Bush shuffles leadership team in Iraq overhaul

WASHINGTON, Saturday (AFP) - President George W. Bush is embarking on a sweeping overhaul of the US diplomatic and military leadership in Iraq as he puts the finishing touches on a retooled war-fighting strategy.

Bush, expected to unveil his new plan for Iraq in a speech as early as Wednesday, also filled a critical diplomatic vacancy in Washington and named a new US spy chief.

Three-year-old Sara Hadi sits in her room at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., Friday, Jan. 5, 2007. Hadi, an Iraqi, was brought to the U.S. by the Gift of Life Foundation for life-saving open heart surgery at the hospital which was performed on Dec. 26. Hadi is expected to recuperate for another month before returning to Iraq with her father to reunite with their family. (AP )

The reshuffle -- begun when Bush dumped defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld late last year -- came Friday as Democrats who now control the US Congress warned against sending more US troops to Iraq and demanded an end to the war.

The Republican president moved to replace the head of the US Central Command that oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the commander of the US-led forces in Iraq and pushed ahead with plans to make the US ambassador there, Zalmay Khalilzad, the new US envoy to the United Nations.

Replacing Khalilzad in Baghdad, officials said, would be Ryan Crocker, 57, the US ambassador in Pakistan since November 2004. Crocker is one of the State Department's most experienced Middle East experts and a fluent Arabic speaker.

Admiral William Fallon, 62, currently head of US forces in the Pacific, would replace retiring General John Abizaid at the Central Command, which manages the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Fallon was a navy combat pilot during the Vietnam War, commanded an attack squadron during the first Gulf War in 1991 and was involved in NATO's Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia.

In Iraq, Lieutenant General David Petraeus, 54, would replace General George Casey as the man in charge of all US and coalition forces, according to White House-endorsed recommendations from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“The president has accepted these recommendations and will be forwarding the nominations. And he's pleased to do so,” said Snow.

The White House dismissed suggestions that Bush was unhappy with the performance of the generals, and pointed out that Casey, 58, would be promoted to Army chief of staff.

“General Petraeus is a soldier of vision and determination,” Bush said in a statement. “His service in Iraq has equipped him with expertise in irregular warfare and stability operations and an understanding of the enemy we face.”Bush described Fallon as one of America's foremost military strategists.

“His experience and leadership will be critical to helping our country achieve victory over the radicals and extremists who threaten freedom.

”Elsewhere on the diplomatic front, the president nominated Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte -- the first US ambassador to Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein -- to be US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's deputy, a key post left empty since July last year.

And he tapped retired vice admiral Michael McConnell, a former head of the National Security Agency, to replace Negroponte at the head of all 16 US spy agencies.

“It is vital they take up their new responsibilities promptly,” Bush said in a message aimed at speeding their Senate confirmation. “I would hope that they would be confirmed as quickly as possible.”Meanwhile, Democrats, who took full control of Congress Thursday after 12 years of Republican rule, pressured Bush to end the war in Iraq.

“After nearly four years of combat, tens of thousands of US casualties and over 300 billion dollars, it is time to bring the war to a close,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter to Bush.

The two leaders took aim at news reports that Bush plans to escalate the number of US troops in Iraq, calling that “a strategy that you have already tried and that has already failed.

“Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain. ... We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq,” they said.

The president has not made a final decision about any new deployment of US forces, according to the White House. Yet he has spoken with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about the importance of “sufficient force” to restore order in Baghdad.The embattled US president, his job approval numbers in the cellar, is to unveil his new Iraq approach Wednesday, after consultations with key world leaders and US lawmakers.

But Senator John McCain, a presumed Republican presidential candidate in 2008, already warned Friday that the envisaged troop surge should be “significant and sustained” in order to avoid failure.