While President Obama’s nomination of Gen. David Petraeus to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal is the lead military story in most news outlets, it’s easy to forget the latest happenings over in Iraq. In particular, Operation Iraqi Freedom (or Operation New Dawn, take your pick) is getting a new commander. Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, nominated to take command of American forces in Iraq, had his confirmation hearing today.
As expected, the elephant in the room dominated the hearing:
Austin testified one day after the high-profile resignation of Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, for comments attributed to him in a Rolling Stone magazine article.
At his hearing, Austin’s many military accomplishments and his plans for a sharp reduction and ultimate withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq by December 2011 seemed less important than the fact that nobody expects him to give interviews that embarrass the U.S.
Austin would succeed Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, who sat beside him at the hearing and has been nominated to take over as chief of U.S. Joint Forces Command.
Of note, Lt. Gen. Austin, as a Brigadier General, served as deputy commander for Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, the commander of 3rd Infantry Division in 2003. 3rd ID, along with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, served as the spearhead for the American invasion into Iraq in 2003. Seven years later, the man who helped execute our push into Iraq will now oversee our exodus out of there. I fully expect that Austin will be confirmed swiftly.
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