Petraeus promoted -- Iran back on drawing board?

Gen. David Petraeus has been promoted to the position Adm. William Fallon resigned from/was pushed out of, that of head of the U.S. Central Command, which includes the Middle East and Afghanistan and Pakistan. (The very name Central Command is indicative of the fact that the U.S. is explicitly an imperial power, isn't it? But the term Homeland Security says the same thing.) Iraq has been Petraeus's proving ground, and he's proven to be Bush's favorite general, at least for now. I don't know if he is really is an "ass-kissing little chickenshit" climber as Adm. Fallon is said to have called him (Fallon denies it, but he's a Navy man after all), but he is certainly one of our more political generals, who knows how to ingratiate himself with the commander-in-chief.

I also don't know if Gareth Porter is correct in his opinion piece, suggesting that having Petraeus in the post formerly occupied by "Fox" Fallon, who famously vowed there would be no war with Iran on his watch, leaves Cheney in charge of Iran policy and a war with Iran much more likely. Can even a viper like Cheney be so irresponsible at a time when all the military people are saying the U.S. military is on the verge of being hollowed-out. Even to consider such foolishness is sign of an empire in decline.