Always the admiral

OK, THE idiots in the top brass at the Pentagon aren't always Navy admirals (think Gen. E. Shinseki) it just seems that way. Adm. Fallon, the first (and now probably the last) Navy guy to head Centcom quit today. The media is portraying  the resignation/firing as a lone wolf (Fallon) holding out against a president intent on war with Iran. Indeed, the quote attributed by Fallon that the U.S. wouldn't attack Iran "on his watch" is more than enough to get any commander fired. Iran, China, Kansas—it doesn't matter where he refuses to attack, it is still insubordination. The SecDef can't leave an officer in place who publicly announces that he won't follow certain orders.
Be that as it may, this take strikes me as trumping Fallon's suicidal remarks on what he will and will not do.
Pentagon insiders said that Admiral Fallon’s departure was more the result of a turf battle between him and General David Petraeus, the US ground commander in Iraq. Admiral Fallon was General Petraeus’s commanding officer but for months Mr Bush has deferred to General Petraeus, against the objections of Admiral Fallon, who is believed to have been advocating a speedier withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.