"an ass-kissing little chicken shit"

Robert Burns writing for the Associated Press in an articlepublish on January 5, 2007 confirmed “President Bush is putting the finishing touches on his new Iraq plan, reshuffling his military leadership in the war-torn country.” The President’s new Iraq plan known as the “Surge” would include an additional “...9,000 troops to be deployed to the Baghdad capital alone.” Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, and Gen. George Casey, the chief general in Iraq would be replaced by Adm. William Fallon, the top U.S. commander in the Pacific and Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who headed the effort to train Iraqi security forces.

Writing in The Nation, Michael Klare reported on January 8, 2007 Gen. John Abizaid and Gen. George Casey were being replaced because they, “...had opposed an increase in US troops in Iraq and argued for shifting greater responsibility for the fighting to Iraq forces, thereby permitting a gradual American withdrawal....If engagement with Iran and Syria was even remotely on the agenda, Abizaid is exactly the man you'd want on the job at Centcom....if you're thinking instead of using force against Iran and/or Syria, then Admiral Fallon is exactly the man you'd want at Centcom.”

Nine months later Gareth Porter writing for Inter Press Service in an article titled “ Fallon Derided Petraeus, Opposed the Surge,” (9/12/2007) Porter writes Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM), derided Petraeus as a sycophant during their first meeting in Baghdad last March. Fallon told Petraeus that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chicken shit" and added, "I hate people like that", Fallon further demonstrated his independence from the White House when he refused in February to go along with a proposal to send a third naval carrier task force to the Persian Gulf. Fallon also privately vowed that there would be no war against Iran on his watch, implying that he would quit rather than accept such a policy.
On March 11, 2008 The New York Times reported, “Adm. William J. Fallon, the top American commander in the Middle East is retiring early.”

On March 13, 2008 The U.S. Navy announced the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) gets underway for a scheduled seven-month deployment to the 5th Fleet area of Operations.

May 2008