John Philip Abizaid (born April 1, 1951)
(Arabic: جون أبي زيد) is a retired General in the United States Army and former
Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), overseeing
American military operations in a 27-country region, from the Horn of Africa, the
Arabian Peninsula, to South and Central Asia, covering much of the Middle East. CENTCOM oversees
250,000 US troops. Abizaid succeeded General Tommy Franks as Commander, USCENTCOM, on
July 7, 2003, and was also elevated to the rank of 4-star general the same week. He was succeeded by Admiral William J. Fallon on March 16, 2007.
General Abizaid retired on May 1, 2007 after 34 years of
service.[1] As of 2007, Abizaid is employed as a
fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford
University.[2]
Personal and family background
Abizaid was born in Coleville, California, to a Christian Lebanese-American father and an American mother, is
fluent in Arabic, and was the most senior U.S. military
officer of direct Arab descent. He was raised mostly by his widowed father, a former enlisted man
who attained the rank of a Navy Chief Petty Officer. He is married and has three children, one of which is enlisted in the United
States Army as a Military Police Officer. He studied Arabic in Jordan, where he received special
forces training.[3]
Education
Abizaid’s 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.
In his civilian studies, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Middle
Eastern Studies at Harvard University, and was an Olmsted Scholar at the University of Jordan in
Amman, Jordan. Abizaid greatly impressed his teachers at Harvard
University. Nadav Safran, the director of the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies
kept Abizaid's 100-page paper on defense policy for Saudi Arabia, the only paper of a masters student he has kept, saying, "It
was absolutely the best seminar paper I ever got in my 30-plus years at Harvard." [3]
Service career
Abizaid was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry upon graduation from the United States Military
Academy at West Point, New York, Class of June 1973. He started his career
with the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he served as a
rifle and scout platoon leader. He commanded companies in the 2nd and 1st Ranger
Battalions, leading a Ranger Rifle Company during the invasion of Grenada. In
1983, he jumped from a helicopter onto a landing strip in Grenada and ordered one of his Rangers to drive a
bulldozer like a tank toward Cuban troops as he advanced behind it -- a move highlighted in
the 1986 Clint Eastwood film,
Heartbreak Ridge.
Abizaid commanded the 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Regiment
combat Team in Vicenza, Italy, during the Gulf crisis and deployed with the battalion in
Northern Iraq to provide a safe haven for the Kurds.
His brigade command was the 504th
Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division.
He served as the Assistant Division Commander, 1st Armored Division, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Following that tour, he served as the 66th Commandant at the United States Military Academy at West
Point. At West Point, he reined in hazing rituals and revamped the curriculum. Later, took command of the 1st Infantry Division, the “Big Red One,” in Würzburg, Germany, from David L.
Grange, which provided the first U.S. ground forces into Kosovo. He served as the Deputy
Commander (Forward), Combined Forces Command, US Central Command during
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Robert Gates with Fallon and John Abizaid at the CENTCOM Change of Command ceremony,
2007.
Staff assignments include a tour with the United Nations as Operations Officer (G-3)
for Observer Group Lebanon and a tour in the
Office of the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. European staff
tours include assignments in both the Southern European Task Force and Headquarters,
U.S. Army Europe. Abizaid also served as Executive Assistant to the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of Strategic Plans and Policy (J-5) on the Joint Staff and Director of the Joint Staff.
Following the 2003 Iraq War and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, he assumed command of Central Command from General Tommy Franks.
On December 20, 2006, it was announced that Gen. Abizaid
would step down from his position and retire in March 2007.
He had planned to retire earlier, but stayed at the urging of Donald Rumsfeld.[4] On March 16, 2007, Abizaid transferred command to Admiral William
J. Fallon, after serving longer as Commander, U.S. Central Command than any of his predecessors.
U.S. Decorations and Badges
International Decorations
Views
Speech on the War on Terror
|
|
The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
In November, 2005 Abizaid gave a speech on the war on terrorism at the Naval War
College that was not broadcast. However, a student who attended wrote down notes. The notes were forwarded via e-mail by
General Peter Schoomaker, Chief of Staff of the Army, among others, and the notes are considered
credible. The Notes can be read in full at the CSPAN website Speech Notes
2006-2007 comments on Iraq
On August 3, 2006 Abizaid, in testimony before the
Senate Armed Services Committee, seemed to have become
more pessimistic about the situation on the ground in Iraq. He said: "I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as
I’ve seen it, in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war." This was
widely regarded as a significant change in his previous estimation of the threat of civil war in Iraq. However, he also testified
"I’m optimistic that that slide [toward civil war] can be prevented". [6]
On 13 October 2007, at a round table presentation at
Stanford Universtiy entitled "Courting Disaster: The Fight for Oil, Water and a Healthy Planet", Abizaid, referring Iraq
campaign, stated "Of course it's about oil, we can't really deny that." [7]
Bob Woodward on Abizaid and Murtha
In State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (as excerpted
in Newsweek magazine), journalist Bob Woodward of
the Washington Post wrote that on March 16,
2006 Abizaid was in Washington to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He painted a careful but upbeat
picture of the situation in Iraq." Subsequently "he went over to see Congressman John Murtha
(D-Pa), the 73-year old former Marine who had introduced a resolution the previous November calling for the redeployment of
troops from Iraq as soon as practicable." Abizaid said he wanted to speak frankly, and "according to Murtha, Abizaid raised his
hand for emphasis and held his thumb and forefinger a quarter of an inch from each other and said, “We’re that far apart."
On 1 October 2006, an interview of Woodward by
CBS reporter Mike Wallace was broadcast on the
television show 60 Minutes. The interview was about Woodward's book State of
Denial and Wallace mentioned the Murtha-Abizaid conversation. Wallace asked Woodward to confirm that Murtha had told him of
this tale of meeting with Abizaid; Woodward nodded his head in assent and said yes. [8]
On Iran's Nuclear Program
In remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank and reported on Sep, 17, 2007 he stated ""We
need to press the international community as hard as we possibly can, and the Iranians, to cease and desist on the development of
a nuclear weapon and we should not preclude any option that we may have to deal with it." He further stated ""I believe that we
have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear."
He continued "There are ways to live with a nuclear Iran," Abizaid said "Let's face it, we lived with a nuclear Soviet Union,
we've lived with a nuclear China, and we're living with (other) nuclear powers as well."[9]
References
- ^ Jim Tice. "Former CentCom chief
retires", Army Times, May 2, 2007.
- ^ Stanford Report. "Stanford welcomes
back retired Army general, political scientist". Retrieved on 2007-06-15.
- ^ a b "Commander's background a strength", Boston Globe, 2003-03-27. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
- ^ Spiegel, Peter. "Top general in Mideast to retire", Los Angeles Times, 2006-12-20. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
- ^ http://www.tisn.gov.au/portal/govgazonline.nsf/C55675277B018581CA2572A500083AA6/$file/S%2051.htm Appointed an
Honorary Officer (AO) in the Military Division of the Order of Australia
- ^ Shanker, Thom. "U.S. General Says Iraq Could Slide Into a Civil War", New York Times, 2006-08-04.
Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
(Registration required to view)
- ^ "Round Table
Debates Energy Issues", The Stanford Daily, 2007-10-15.
- ^ Bob Woodward, Mike Wallace. Bob Woodward: State of Denial [TV-Series]. 60
Minutes.
- ^ Abizaid: World could abide nuclear Iran Yahoo News By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
Mon Sep 17,
- Newsmaker: General John Abizaid, PBS, March 4, 2004.
- Centcom's Renaissance Man, The Washington Post
- "In
Search of Ground Truth: CentCom chief Gen. John Abizaid crisscrosses the front lines to get intel on the war on terror...."by
Paul de la Garza, St. Petersburg Times, September 3, 2006
- Abizaid plans to leave post in March Boston Globe, December 20, 2006
- General Abizaid
Stepping Down Military.com, December 20,
2006
- http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBQQ98JDZE.html
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