Abizaid

Steven has a great post about the promotion of General John Abizaid, who succeeds Tommy Franks at the head of CENTCOM. I've written before about why I thought Abizaid was the perfect choice to run postwar Iraq:

The best thing about him is that he will be able to articulate the US policy and rationale during postwar administration in a way that has cultural resonance with Arabs. Lecturing Arabs about the failure of their face-based culture is simply counter-productive self-righteousness, but Abizaid can make much the same point without the condescension.

and I'd like to reiterate my request to anyone who may have access to his policy paper, "Lessons for Peacekeepers." in Military Review 73:11-19 (1993) to please send me a copy.

It's good that I was wrong about Abizaid being appointed to run Iraq. As the commander of CENTCOM, he can have an even greater influence on America's foreign policy in the Middle East, and help shape the future of the region.