Abizaid ends his run

“Old Soldiers Never Die” is a passage once famously quoted during Douglas MacArthur’s Speech to Congress in April 1951. He closed that speech with this:

I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that “old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”

And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.

Today marks the end of General John Abizaid’s career; a career marked by many impressive accomplishments.

Today, he should be honored and remembered for his service and his sacrifice, and we should take time to consider his “closing thoughts” about the region he commanded for nearly 4 years.

Godspeed General. You may fade away, but you won’t be forgotten.

Abizaid is a couple weeks away from his 56th birthday. Married with 3 children, he stands to enjoy one heckuva birthday this year, at home with his family. Judging from his background and experience, he has more than earned it.

From Wiki:

[His] military education includes the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York (Class of 1973); Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, Armed Forces Staff College, and a U.S. Army War College Senior Fellowship at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
[...]
He has a Master of Arts degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University, was an Olmsted Scholar at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan, and is fluent in Arabic having studied it while in Jordan during his special forces training.

From CentCom:

Staff assignments include a tour with the United Nations as operations officer for Observer Group Lebanon and a tour in the Office of the Chief of the Staff, U.S. Army. European staff tours include assignments in both the Southern European Task Force and Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe. General Abizaid also served as Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of Strategic Plans and Policy (J5) on the Joint Staff and Director of the Joint Staff.
[...]
His decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with five Oak Leaf Clusters and the Bronze Star. He earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Master Parachutist Badge with Gold Star, Ranger Tab and the Expert Infantryman’s Badge.

And from where I sit, at least, he is one hell of an American.

In what may be his last interview, General Abizaid spoke with David Ignatius at the Washington Post. There is much in this interview to consider, but here is the money excerpt for me:

How do you win a “long war” against Islamic extremism if your country has a short attention span? That’s an overarching concern for Abizaid regarding a conflict in which time — not troops, not tactics — is the true strategic resource.

“The biggest problem we’ve got is lack of patience,” he says. “When we take upon ourselves the task of rebuilding shattered societies, we need not to be in a hurry. We need to be patient, but our patience is limited. That makes it difficult to accomplish our purposes.”

Short attention spans and impatience are not good qualities for a nation to possess when we fight what Abizaid and many others have termed “the long war”. In fact, SecDef Rumsfeld, in his Quadrennial Defense Report termed this war on terrorism as such, and the leadership at DoD suggested this:

The United States is a nation engaged in what will be a long war.

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, our Nation has fought a global war against violent extremists who use terrorism as their weapon of choice, and who seek to destroy our free way of life. Our enemies seek weapons of mass destruction and, if they are successful, will likely attempt to use them in their conflict with free people everywhere. Currently, the struggle is centered in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we will need to be prepared and arranged to successfully defend our Nation and its interests around the globe for years to come.

This 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review is submitted in the fifth year of this long war.

An additional look into the brilliance of Abizaid’s mind can be found in his Posture Statement given before the Senate Armed Services Committee back in 2006. This is a long, and critically important read for anyone who cares about the details and minutiae behind what we have accomplished thus far, what we continue to do there, and what still needs doing and WHY regarding the Middle East and the areas of control of Central Command.

After nearly 34 years of distinguished service, culminating in the command and oversight of over 250,000 US troops in the most dangerous region in the world, General Abizaid can finally put his boots aside, and enjoy some well-deserved
R & R.

Godspeed and God bless you and yours General Abizaid. We are better for the service you gave this country.