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.

[dk/coro]

I fear NEWSMAX is using the Admiral. He is almost 90 and in a "residential care facility" in the Reston, Va area. NEWSMAX uses such loose cannons as Singlaub etc. to pitch a rather strident line; and I give the publication little political credibility in its unrelenting, rather strident far-right drunbeat; ie. makes one feel good, I suppose, but has no real-world muscle.

The Admiral was always conservative, but his politics were laced with realistic real-world pragmatism that assured a good chance of success in enactment of his objectives.

Dunno if this helps or not. DKP

[American Soldier]

I agree with you on personality types but I think you are distorting the record of Eisenhower and Franks.

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.

[dk/coro]

Boorda shot himself after lunch at his Quarters. He had been recently "outed" for having worn a combat V on his Bronze Star for actions in a destroyer in Tonkin Gulf several years before that was not warranted. (and, I suspect, more).

But, that was just the excuse for his cowardly action. He simply did not measure up to the job. He was a former Chief of Naval Personnel -- and brought that "people pleaser" mentality to a very tough and demanding billet.

In a nutshell -- Boorda was a very little man in a very big job -- and he could not "cut" it. The Navy was rampant with this sort of ineptness in its flag ranks in those years.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Fine officer with a artificial leg.

You may possibly be thinking of Gen. Fredric Franks, who commanded 7th Corps in Desert Storm, and went on to 4 stars and command of TRADOC. He lost part of his left leg in Vietnam.

[Rain-maker]

Gen. Abizaid is more of a soldier's soldier than Franks is...

bio: http://www.dtic.mil/jcs/core/director_js.html

"I’m very sad to be leaving the 1st Infantry Division because it was the best assignment I ever had," Abizaid said after he finished greeting a long line of soldiers.
http://www.pstripes.com/ed092800h.html

[Squantos]

Hmmmmmmm.......Anybody know this guy ?

Stay Safe !

[Grampa Dave]

You are bingo on target with this reply:

Franks started getting pushed aside after the opportunity to hit Mullah Omar with a Predator launched Hellfire was fonged away. Franks was advised by a JAG officer that it might not be legal to kill a political leader. A lot of people have seen something like this coming. Hell, if Franks can't keep the job having graduated from the same high school two classes ahead of the first lady then he has some issues.

[Grampa Dave]

Very interesting, and these two writers, Gertz and Scarborough for the Times are usually right on target with their articles dealing with the military.

Thanks for your input about the new man on the scene, General Abizaid.

This is not good news for Uncle Soddomite and his supporters in the leftist media around the world.

[Travis McGee]

As long as he knows how to say "go fornicate with a diseased camel" in arabic it should be a good choice.

"Surrender or we are dropping a daisy cutter on your grid coordinates in two minutes" might be a good arabic phrase as well.

[bybybill]

The General is an American, not Lebanese. What a redicules question.

[amom]

ping

[Lion's Cub]

fyi.

I've got to give them credit for waiting until now to make the switch. You can bet the midnight oil will be burning as the enemy tries to find out about him :)

[kayak]

fyi

[ASA Vet]

"Screw the mission; beautify the position."

I haven't heard that quote in years.
Thanks for the memories.

[FreedomPoster]

Christian ethnic Arabs have taken it on the chin (heck, in the heart) from the Muslim worse than just about any group you can name. He's not unlikely to have some cold rage inside. This is good, in my book.

Great insights on Franks/Abazaid.

[FreedomPoster]

>>Franks is no one's dummy, folks. That's not to say he's the greatest warrior on the block, and doesn't need a strong deputy, but come on. He's pretty darn good.

I think MindBender26's post says it. No one would say Marshal was a dummy, but he needed an Eisenhower. Similarly with King/Halsey. Franks is good, but he needs a warrior to direct operations.

Now we have Franks/Abazaid.

Expanding on the idea, in the North African desert, Rommel needed a Franks. He lost on logistics.

[FreedomPoster]

>>3rd ID is now home-based at Fort Stewart.

Wasn't that really just a re-flagging of the 24th ID?

[basque69]

Grant was given the big command early in 1864 after a string of wins out West.Up to that Abe went through generals in the East the way my wife goes through a box of candy (Little Mac, Burnsides, the Hooker, Meade). I don't find Rummey's action terribly unusual Normal command arrangements in the field are to have a deputy for operations and a deputy for support. What's the big deal???

[Neets]

Abizaid is a good guy, a soldier's soldier/leader.

No one I know has a bad thing to say about him.

They all say he is the right guy for the right job.

[flyer182]

Reading these posts makes me so glad to not have joined the army. Kind of reminds of the time I was at Ft Benning and General Abrahms was talking, the army capt next to me said it wasn't necessary to listen to him because the General didn't have a ranger tab. At General Franks' level he had better understand politics, last time I checked war was an extension of politics. More importantly he had better understand logistics.