More on the Fallon appointment and the War with Iran

From Laura Rozen:

JUDY WOODRUFF: A specific question about bringing in Navy Admiral William Fallon to be the head of Central Command. This has been an Army position. What's the thinking there? This is...

W. PATRICK LANG: Well, if I could say a word about politics first, I think one of the basic misapprehensions about politics in Iraq is that this is not really politics as we understand it. This is really tribal warfare dressed up in political clothing, makes it extremely difficult to settle it on a political basis, because they see it as a zero-sum game.

That's where Admiral Fallon -- I'm sure he's a very distinguished fellow. He's a man who spent his whole life in carrier aviation or in very high-level joint staff jobs...

JUDY WOODRUFF: So what does this say to you?

W. PATRICK LANG: Well, it's very odd to me. It seems very odd, because here you have a theater of war in which two major ground wars are taking place. There are lots of distinguished officers, both active and retired, in the Army and Marine Corps.

And to bring in a Navy man to do this, it would seem to indicate to me, in fact, that they're thinking down the line that they may have another sort of campaign in the future which will not essentially be a land campaign.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Meaning, David Ignatius -- you're smiling?

DAVID IGNATIUS: Well, I'm smiling, because I think Pat Lang is referring to Iran. I mean, one reason to have a Centcom commander who is a Navy pilot, who understands air power, who understands projection of power, which is what the Navy is all about, is if you think that down the road the issue is not the two ground wars that we have in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the confrontation with Iran, where airpower would be decisive.

Fallon is described to me, Judy, as a very serious strategic thinker. And although it may seem odd to have a non-Army or Marine Corps person there, I think he'll be seen as doing a good job.