom he fully trusts.

A favorite of the defense secretary, Gen. Abizaid is a West Point graduate and career infantryman who speaks fluent Arabic, a skill that should help with Persian Gulf allies.

He also speaks German and Italian, a skill that helped when he commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Germany in 1999-2000.

[katana]

A Christian Arab (e.g. a direct descendant of Crusader Knights) Army Ranger with the U.S. arsenal in his holster. If this isn't the Muslim world's worst possible nightmare I really don't know what is.

[MindBender26]

re: Big Red One.

Some 1st ID Rome Plow guys cut a huge shoulder patch design out of the jungle about 20 kilometers NW of Saigon. Must have been one klick by half a klick. Looked great from the air.

Brass at USARV got a burr up their shorts, ordered no more such cutting.

So zoomies sprayed it with Orange and Purple Koolaid. It NEVER grew back. Probably still there today!

[MindBender26]

When Patton relieved Bastogne at Battle of the Bulge, then LTC Abrams was driving first tank to break through perimeter!

[ImpBill]

"None of the Tac officers were RVN vets, still teaching line, as opposed to circular emplacement of howitzers, etc."

As a grad of Ft. Sill, OCS in 1968, where we had Tac officers (one gunnery instr. Marine and VN Vet then), I appreciate your comments. Unfortunately having employed the weaning out process seeing where "tickets" had been punched we were too busy at the time with the RIF and getting rid of the majority of company grade officers with combat experience. It amazed me at the time and still does actually that the top brass would use criteria like "year group", degree, and RA or not as the bench mark for reducing the force, rather than looking at service and commanders OER's. But of course that was then and this is now.

I am glad Rummy has his Schwarzkopf, as Marshall had his Ike, who had his Bradley and Patton, to run the battlefield rather than a "ticket punching ring binger".

[Iowa Granny]

interesting reading folks. A "ping" for easy tracking of this thread.

[bert]

I have concluded that the timing has to do with the annual pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Haijj, and one of the 5 pillars of Islam.

Hundreds of thousands make this trip and to have a war before or during the event would be extremely disrespectful, far more so than Ramadan. The main task of the King oF Saudi Arabia is Keeper of the two Holy Mosques. One of those is in Mecca and the site of the Haijj. Saudi Arabia, inspite of the press reports to the contrary, is supporting the effort from their air base at Al kaharg from which the USAF and RAF strike into Iraq.

[MindBender26]

Exactly. The RIF process eliminated too many fighters, kept the staff paper pushers. RA was a joke. West Pointers make great Colonels, but most are the world's worst Lieutenants, Captains, etc. There were exceptions.

Friend's son just graduated from the Hilton on the Hudson. He had prior service, Snake Eater, Ranger, Aih-Bone, Soldier of the Quarter, DMG at most of his schools, more than a year's spec opns foxhole time in Balkans.

Says all they wanted was the "school solution" to everything.

Been back to Lawton recently? All cleaned up. All grown up. The local junior college is now a university!

[jacquej]

My son knows Abizaid up close and personal. He was posted to Vicenza as his first assignment after graduating from West Point, and went into Northern Iraq to protect the troops sent there to provide food, shelter and medical treatment for the fleeing Kurds.

I heard nothing but strong positive endorsements of Abizaid's leadership from my son. I am excited to read that Rumsfeld has made this choice,

Maybe it will be a "heads-up" for those officers serving who are best described as "ticket-punchers". We need less of those, and more who want to get the job done, and to "hedoubletoothpicks" with career advancement.

[jacquej]

My son was one of the exceptions. He left, though, as a captain, because, among other things, he was disappointed in the "careerist" stuff he saw, and we were disappointed as he was one of the good men they should have kept.

He was disgusted by the decision to remove enlisted men's families from health coverage for one thing. He complained to us that his men were demoralized by this, and that Clinton was ruining the military.

He never wore his WP ring iin service, either. Thought it was a "bad idea" to "knock desks", and doing so would not help with leadership ability.

He was the "S-3" his firstie year at WP, by the way... Had to run the whole corps of cadets that year, and did a good job, graduating 22nd in his class in spite of the load.

We are very proud of him, in case you wondered, and wish he had stayed in for the sake of our country.

Thanks, Sinkmaster!

[Stultis]

Abizaid is Lebenese american

Good. I have a feeling that Syria may be "next" after Iraq. We don't have a "hook" like the U.N. resolutions on Iraq, but with all that force in the region, including CIA operatives, we should be able to put some heavy pressure on the pencil-necked Assad whelp. It's a bit too much, probably, to openly call for regime change in Syria, but we can insist on their turning over WMD transferred by Saddam to escape detection by inspectors, and we can pressure them to pull out of Lebanon. Having Abizaid in the picture, with some suitable publicity, might serve to stir up Lebanese ex-pats in favor of liberation.

Threats against Syria could include a campaign by the Whitehouse to publicly highlight their sponsorship of terror orgs, calls for sanctions or other "containment" or "isolating" mechanisms, and the initiation (or ramping up?) of an energetic covert destabilization program.

[ImpBill]

I was back in Lawton this October and took a trip down memory lane out on the post. Wasn't sure how it would go as trips down memory lane, often don't have good results. I guess enough time had passed and it went fine.

Obviously we survived the process (RIF) but I really was puzzled and angry. I was a Mustang. 6 years enlisted, buc Sgt. when I went through. The Army had spent a bundle on my military eduction and many like me many other mustangs never had the goal of becoming Generals. I would have been fine with another 10 years and retirement as a Battery Commander. I don't have any regrets, but I sure wish I could have been a BC. I know I would have been quite good at it. Oh well, that was then and this is now.

As a side note to the stange policies of the day. Imeadiately after being RIF'd I was in a Reserve Unit in Lawton and promoted to O-3 within 30 days of my RIF. Fired and promoted in that order within 30 days. Strange Daze indeed.

Thanks for the posts and the information. I have always had great trust in Rummy's leadership and management capabilities and style. I think he enjoys GW's utmost confidence.

[em2vn]

Frank's showed less than stellar leadership when he stayed in Tampa instead of being on the ground in the theatre of operations. He could have run the operation from a number of foreign countries, instead he chose to remain in the U.S. while he had soldiers on the ground, engaged in combat in a foreign country. Troops don't forget such events and reputations don't recover from them.

[em2vn]

Frank's showed less than stellar leadership when he stayed in Tampa instead of being on the ground in the theatre of operations. He could have run the operation from a number of foreign countries, instead he chose to remain in the U.S. while he had soldiers on the ground, engaged in combat in a foreign country. Troops don't forget such events and reputations don't recover from them.

[Future Snake Eater]

Lieutenant General Abizaid commanded the 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Battalion combat Team in Vicenza, Italy...

Hey! My (hopeful) future unit! This General Abizaid sounds squared away.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Nope. He was Kansan.

Well he grew up in Kansas but truth be told he was born in Texas.

[Republic of Texas]

Aren't ALL the great one's born in Texas?

[Fury]

Fine officer with a artificial leg.

GEN Fred Franks, USA (Ret.)?

[balrog666]

Bump for later reading.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Aren't ALL the great one's born in Texas?

Well not ALL but MOST! ;-) OH and some weren't born here but we raised them.

[RightWingMama]

Ping for a very interesting thread.