[Peace-discuss] Re: Resignation of Admiral Fallon and Iran

[C. G. Estabrook]

I think the question is, what were his dissenting views about (roughly, Iraq or 
Iran)?  From the fawning Esquire article and his reported statements, it's 
pretty clear that the guy is a hot dog, and the notion that he was the little 
Dutch boy (or, given the weekend and his name, Irish boy) with his finger in the 
dike preventing a war with Iran is probably false.

It's probably the case that Fallon (along with Casey et al.) does represent the 
dumb-guy faction in the uniformed military -- which seems to have been 
substantially supplanted by Petraeus' smart-guy faction.  And this division does 
seem to be similar to (but not identical with) the two major factions in the 
government, fighting for George Bush's perhaps limited attention -- the 
neocon/war party (centered in the OVP) and the traditional foreign policy 
establishment (whom Rice and Gates seem to be listening to -- they were e.g. 
responsible for the "Gaza Bombshell").

I think the most worrisome indicator that the administration is still thinking 
about an attack on Iran is not Fallon but Cheney's trip to the ME.  What's he up 
to?  There's an "innocent" explanation (oil prices) but of course other 
possibilities.   --CGE

Barbara kessel wrote:
> This same basic story as below was reported in "Democracy Now" on 
> Wednesday, MArch 13. 
> 
> *Dissenting Views Made Fallon's Fall Inevitable
> Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service, March 12, 2008*
> 
> 
> http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41559 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=fBQJ7KrRNg%2FcJZo7MsIW4Uj%2FYOz%2FEEfW>
> 
> Admiral William Fallon's request to quit his position as head of the 
> U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and to retire from the military was 
> apparently the result of a George W. Bush administration decision to 
> pressure him to resign.
> 
> Announcing the resignation, Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates said he 
> believed it was "the right thing to do", thus indicating the 
> administration wanted it.
> 
> On Monday, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell, asked whether Gates 
> still had full confidence in Fallon, would only say that Fallon "still 
> enjoys a working - a good working relationship with the secretary of 
> defence", and then added, "Admiral Fallon serves at the pleasure of the 
> president."
> 
> The resignation came a few days after the publication of an Esquire 
> magazine article profiling Fallon in which he was described as being "in 
> hot water" with the White House and justified public comments departing 
> from the Bush administration's policy toward Iran. The publicity that 
> followed the article accelerated the pressure on Fallon to resign.
> …
> The resignation brings to an end a year, during which time Fallon 
> clashed with the White House over policy toward Iran and with Gen. David 
> Petraeus and the White House over whether Iraq should continue to be 
> given priority over Afghanistan and Pakistan in U.S. policy.
> 
> Fallon's greatest concern appears to have been preventing war with Iran. 
> He was one a group of senior military officers, apparently including 
> most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who were alarmed in late 2006 and 
> early 2007 by indications that Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were 
> contemplating a possible attack on Iran.
> …
> Col. W. Patrick Lang, a former intelligence officer on the Middle East 
> for the Defence Intelligence Agency, told the Washington Post last week 
> that Fallon had said privately at the time of his confirmation that an 
> attack on Iran "isn't going to happen on my watch", When asked how he 
> could avoid such a conflict, Fallon reportedly responded, "I have 
> options, you know." Lang said he interpreted that comment as implying 
> Fallon would step down rather than follow orders to carry out such an 
> attack.
> 
> As IPS reported last May, Fallon was also quoted as saying privately at 
> that time, "There are several of us trying to put the crazies back in 
> the box". That was an apparent reference to the opposition by the Joint 
> Chiefs of Staff to an aggressive war against Iran.
> 
> Even before assuming his new post at CENTCOM, Fallon expressed strong 
> opposition in mid-February to a proposal for sending a third U.S. 
> aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, to overlap with two other 
> carriers, according to knowledgeable sources. The addition of a third 
> carrier was to part of a broader strategy then being discussed at the 
> Pentagon to intimidate Iran by making a series of military moves 
> suggesting preparations for a military strike.
> 
> The plan for a third carrier task force in the Gulf was dropped after 
> Fallon made his views known.
> 
> Fallon reportedly made his opposition to a strike against Iran known to 
> the White House early on in his tenure, and his role as CENTCOM 
> commander would have made it very difficult for the Bush administration 
> to carry out a strike against Iran, because he controlled all ground, 
> air and naval military access to the region.
> …
> Fallon clearly relished his diplomatic role and did not hesitate to 
> express views on diplomacy that were at odds with those of the 
> administration. Last summer, as Dick Cheney was maneuvering within the 
> administration to shift U.S. policy toward an attack on bases in Iran 
> allegedly connected to anti-U.S. Shiite forces in Iraq, Fallon declared 
> in an interview, "We have to figure out a way to come to an arrangement" 
> with Iran.
> 
> When Sunni Arab regimes in the Middle East became alarmed about the 
> possibility of a U.S. war with Iran, Fallon made statements on three 
> occasions in September and November ruling out a U.S. attack on Iran. 
> Those statements contradicted the Bush administration's policy of 
> keeping the military option "on the table" and soured relations with the 
> White House.
> 
> Fallon also antagonised administration officials by pushing for a faster 
> exit from Iraq than the White House and Gen. Petraeus wanted. Fallon had 
> a highly-publicised personal and policy clash with Petraeus, for whom he 
> reportedly expressed a visceral dislike. Sources familiar with reports 
> of his meetings with Petraeus in Baghdad last March told IPS last spring 
> that he called him an "ass-kissing little chickens**t" in their first 
> meeting.
> 
> 
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