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| Iraq | |
| General Abizaid plans to retire in 2007 | |
| 2006-12-21 | |
| BAGHDAD - General John Abizaid, commander of US forces in the Middle East, said Wednesday he plans to retire from the military in the first half of 2007 but brushed off suggestions he is leaving under pressure. “After 50 months here I think it is okay to think about retiring,” he told reporters in Baghdad. “No decision anybody makes in a position like this is ever totally their decision, but I think the time is right and it has nothing to do with dissatisfaction,” he added. Asked about reports suggesting his departure was precipitous, Abizaid said he had planned to retire in the spring of 2007. “According to the Abizaid family, this would not be a precipitous decision,” he said.
Democratic Senator Bill Nelson lamented Abizaid’s departure, calling him “the one person that I have felt like was shooting straight when he would come in front of our Senate Armed Services Committee.” “I just hope that that does not portend anything other than he’s tired and he’s ready to retire,” he said. “But he’s the one person that I had the faith in to know that if his judgment was this, you could rely on that judgment.” | |
| Posted by:Steve White |