Bush Dissenter: 'Don't Start a War With Iran'

[babylonsister]

Bush Dissenter: 'Don't Start a War With Iran'
Fallon Makes One of His First Public Appearances Since Leaving U.S. Central Command

Adm. William "Fox" Fallon (WDCPix)

By Spencer Ackerman 07/29/2008


In a roundtable Tuesday, Adm. William "Fox" Fallon, the former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East ousted for dissenting from the Bush administration's bellicose posture toward Iran, gave a rare public elaboration of his view of multilateral cooperation for security in the region.

In one of his first public appearances after his abrupt departure as head of U.S. Central Command, Fallon said at the National Press Club that Gulf countries "clearly recognize that the U.S. plays a strong leadership role," and desire that to continue. Further, they ask the U.S. "to be active" in the region -- though part of being active, he said, included the advice "don't start a war" with Iran. He opted, however, to largely avoid discussing the Iran controversy that had cost him his job.

It is still unclear whether Fallon resigned or was fired. In March, Esquire published a profile of Fallon that emphasized his points of disagreement with the Bush administration's repeated statements about confronting Iran militarily. His comment were was much discussed around the Pentagon, and, on Mar. 11, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that Fallon was resigning.

While the admiral would not talk about anything involving his disagreements with the administration on Tuesday, Fallon told Charlie Rose on Monday, "if our people, our troops, the men and women in uniform, particularly out in the combat zones, with all that we had going on, had an idea, however they acquired it, that their commander was at odds with their commander in chief, that is a situation which is intolerable to my mind."

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