George Casey
General George W. Casey, Jr. is the 36th Chief of Staff, United States Army, taking office on April 10th, 2007. His previous assignment was commanding Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I).
He was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry on graduation from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1970. Masters Degree in International Relations from Denver University and has served as a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States.
He commanded units from platoon, to the 1st Armored Division, to army-level subcommand of a Unified Combatant Command. In addition, he has been Chief of Staff of the 1st Cavalry Division, Operations Officer and Chief of Staff, V Corps.
At the Joint Staff, he was reported to have pressed GEN Tommy Franks, commanding United States Central Command and the Iraq War, for a "Phase IV" plan after the end of combat operations, but did not get a satisfactory response.[1] In fairness to Franks, he was noxencouraged to do Phase IV policy, with direction coming from Washington. Casey did propose, on December 18, 2002, the creation of Joint Task Force 4, under BG Steve Hawkins, to plan a senior headquarters. This was approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who again asked Franks for a plan. Casey also approached LTG David McKiernan, CENTCOM land forces commander, for input on Phase IV.[2]
At MNF-I, Casey was immediately involved in correcting the Abu Ghraib prison situation, and in reestablishing a senior-level military headquarters for operations, above the tactical level of MNC-I, in Iraq.
References
- ↑ Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott (October 16, 2004), "Planning for After the War in Iraq Non-Existent", Knight-Ridder
- ↑ Michael R. Gordon, Bernard E. Trainor (2006), COBRA II: the inside story of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Pantheon, ISBN 0375422625, pp. 142-144