Abizaid assumes command from Franks

WASHINGTON, June 19 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. President George W. Bush nominated an Arab-American general to replace General Tommy Franks as commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and elsewhere in a region that stretches from Egypt to Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Wednesday, June 18.

Lieutenant General John Abizaid, 52, has been serving since December as Franks' deputy in charge of U.S. military operations in Iraq.

If confirmed by the Senate, Abizaid will take over Franks' responsibilities as commander of all U.S. forces in the Central Command's area, a region that has seen two wars in two years and faces other potential hotspots in Iran, nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Franks, a man who directed the U.S. invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq, is scheduled to retire in early July, but no date has been set for the new commander to take over.

A number of Iraqi civilians had lodged a complaint with a Belgian court against Franks for committing unspeakable war crimes in Iraq during the invasion, amid reports the U.S.-led occupation forces committed human rights violations.

Abizaid had been considered for the post of army chief of staff, but his training and background made him an ideal choice as commander of the U.S. Central Command, a position that requires a flair for diplomacy as well as the military arts.

The region encompasses 25 countries in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, a span of territory that ranges some 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) east to west and 3,600 miles (5,750 kilometers) north to south.

It includes the world's largest oil reserves in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf and major trade routes through the Suez Canal and Red Sea.

The United States has about 250,000 troops in the region, including 145,000 troops in Iraq, another 9,000 in Afghanistan, and about 1,500 in the Horn of Africa, military spokesmen say.

The U.S. Fifth Fleet has its headquarters in the Gulf.

Daunting Task

Abizaid is assuming command at a time of dramatic changes in the region as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Besides the occupation of Iraq, he will be overseeing a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia and a continuing struggle against al-Qaeda members, AFP said.

Abizaid, who is of Lebanese descent, is an expert in Arabic affairs with a masters degree in Middle Eastern studies from Harvard.

He speaks Arabic, studied at the University of Jordan in Amman and served as an operations officer with a U.N. Observer Group in Lebanon.

A West Point graduate, his 30-year military career has spanned U.S. actions from Grenada to Kosovo.

He has a distinguished military pedigree - as an infantry commander, commandant of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and assistant to then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General John Shalikashvili.

He led a U.S. Army Ranger rifle company during the 1983 invasion of Grenada, inspiring an episode in the 1986 Clint Eastwood movie "Heartbreak Ridge" when he and his men used a commandeered bulldozer to advance on a Cuban position.

Later, he led the 82nd Airborne Division's 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

He commanded an airborne battalion that deployed to northern Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991 to protect Kurds from Iraqi troops as part of Operation Provide Comfort.

He was assistant division commander of the 1st Armored Division in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

He served as commander of the 1st Infantry Division based in Wurzburg, Germany when it formed the core of Task Force Falcon in Kosovo.

Abizaid served on the Joint Staff from October 2000 to December 2002, first for a year as director of strategic plans and policy and then as director, a position that has put him at the center of U.S. military operations.

A native of Coleville, California, Abizaid is married with three children.