Tommie Franks is history.

[Dinner]

The BBC is reporting that the General Tommie Franks the commander who lead U.S. forces in the last Gulf War is stepping down and retiring. Apparently, Franks was supposed to retire last year but stayed on in order to lead the Iraq war when he was personally asked by Donald Rumiesfield to do so. Franks is being replaced by General John Abizaid, an Arabic speaker, with a Lebanonese Christian background.

It is expected that General Abizaid will now be in charge of all US forces in the middle east. Here is the full BBc article.

Does this shack up mean anything or do you believe Franks really has been planning on retiring for the last year? Have I just been reading to many conspericy theories?

[JohnT]

I thought he retired a month ago?

[Dinner]

BBC is reporting it today.

Also the his replacement has the nick name of "The Mad Arab" which he earned at west point 30 years ago and has stuck ever since.

[SlowwHand]

Always people looking for dirt.
He's retiring. Big whoop.

Good job, General Franks.

[JohnT]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/05/22/franks.retires/index.html

From May 22nd. Great scoop by the BBC!

[Dinner]

Maybe they meant that it took effect today while CNN was reported in May that it would occur.

[Sava]

hopefully he won't be wasting any more tax dollars on extravagant jets for his wife...

[Whaleboy]

Who else thinks he was asked to go by Sgt Rummie?

[JohnT]

"Earlier this month, Rumsfeld offered Franks, 57, the post of Army chief of staff -- the highest job in the Army. But Franks turned it down.

While many senior officers are anxious to make more money in the private sector after a lifetime of military pay, sources said Franks' decision was less about money than a lack of enthusiasm for the internecine battles in the Pentagon bureaucracy."

Not Rummy, but the bureaucrats were wearing him down.

[DanS]

Does this shack up mean anything or do you believe Franks really has been planning on retiring for the last year?

I think he probably just wanted to retire. Years of high pressure in Afghanistan and then Iraq would make anybody feel like it's time for a break.

If you wanted a conspiracy theory, the best would be that Franks was investigated for improper conduct with regards to his wife--the deal was that he would retire at a good time, but the investigated would be suppressed. But I don't buy that.

[DanS]

As for Abizaid, he seems very well qualified. It probably wouldn't be smart to overplay his Lebanese Christian background, though.

[Dinner]

I imagine most muslim Iraqis are still going to feel that a Lebanese christian is still a foreigner even if he his an Arab.

[MichaeltheGreat]

57 so he's at 35 years, which is normal mandatory retirement for O-7's up, unless there's a waiver from Congress, unless that rule has been changed fairly recently.

Schwarzkopf also turned down ACS - it's generally a **** job after a theater command, all Chairborne Rangering and babysitting Congress.

Sava, nice being a whiner, but Franks was cleared.

Abizaid is a fairly no-**** soldiering type, as much as we have those any more.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
Schwarzkopf also turned down ACS

Shame, he would have made a great OT mod.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I imagine most muslim Iraqis are still going to feel that a Lebanese christian is still a foreigner even if he his an Arab.

It won't make much difference, since they'll primarily be dealing with McKiernan and his subordinates.