Admiral William Fallon, commander of the US Mideast forces has resigned due to differences with the US president on dealing with Tehran.
Fallon, said on Tuesday he is stepping down because reports that he differed with President George W Bush over Iran had become ‘a distraction.’
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced he had accepted Fallon’s resignation ‘with reluctance and regret,’ saying there was a ‘misperception’ that the admiral was at odds with the administration over Iran.
In a statement, Bush praised the admiral for his more than 40 years of service but made no mention of an article in Esquire magazine that prompted Fallon to step down.
Fallon ‘served this country with honour, determination and commitment,’ Bush said.
But the sudden departure of the head of the US Central Command drew an avalanche of criticism from top Democrats who suggested that he had been forced out because of his candor.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called it ‘yet another example that independence and the frank, open airing of experts’ views are not welcomed in this administration.’
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a statement described Fallon as a ‘voice of reason in an administration which has used inflammatory rhetoric against Iran,’ and urged the Bush administration to pursue diplomacy with Tehran instead of conflict.
‘Admiral Fallon’s resignation should not be used as an excuse to ratchet up tensions with Iran,’ the New York senator said.
Gates said there were no significant differences between Fallon’s views on Iran, which has defied global calls to rein in its suspect nuclear program, and those of the administration.
Asked about Esquire’s contention that Fallon’s removal would signal the United States was preparing to go to war with Iran, Gates said: ‘Well, that’s just ridiculous.’
In an admiring profile of the admiral, Esquire writer Thomas Barnett portrayed Fallon as ‘The Man Between War and Peace,’ crediting him with calming tensions with Iran last year while bucking a White House move toward war.
‘Well-placed observers now say that it will come as no surprise if Fallon is relieved of his command before his time is up next spring, maybe as early as this summer, in favour of a commander the White House considers to be more pliable,’ said the article.
‘If that were to happen, it may well mean that the president and vice president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don’t want a commander standing in their way.’
Fallon also drew media attention in November when Bush was stepping up his rhetoric against Iran, publicly warning in an interview with the Financial Times that the drumbeat of press speculation about US military options was not helpful.
In his resignation statement, Fallon said: ‘Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president’s policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the Centcom region.’
‘And 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.
Moments later, Gates told a hastily convened news conference at the Pentagon: ‘I have approved Admiral Fallon’s request to retire with reluctance and regret.’
He said Fallon made the decision to step down ‘entirely on his own.’
‘I believe it was the right thing to do even though I do not believe there are significant differences between his views and the administration’s views,’ he said.
Army Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey, Fallon’s number two at the US Central Command, was named to replace the admiral on an acting basis when he leaves at the end of the month.
Fallon’s departure comes just as the Pentagon was preparing to make recommendations on the pace and scope of a US troop drawdown from Iraq. He was supposed to give an assessment from his perch as the regional commander.
Gates said the Central Command evaluation will be completed before Fallon leaves his post, ‘so it will represent his views.’
A former fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, Fallon came to the Central Command after serving as commander of US forces in the Pacific, where he focused on improving military relations with China.
His reputation as a strategic thinker who was also adept at diplomacy made him Gates’s choice to lead the US military in an area where it was embroiled in two conflicts and faced a growing challenge from Iran.
Meanwhile, the top United Nations expert on torture on Tuesday chided Washington for refusing to grant him access to prisoners held by US troops in Iraq while stating that he hoped to visit Baghdad this year.
‘I’m a little bit astonished that the US government is not willing to grant me access’, UN special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak told reporters.
The US refusal is in contrast to the Iraqi authorities and British troops who still have a small presence in the south of the country around Basra, Nowak said.
Washington maintains that Iraq is an armed conflict situation where human rights law is not applicable, a view hotly disputed by the UN expert and the rest of the international community.
‘Human rights apply both in times of peace and armed conflict,’ he said.
The US came under worldwide criticism after leaked photos showed soldiers abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Baghdad in 2003.
Photos showed naked and hooded prisoners beaten bloody and being made to commit humiliating acts such as simulating homosexual sex. Soldiers posed proudly with battered corpses and nude, injured prisoners.
Since then, Nowak said he had received credible reports from Iraq that conditions in US-run facilities had improved, and that detainees preferred to stay there than be transferred to Iraqi-run prisons.
‘The situation improved in reaction to the criticism of the Abu Ghraib events,’ he said.
‘The president commander, General Stone, seems to have a fairly liberal attitude and takes the treatment of detainees more seriously than his predecessors,’ he said.
However, he stressed he needed to see things for himself and not rely on second-hand accounts.
‘If I go to Iraq it should be a long mission, to cover the situation in as comprehensive a manner as possible,’ he said.
This must include unrestricted access to all state-run detention facilities and he should be able to make unannounced visits, armed with letters of authorisation by the Iraqi authorities to oblige police and other personnel.
Nowak was speaking after addressing the UN Human Rights Council meeting here in Geneva.
A group of Iraqi tribal leaders, former politicians and intellectuals appealed on Wednesday to the United Nations to take control of Iraq in a move they say would help US troops leave the beleaguered country.
Both the US administration and the Baghdad government are unlikely to endorse the request, which was addressed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and delivered to the Cairo offices of the organisation.
‘We believe that the only opportunity left for Iraq to be saved from a dark, but not inevitable future, is to engage the international community represented by the United Nations,’ the letter said. ‘Such a step will allow the American troops to leave and the occupation to be brought to its end.’
The group’s coordinators include Adeeb al-Jadir, Ahmed Al-Haboubi and Nouri Abdel Razak Hussein, politicians overthrown in 1968 when Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party came to power and long part of the liberal anti-regime opposition prior to the US-led invasion in 2003.
The UN dramatically curtailed its operations in Iraq after an August 2003 suicide attack killed its representative and scores of others. The United States has been pushing for an expanded UN role in Iraq but that did not include supervising the country.
The Iraqi group said the world body should supervise a new security plan to restore order during a transitional period and prepare for new elections of a government to replace Nouri al-Maliki’s troubled cabinet.
Representatives for the campaign will travel to the UN headquarters in New York to seek support from key members, said al-Haboubi, a former government minister.
‘We are also ready to discuss our proposals with US officials,’ he said.
The men said the petition was signed by dozens of Iraqi dignitaries and they had scores of supporters in Iraq who preferred to remain anonymous for now to avoid harassment.
Meanwhile, the puppet Iraqi government on Wednesday announced a committee formed to explore ways citizens could sue US forces involved in ‘unjustified killings,’ according to the prime minister’s office.
The US military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
