Petraeus' Rise To CentCom Post Lets Cheney Loose On Iran.

The recent nomination of Petraeus to be head of the Central Command (CentCom), in charge of the GME, ensures he will defend administration's policies on Iran and Iraq at least to the end of Bush's term and possibly even beyond. It gives VP Cheney greater freedom of action to exploit the option of an air attack against Iran. Petraeus will take up the new post in late summer or early autumn.

The ability of the Bush administration to threaten Iran with an attack both publicly and behind the scenes had been dramatically reduced in 2007 by opposition from the former CentCom commander, Adm William Fallon, until he stepped down from the post under pressure from Gates and the White House in March.

Petraeus has co-operated closely with the White House on Iraq and Iran, arguing against any reduction in troop strength and blaming Iran for challenges to the US military. Along with the deference to Petraeus in Congress, his pliability on those issues made him the choice to replace Fallon. But Petraeus had effectively taken over many of the powers of the CentCom head in 2007. As top commander in Iraq, he was beneath Fallon. In reality, Petraeus ignored Fallon's views and took orders directly from the White House. Petraeus was in effect playing the role of CentCom commander in regard to the twin issues of Iraq and Iran.

Fallon clashed with Petraeus repeatedly from the beginning of his command about the surge and US withdrawal from Iraq. But Fallon was effectively stymied by the close Petraeus-White House link from being able to influence US military policy in the region. Fallon had pushed but failed to negotiate with Iran over innocent passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Petraeus revealed in his Congressional testimony on April 10 that he had "actually gone to a couple of neighbouring countries in an effort...to get at the insurgents' networks, the countries in which they operated, and the sources of some of these foreign fighters". Petraeus had taken trips to Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Turkey and the UAE - since September 2007. That should have been Fallon's job, but the White House had apparently made it clear they wanted Petraeus - not Fallon - to undertake such missions. It had become increasingly evident to Fallon he was not really running things at CentCom.