ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, left, and Hawaii-based Adm. William Fallon, from vastly different backgrounds, will carry out the new Iraq policy President Bush will announce next week. They will replace generals who had qualms about a fresh buildup of U.S. troops in the war zone.
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Impact of new war command up to Bush
It is unclear yet what change is signaled by fresh military leaders
By Pauline Jelinek and Kimberly Hefling
Associated Press
WASHINGTON » President Bush is installing two experienced commanders from vastly different backgrounds to carry out the new Iraq policy he will announce next week, substituting them for generals who had qualms about a fresh buildup of U.S. troops in the war zone.
One of the new military chiefs, Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, is an Iraq veteran who wrote a Princeton dissertation titled "The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam." Iraq has drawn more and more comparisons to that quagmire.
The other new man, Hawaii-based Adm. William Fallon, is a Navy veteran who to some is an odd choice to oversee a ground conflict in a nearly landlocked country. Yet, as top U.S. commander in the Pacific, he has experience in a region that, like the Middle East, has several trouble spots.
Some former military officers said whether the two succeed depends less on their resumes than on Bush's new policy, which he will announce as early as Wednesday. Adding thousands of additional U.S. troops to the 132,000 already there is a leading proposal he is considering, along with new economic and political approaches.
"It's the policy that's at fault here, not the personnel," said Tony McPeak, Air Force chief of staff during the administration of George H.W. Bush. Switching people without a good new plan will only be like putting "old wine in new bottles," he said.
Even so, the changes would help Bush assert that he is taking a fresh approach in the troubled, 4-year-old Iraq war, in which more than 3,000 Americans have died, and even Bush has conceded the United States is not winning. And it will insert people into the fray who will bring a fresh perspective.
"Will he bring new ideas? Yes," retired Marine Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong, former deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command, said of Petraeus. "Will he push his new ideas forward? Yes, he will."
As part of Bush's overhaul, the White House announced he is replacing the two top generals in the war. Gen. John Abizaid, the U.S. commander in the Middle East, and Gen. George Casey, the chief general in Iraq, are both expected to leave their jobs in coming weeks.
Fallon, the U.S. commander in the Pacific, replaces Abizaid, who was to retire months ago. Fallon's portfolio will also include the lower-intensity war in Afghanistan.
Petraeus, who headed the effort to train Iraqi security forces, will take Casey's place as ground commander in Iraq. Casey in turn will replace Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, who is retiring. All new appointments require Senate confirmation, which is expected.
In a statement, Bush said Fallon had earned a reputation as one of the nation's "foremost military strategists."
Petraeus, 55, of Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., is seen as a blend of military veteran and politically savvy intellect.
In 2004 he was tapped to enact a key piece of Bush's strategy in Iraq: training the Iraqi security forces so American forces could come home. Iraqi forces, though growing in size and controlling ever bigger swaths of territory, are seen by many American commanders as unreliable.
Fallon, 61, has held the No. 2 Navy job at the Pentagon, flown combat missions in the Vietnam War, commanded a carrier air wing in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and led the naval battle group supporting NATO operations in Bosnia.
Fallon is familiar with political tensions, since his command includes North Korea, China and Taiwan. He oversees 300,000 troops in the Pacific.
Still, several analysts said winning a campaign is not just about individuals.
If the key to success in Iraq is political reconciliation rather than battlefield victories, as the Bush administration has said, "then it's indeed unfair to expect military leadership to have a major effect," said foreign policy expert Christopher Preble, of the CATO Institute.