Bush agressive war on iran Only Obstacle GONE

THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN BUSH AND AGGRESSIVE WAR/ ATTACK ON IRAN

WAS RESIGNED

William J. Fallon -- born December 30, 1944 (1944-12-30) (age 63)

Allegiance == United States of America

Service/branch == United States Navy

Years of service == 1967 - 2008

Rank == Admiral

Commands:
U.S. Central Command
U.S. Pacific Command
U.S. Fleet Forces Command
Vice Chief of Naval Operations
Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group
Attack Squadron Sixty Five

Battles/wars/invasions:
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Operation Deliberate Force (Bosnia)
Vietnam War

Awards:
Defense Distinguished Service Medal (2)
Navy Distinguished Service Medal
Defense Superior Service Medal
Legion of Merit (4)
Bronze Star
Meritorious Service Medal (3)


former Commander, U.S. Central Command.
Fallon was the first naval officer to ever hold that position.
His other four-star assignments include being the Commander,
U.S. Pacific Command from February 2005 to March 2007,
the Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command from October 2003 to February 2005,
and the 31st Vice Chief of Naval Operations from October 2000 to August 2003.
He resigned from Centcom and retired from public service on March 11, 2008,
citing administrative complications caused in part due to a piece that
appeared in Esquire Magazine that described Fallon as the only thing standing between
the Bush Administration and war with Iran.

THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN BUSH AND AGGRESSIVE WAR/ ATTACK ON IRAN

Military service
Fallon began his Naval Aviation career flying in the RA-5C Vigilante with a combat deployment to Vietnam, transitioning to the A-6 Intruder in 1974. He served in flying assignments with Attack Squadrons and Carrier air wings for twenty-four years, deploying to the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans embarked in USS Saratoga (CV-60), USS Ranger (CV-61), USS Nimitz (CVN-68), USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). He has logged more than 1,300 carrier arrested landings and 4,800 flight hours in tactical jet aircraft.
Fallon commanded Attack Squadron 65 (United States Navy) embarked in Dwight D. Eisenhower, Medium Attack Wing One at NAS Oceana, Va., and Carrier Air Wing Eight in Theodore Roosevelt during a combat deployment to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Assigned as Commander, Carrier Group Eight in 1995, he deployed to the Mediterranean as Commander, Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group and commanded Battle Force Sixth Fleet (CTF 60) during NATO’s combat Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia. Adm. Fallon served as Commander, Second Fleet and Commander, Striking Fleet Atlantic from November 1997 to September 2000.
Shore duties included assignment as Aide and Flag Lieutenant to the Commander, Fleet Air Jacksonville, and to the staffs of Commander, Reconnaissance Attack Wing One; Commander, Operational Test Force, and Commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. He has served as Deputy Director for Operations, Joint Task Force, Southwest Asia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and as Deputy Director, Aviation Plans and Requirements on the Staff of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C. His first flag officer assignment was with NATO as Assistant Chief of Staff, Plans and Policy for Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic. He was then assigned as Deputy and Chief of Staff, U.S. Atlantic Fleet followed by assignment as Deputy Commander in Chief and Chief of Staff, U.S. Atlantic Command. Nominated for his fourth star, he became the 31st Vice Chief of Naval Operations in October 2000.
In February 2001, while serving as Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Fallon was sent to Japan as a Presidential Special Envoy to apologize for the submarine USS Greeneville (SSN-772)'s collision with the Ehime Maru.
In 2002 he testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Committee that the military should be exempted from certain environmental laws because the laws impacted the military's ability to conduct operations at its bases, a charge that was essentially unsubstantiated.
He was then nominated and confirmed for assignment as the Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Atlantic Fleet from October 2003 to February 2005. Following that, he was Commander, Pacific Command from February 2005 until March 2007; his assignment was his third four star assignment -- a rarity for military officers.
During his tenure as head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Fallon took a conciliatory approach towards China, a position that drew the ire of hardliners including Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz.

On January 4, 2007, President Bush nominated Fallon for his fourth four-star command to replace John Abizaid, who was retiring from the US Army, as Commander of the United States Central Command, (CENTCOM).[5]
The United States Senate confirmed Admiral Fallon as the first Navy admiral to command CENTCOM on February 7.[6][7] He relieved General Abizaid on 16 March 2007.
As Combatant commander of Central Command, Fallon is David Petraeus's superior officer. Petraeus is the commander of the current Iraq force, Multinational Force Iraq.
As CENTCOM commander, Fallon has often criticized Iran, while also acting as a moderating voice. On May 28, 2007, he noted that the United States would continue to have a military presence in the Middle East, despite Iran wishing otherwise. However, he also said, "We have to figure out a way to come to an arrangement with them [Iran]".[8] In an Al-Jazeera broadcast on September 30, 2007, he criticized those publicly urging war, stating "This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful. [...] I expect that there will be no war and that is what we ought to be working for." He also stated that Iran was not as strong as it claimed, "Not militarily, economically or politically."[9]
On March 11, 2008 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the resignation of Fallon as CentCom Commander. He stated that Fallon's reason for resigning centered on the controversy regarding a recent article in Esquire magazine which depicted him as openly criticizing the current Bush administration[10] with specific regard to American policy towards Iran

CentCom Commander: ‘I Have No Idea’ If White House Iran Claim Is True

On Sunday, anonymous administration officials presented evidence purportedly showing that weapons have been smuggled into Iraq with “the approval of senior Iranian officials.” Yesterday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace seemed to contradict this claim, saying that he has not seen evidence that the Iranian government “clearly knows or is complicit” in the weapons smuggling.

Today on CNN, CentCom Commander William Fallon, the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, was asked about the administration’s claim. Fallon said, “I have no idea who may be actually with hands-on in this stuff.”

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow failed to address reporters’ questions about Pace today, and according to the AP, the Pentagon had similar troubles:

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday he could not explain the apparent contradiction and referred questions to Pace’s office and to American forces in Baghdad.

A military official on Pace’s staff said the general stands by his comments. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

John Hutson, a retired former Navy judge advocate general and dean of the Franklin Pierce Law School, said of the intel debate, “I think we have to take away from it a huge dose of caution.”

Transcript:

PHILLIPS: If you listen to Joint Chiefs chair, Peter Pace, he said just recently — and we’re going to take a listen in just a second, that he doesn’t believe the military — or the government of Iran is involved with these weapons, yet Tony Snow at the White House today said that he believes it’s the radicals behind the manufacturing and distribution of these weapons.

Let’s take a listen to Peter Pace, and I want to get your response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL PETER PACE: We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran. What I would not say is that the Iranian government, per se, knows about this. It is clear the Iranians are involved, and it’s clear that materials from Iran are involved. But I would not say, based on what I know, that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Sir, what is your belief?

FALLON: Kyra, I have no idea who may be actually with hands-on in this stuff, but I do know that this is not helpful to the situation in Iraq. The folks there are struggling. They’re trying to build a new life for themselves, a new country.

Comments:

1. CentCom Commander William Fallon, the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, was asked about the administration’s claim. Fallon said, “I have no idea who may be actually with hands-on in this stuff.”

   Truly terrifying, and truly telling as to the exact nature of this administration.

   Comment by Zooey — February 13, 2007 @ 9:17 pm
   

   
   

2. Great, the top Military Commanders are kept out of the loop when it comes to the reason to go to war against Iran.

   We’ll just have to trust the Commander-in-Chief. He won’t mislead us into War based on cherry-picked and/or faulty intelligence again, will he?

   Comment by Briseadh na Faire — February 13, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
   

   
   

3. What a joke. I’m so glad that the Jackass-in-Chief needed to steal two presidential elections so he and his band of murderous thugs could stampede this country into a ill-conceived and ill-executed invasion and occupation, while systematically stripping us of our ‘inalienable’ rights.

   Sometimes I really think I’m going to wake up any minute…but it never seems to happen.

   Comment by TripMaster Monkey — February 13, 2007 @ 9:20 pm
   

   
   

4. .
   Admiral Fallon, sir, can you, will you, please stop this madness?
   …please…
   .

   Comment by katy — February 13, 2007 @ 9:24 pm

Navy Adm. William J. Fallon and Army Col. John Nicholson meet April 25 at Jalalabad AFB Airfield in USA-occupied Iraq.

Fallon was the subject of an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as at odds with a president eager to go to war with Iran. Titled "The Man Between War and Peace," it described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Gates said he did not think it was that article alone that prompted Fallon to quit. Rather, Gates thought it was "a cumulative kind of thing" that he and Fallon had failed to put "behind us." It is highly unusual for a senior commander to resign in wartime. Fallon took the post on March 16, 2007, succeeding Army Gen. John Abizaid, who retired after nearly four years in the job. Fallon was part of a new team of senior officials, including Gates, chosen by Bush to implement a revised Iraq war policy.Fallon's departure, effective March 31, is unlikely to have an immediate effect on conducting the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. His top deputy at Central Command, Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, will take his place until a permanent successor is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.