Gates taps Petraeus to lead Central Command
(Update at bottom: Democratic senator suggests Petraeus should bone up on al Qaeda)
Army Gen. David Petraeus, the four-star general who led troops in Iraq for the past year, will be nominated by President Bush to be the next commander of U.S. Central Command, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
Gates also announced that Bush will nominate Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno to replace Petraeus in Baghdad.
Gates' recommendation must go to President George W. Bush, who will then send the nomination to the U.S. Senate.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Navy Adm. William Fallon, who abruptly stepped down in March after a magazine reported that he was at odds with President Bush over Iran policy. Fallon said the report, while not true, had become a distraction.
At a hastily arranged Pentagon news conference, Gates said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other problems in the Central Command area of responsibility, demand knowledge of how to fight counterinsurgencies as well as other unconventional conflicts.
"I don't know anybody in the U.S. military better qualified to lead that effort," he said, referring to Petraeus.
Another reporter asked if these moves signified a "stay the course" strategy, which Gates didn't deny.
Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, currently commander of the Army's 3rd Corps based at Fort Hood, Texas, finished in February a 15-month tour as the top deputy to Petraeus in Baghdad. He had been nominated for promotion to full general and assignment as the Army's vice chief of staff, but Gates said the Fallon resignation changed the plan. With Odierno tapped for a return to Baghdad, Gates said Bush will nominate Gates' senior military assistant, Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, for the Army vice chief of staff job.
Petraeus, 55, is widely hailed by the Bush administration and members of Congress for developing and implementing a new strategy in Iraq, including the deployment of some 30,000 additional troops, that dramatically improved security.
Central Command, whose headquarters is at Tampa, Fla., is responsible for U.S. military operations throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa, and thus oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fallon relinquished the command March 28 to his top deputy, Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, and retired from the Navy earlier this month.
Feingold suggests Petraeus should bone up on Qaeda
Democratic Senator Russ Feingold hailed the news of Petraeus' recommended promotion with a press release hinting that the commander of US forces in Iraq could be facing tough questions during his confirmation hearing.
"During his testimony before Congress, General Petraeus stated that since his focus has been on Iraq, he was unable to comment on why the threat from al Qaeda has increased, specifically in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Feingold states in a press release sent to RAW STORY. "As CENTCOM Commander, General Petraeus will be responsible for assessing the entire region, including the impact our presence in Iraq is having on our ability to combat al Qaeda and its affiliates throughout that region."
Feingold, whose website notes was strongly opposed the President’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and was the first Senator to call for a timetable to redeploy troops out of Iraq," argues, "The truth is our perceived occupation of Iraq is destabilizing the region while the administration’s myopic focus on Iraq has overlooked the rising threat of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. General Petraeus’s predecessor, Admiral Fallon, understood the need for a comprehensive strategy for the Middle East which extended beyond Iraq."
"As he begins the confirmation process to become the next commander of CENTCOM, General Petraeus must answer the most important question we face, which is not whether we are winning in Iraq, but why we are not defeating al Qaeda," Feingold warns.
(with wire reports)
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