Breaking: Central Command Chief Resigns (Updated)

Major, major newsflash on CNN just now - Admiral William Fallon, commander of US Central Command, has turned in his resignation, and Defense Secretary Gates has accepted it. The press, previously hypnotized by the Spitzer scandal, is furiously spinning to find out more. But early speculation will almost certainly center around this interview with *Esquire's *Tom Barnett, in which the Admiral was portrayed as bucking the White House's push for a showdown with Iran. CNN says:

In a written statement, he said the article's "disrespect for the president" and "resulting embarrassment" have become a distraction.

"Although I don't believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America's interests there," he said.*

That largely echoes what Fallon told the *Washington Post's *Tom Ricks, when he asked Fallon about the article. Fallon called it "poison pen stuff"
that is "really disrespectful and ugly." Barnett's reply: "The piece speaks for itself, as does the Admiral."

Here's a snip from the story:

*If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it'll all come down to one man. If we do not go to war with Iran, it'll come down to the same man. He is that rarest of creatures in the Bush universe: the good cop on Iran, and a man of strategic brilliance. His name is William Fallon, although all of his friends call him "Fox," which was his fighter-pilot call sign decades ago. Forty years into a military career that has seen this admiral rule over America's two most important combatant commands, Pacific Command and now United States Central Command, it's impossible to make this guy--as he likes to say--"nervous in the service." Past American governments have used saber rattling as a useful tactic to get some bad actor on the world stage to fall in line. This government hasn't mastered that kind of subtlety. When Dick Cheney has rattled his saber, it has generally meant that he intends to use it. And in spite of recent war spasms aimed at Iran from this sclerotic administration, Fallon is in no hurry to pick up any campaign medals for Iran. And therein lies the rub for the hard-liners led by Cheney. Army General David Petraeus, commanding America's forces in Iraq, may say, "You cannot win in Iraq solely in Iraq," but Fox Fallon is Petraeus's boss, and he is the commander of United States Central Command, and Fallon doesn't extend Petraeus's logic to mean war against Iran. *

*So while Admiral Fallon's boss, President George W. Bush, regularly trash-talks his way to World War III and his administration casually casts Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as this century's Hitler (a crown it has awarded once before, to deadly effect), it's left to Fallon--and apparently Fallon alone--to argue that, as he told Al Jazeera last fall: "This constant drumbeat of conflict . . . is not helpful and not useful. I expect that there will be no war, and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions." *

*What America needs, Fallon says, is a "combination of strength and willingness to engage." *

*Those are fighting words to your average neocon--not to mention your average supporter of Israel, a good many of whom in Washington seem never to have served a minute in uniform. But utter those words for print and you can easily find yourself defending your indifference to "nuclear holocaust." *

*How does Fallon get away with so brazenly challenging his commander in chief? *

UPDATE: "Gates said in a press conference just now that no one should think the move reflects any substantive change in policy. That sure
won't be how Tehran sees it," Spencer Ackerman says.

The Iranians will consider Fallon's resignation to indicate that the bombing begins in the next five minutes. If the new Central Command chief is General Stanley McChrystal, who ran special operations in Iraq until recently (read: responses to
Iranian activities), that'll be a pretty solid indicator that Bush is going to make the most of his last months in office. McChrystal just got a different command, but that, of course, was before the military's most valuable combatant command just opened up. Teheran will look verrrrry closely at who gets the job.

More reactions:

• "This comes as a serious blow to any sane policy in the Mid-East," says Sean Paul Kelley.
• "We should probably put to rest the myth that the president 'listens' to his military leaders and relies on them guidance, as he often claims. The reality is Bush takes these leaders seriously, just so long as they agree with his agenda," observes Steve Benen.
• "Like other professional classes -- lawyers and scientists come immediately to mind -- the military officer corps is seen by the White House as a threat to its own Executive Branch hegemony," adds David Kurtz. "That's the key to understanding today's resignation by Adm. William Fallon, the commander in chief of Central Command."
• "The media is speculating that this is another case of Shinseki-izing - getting rid of a dissenter. They are wrong," retorts Blackfive. "At this point, that's all I'm gonna say."
• "Stop hyperventilating: Fallon fired but Iran war not back on," says Steve Clemons.