Over at DailyKos they are reporting that Adm. Wm. Fallon of the US Pacific Command has been transferred to the Middle East...looks like this is more of the continuing moves by the Bush Adminstration to set up for the attack on Iran. As the post notes:It seems highly unusual for a navy admiral to take charge of CENTCOM until you consider two interrelated things. First is that Bush needs a senior four-star in the CENTCOM job who hasn't gone on record as opposing additional troops in Iraq. Second is that Fallon's CENTCOM area of responsibility will include Iran.
A conflict with Iran would be a naval and air operation. Fallon is a naval flight officer. He flew combat missions in Vietnam, commanded an A-6 Intruder squadron, a carrier air wing, and an aircraft carrier. As a three-star, he commanded Second Fleet and Strike Force Atlantic. He presently heads U.S. Pacific Command. His resume also includes duty in numerous joint and Navy staff billets, including Deputy Director for Operations with Joint Task Force Southwest Asia in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia.
If anybody knows how to run a maritime and air operation against Iran, it's "Fox" Fallon.
Fallon, who replaces current CENTCOM Chief John Abizaid, (who sanely opposed to Bush's mad plan to send more troops to Iraq and was naturally removed), was in the news here last year (blogged here, here, and here) hawking the navy line on the sale of submarines to Taiwan -- that it is a bad idea. Recall that the Navy doesn't want conventional subs built in the US, since it fears the US Congress will find out how cheap they are and force the the Navy to buy them instead of the nuclear subs that it wants. Fallon has been a consistent critic of Taiwan's failure to purchase the weapons and has spoken out many times on the issue. He has, however, been a strong supporter of Taiwan, reiterating in testimony before Congress that the US was committed to defending the island in the event of an attempt by China to annex it by force.
[Taiwan] [US] [China] [Iran]
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