The third shoe drops

[Valin]

Power Line:

Scott Johnson

2/25/13

Mackubin Thomas Owens serves on the faculty of the Naval War College. He is also the editor of Orbis, the quarterly journal of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and author of US Civil-Military Relations After 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil-Military Bargain. Saturday’s Wall Street Journal published Mac’s column “America’s kinder, gentler Department of Defense,” expanding on a theme he touched on here on Power Line. Although the column is accessible via Google News, it is behind the Journal’s subscription paywall. Here is what Mac had to say in the Journal column:

 

 

The Department of Defense faces some stark choices in the future due to the threat of sequestration. But the continual sounds of shoes dropping at the Pentagon suggest that the sequester may be the least of its problems.

 

The first shoe was the announcement in December that Marine Gen. James Mattis would leave his post as commander of Central Command in March, well short of what would be expected of a combatant commander who has acquitted himself well since he was appointed in August 2010. Most observers were stunned. There seemed to be no logical reason for his being replaced early. Most unforgivably, he learned of the move when an aide read a Pentagon press release announcing the change.

 

According to recent reports (on journalist Tom Ricks’s blog, for instance), White House officials, especially National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, weren’t happy with Gen. Mattis’s advice, in particular his effort to change the strategic framework regarding Iran. Gen. Mattis thought we should be planning for what Iran is capable of doing—such as closing the Strait of Hormuz or attacking Israel—not just what we assume Iran will do. In addition, Gen. Mattis and the White House clashed over the way ahead in Afghanistan, his concerns about Pakistani stability, and the response to the Arab spring.

 

(Snip)