Admiral William Fallon announced his retirement earlier today and therefore stepped down from his post as commander of U.S. Centcom which oversees the wars both in Iraq and Afghanistan. Admiral Fallon submitted his resignation to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates after the publication of an article in Esquire magazine which portrays Admiral Fallon as the man that stands between President Bush and a war with Iran.

Fallon released a statement earlier today in which he stated, “Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president’s policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the Centcom region… And although I don’t believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America’s interests there.”

Although Fallon is quoted in the Esquire piece as saying he does not believe that there will be a war with Iran, it is clear that he believes that the Bush Administration is not taking the necessary steps on the diplomatic front to avoid eventual military strikes inside Iran.

The resignation of Admiral Fallon is being seen by some as the Bush administration’s attempt to get its own house in order before being able to take military action against Iran.

Something to watch in the coming weeks will be who President Bush nominates to replace Admiral Fallon as Commander of Central Command. If Bush’s nomination is a hawk on Iran it will be the latest in a long unwavering line of developments that point to the eventual attack of Iran by U.S. forces.

Dick Cheney will soon be visiting the Middle East, much like Bush’s recent visit to the region the public reason for Cheney’s visit will be to help promote the continuing of talks between Israeli and Palestinian Authority leadership. However, Cheney’s planned visits to Oman and Saudi Arabia will likely have little to do with Israeli/Palestinian peace talks, but will rather have more to do with shoring up support and logistics for strikes against Iran.

This visit by Cheney to the Middle East comes just weeks after Israeli President Shimon Peres took a unilateral strike by Israeli forces against Iran off the table, something that had previously been openly considered by Israeli leadership. Taking a unilateral strike off the table against an enemy that Israel sees as a looming threat gives reason to believe that they will have help with Iran from their closest ally, namely the United States.

Israeli Forgien Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni this week talked to Presidential candidate Barack Obama, in their conversation Livni told Obama that it is important that the international community stand firm against Iran because Iran is directly linked to much of the current terror in the Middle East. This emphasis by Livni on Iran’s involvement in terror in the Middle East tells me that both Israel and leaders in Washington are continuing to hedge their bets on a pretext to invade Iran between Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Iran’s involvement in Iraq and funding of Hamas and Hezbollah.

I believe that Israel’s fear of Hamas and Hezbollah is legitimate once strikes against Iran would be underway because both Hamas and Hezbollah would likely react to the attacks with retaliation within Israel. To counter this problem Israel seems to be adopting the theory that the best defense is a good offense. By engaging Hamas in an all out war and baiting Hezbollah into the conflict Israel would be attempting to neutralize and deplete Iran proxies to minimize their danger once a conflict with Iran would begin.

One of the few things standing in the way of the administrations desire to strike Iran is the recent rise in violence in Iraq. The administration knows that they need at least the appearance of stabilization in Iraq in order to be able to be able to sell strikes against Iran on the political front in the United States. If the current increase in violence in Iraq continues for the next several weeks leading up to the testimony of General Petraeus before Congress, it will be important to watch how much the General downplays the violence in Iraq and what if any his comments are on Iran.