I put Middle Earth Journal in hiatus in May of 2008 and moved to Newshoggers.
I temporarily reopened Middle Earth Journal when Newshoggers shut it's doors but I was invited to Participate at The Moderate Voice so Middle Earth Journal is once again in hiatus.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The lunatics win another one

You should be very afraid. Dick Cheney and the rest of the criminally insane neocons and Zionists have forced yet another rational senior military commander out paving the way for attempt to create Armageddon before they lose power.
Admiral Fallon Resigns as Head of Centcom
WASHINGTON — Navy Adm. William Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command, which leads U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, is stepping down, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Tuesday.

Fallon claimed ongoing misperceptions about differences between his ideas and U.S. policy are making it too difficult for him to operate, Gates said, agreeing. He added that the differences are not extreme, but the misperception had become too great.

"I believe it was the right thing to do, even though I do not believe there are, in fact, significant differences between his views and administration policy," Gates said, noting that he accepted the request to retire with "reluctance and regret."

"I don't know whether he was misinterpreted or whether people attributed views to him that were not his views, but clearly there was a concern," Gates said.

The misperceptions relate to an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed Fallon as opposed to President Bush's Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

In a statement distributed by Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Fla., Fallon said he requested permission to step down because the article showed disrespect toward the president and caused embarrassment and distractions that were the result of misrepresentations of his views of Centcom missions.
They may call it a resignation but you know he was forced out.

Larry Johnson says this can only mean one thing we are One Step Closer to War in Iran.
Admiral Fallon has led the resistance among military senior commanders who oppose a military strike against Iran. Fallon correctly recognizes that an attack on Iran will put the United States at great risk and ruin our ability to influence events for the good in the Middle East. He knows first hand that U.S. military forces are stretched past the breaking point and are unable to provide the military support required to carry out offensive operations against targets in Iran. This is madness and President Bush has not learned a goddamned thing from the mis-adventure in Iraq. It is time for Congress to stand firmly against this rush to war. But it is an election year and such a stand would require courage–a trait sorely lacking among most members of either party.


Related information here: Does Admiral Fallon have to go?

Update
I think Josh get's it right here which is why we should be really frightened.
It is widely believed in media and political circles that despite the difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan, American foreign policy is back under some kind of adult/mainstream management. In other words, that we've left the Cheney/Rumsfeld era behind for a period of Gates/Rice normalcy and that Iran regime change adventurism is safely off the table. But put together what the disagreements with Fallon were about, the fact that the president chose him as someone he thought he could work with not more than one year ago, and the almost unprecedented nature of the resignation and it becomes clear that that assumption must be gravely in error.
Indeed - I fear the lunatics are still in charge of the asylum.