Firing Admiral Fallon Crosses A Dangerous Line….

Admiral Fallon’s resignation at CENTCOM is certainly not due to Thomas PM Barnett’s Esquire article which painted his critics in the White House, Pentagon and Capitol Hill in a very unflattering light and went way overboard in portraying him (accurately at Admiral Fallon’s rank) as nearly the only man willing to stand between the war criminals George Bush & Dick Cheney (can they be anything else after that little stunt last weekend supporting torture?) in their push for a war with Iran later this year.

It is unbelievable that Barnett would be so naive as to write this article in such a manner… unless of course Admiral Fallon grew tired of being the target of poison pen rumors in Washington from Cheney’s ilk (which has been ongoing since Admiral Fallon had the audacity to look to China during his time at PACOM as a potential ally, or at least a peaceful neighbor, and not the great new threat that Cheney and others desire) and being a rare voice of sanity in the senior ranks of the military when it came to long-term strategy and America’s current predicament and decided to orchestrate an exit before losing the most important argument of his storied career. The timing would seem to be way off on that possibility though.

Barring that narrow possibility then, I’m furious Barnett wants to stand by his story and act like he has nothing to do with this. Can he show at least a bit of regret or show some sign that he realizes the impact his stunt has had and could have in the near future for thousands of American forces on the ground and sailors out to sea?

I’d heard credible stories from friends in the Gulf regarding hostility towards Admiral Fallon from political appointees, Bush administration officials and certain figures within the Navy who did not appreciate his reigning in of the rhetoric and drumbeats towards war with Iran.

Reading more informed milblogs lately, I see a disturbing pattern that only makes me fear the worst for my shipmates who are set to sail to the Gulf and elsewhere for their deployment later this week. They considered Admiral Fallon a serious threat to their plans for war with Hitler II in Tehran (and politicizing intelligence (again!), aiming to provoke Iran by any means necessary and firing a deeply respected admiral is nothing to these people).

Information Dissemination is spot-on in arguing this may have been the first time Bush has fired/forced a senior officer to resign. That it would be such a man of vision and leadership as Admiral Fallon that knows the region and how to help America literally make “water into wine” given current conditions there only exemplifies the utter politicization of the senior military ranks in the Bush years and Bush’s utter incompetence as a war leader.

A common game among us last year when we initially thought Bush would attack Iran was to guess what percentage of officers would actually stand up to that madness and resign rather than go forth. Percentages were low but Admiral Fallon was the one we always thought would have the balls and the honor to tell Bush he was nuts, had no credibility with anyone (including the majority of the American people and the military) and that he would have no part of it. Now he’s gone and the e-mails I’ve received this evening range from the utterly desperate to resigned to fate.

I still have faith in Secretary Gates though. He’d rebuke and resign wouldn’t he?

(1) http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2008/03/think-long-and-hard-as-you-contemplate.html