Military Officers

U.S. military commanders in Iraq have outlined troop reduction plans that remain at odds with President-elect Barack Obama's preferences, but believe they may be able to reconcile the two goals. Senior military leaders briefing Obama this week described a new military plan for troop withdrawals, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Thursday. But the commanders suggested a more gradual reduction than Obama's proposal for a withdrawal of combat troops within 16 months.

President Bush intends to name two new military commanders to oversee the war and help establish a new direction in Iraq as part of his shift in strategy to be announced next week, according to a Defense official. Navy Adm. William J. Fallon, currently the commander of all U.S. forces in East Asia and the Pacific, will be nominated as the new head of the U.S. Central Command, the military headquarters responsible for operations in the Middle East, replacing retiring Army Gen. John P. Abizaid.

Do military officers have the right to publicly voice dissent about their commander in chief and U.S. war policy? That question highlighted last week's pretrial hearing at Ft. Lewis Army base near Seattle for 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the nation's first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq. Watada faces a court-martial and six years in prison for failing to deploy with his Stryker Brigade last year and for making four public statements criticizing President Bush and the Iraq war.

One man couldn't see what was right in front of him. The other had vision despite blindness. Archibald Gillespie, a 19th-century Marine captain, so misunderstood Mexican culture that he triggered a Los Angeles rebellion during the Mexican-American War. Werner Marti, his biographer, lost his eyesight in high school but graduated from UCLA. He stumbled upon the papers of the detested Yankee Marine as he searched for a dissertation topic in 1949.

President Bush's plan to send additional troops to Iraq is facing public opposition from a slice of the American population that rarely speaks out: the military rank and file. A group of service members came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday armed with signatures from more than 1,000 military personnel who oppose the war. "We will not be silent while thousands die," said Sgt.

In a setback for the White House, the Senate Armed Services Committee has agreed to hold a hearing Tuesday on the nomination of Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus as the next military commander in Iraq -- a move that could set the stage for a potentially bitter battle over the future of the current top general in the war, congressional officials said Wednesday. White House officials are concerned that Congress may try to "scapegoat" Gen. George W. Casey Jr.

The nation's first Army officer to refuse deployment to Iraq urged the public in a statement Wednesday to "stop the war so that the death and sacrifices of American soldiers will not be in vain" after a major legal setback in his court-martial proceedings. First Lt. Ehren Watada, who is based at Ft.

Israeli leaders on Monday nominated a new army chief to replace Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, who quit last week after lingering criticism over last summer's war in Lebanon. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz put aside recent bickering long enough to recommend Gaby Ashkenazi, a respected major general in the reserves who left the Israel Defense Forces after losing out to Halutz for the top post two years ago.

President Bush's nominee to be the next commander in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, told Congress on Tuesday that the situation in the war-torn nation was dire and posed "tough days" ahead, but he pleaded for time to begin executing a new strategy. Petraeus, who developed the Army's counterinsurgency warfare manual, is expected to win Senate approval this week, despite being an architect of Bush's unpopular new strategy.

A Senate committee approved the nomination of Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus to command American forces in Iraq, replacing Gen. George Casey. The Senate Armed Services Committee sent the nomination to the full Senate, which is expected to approve it today, including promoting Petraeus to four-star rank. Petraeus, 54, has served two tours in Iraq -- as commander of the 101st Airborne Division during the invasion in 2003 and as commander of the training program for the Iraqi army in 2004-05.