The timing of Cheney's visit is as important as the guest himself. His expedition coincides with the resignation of Adm. William Fallon, head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) stretching from the Middle East to Afghanistan. Adm. Fallon had described U.S. State Secretary Robert Gates as “one of the best strategic thinkers in uniform today." He was a panelist at the "U.S.-Islam World Forum” held in Doha, the capital of Qatar. And I had a chance to listen to the admiral. Mithat Bereket of CNN-Türk had also interviewed him and directed the panel Fallon attended.

“He must have been the world's most civil-minded military officer,” I thought by looking at his posture and words he chose. Fallon's resignation just a year after his appointment in place of Gen. John Abizaid came as a surprise. The reason for his resignation was announced to be differences of opinion with the President of the U.S. George W. Bush over the “Iran policy.” It was also argued that an article by Thomas P. M. Barnett published in Esquire magazine caused Fallon's resignation.

I am familiar with the name “Thomas P.M. Barnett.” He is a senior military-strategist and professor at the U.S. Naval War College. The Esquire magazine had selected him as "the Best and the Brightest" in a special edition headlined "The Strategist." That is to say, Barnett is the description of the word “strategist” in a dictionary and is regarded as one of Pentagon's most striking strategists of the century.

Barnett's books, "The Pentagon's New Map-War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century" and "The Pentagon's New Map-Blueprint for Action-A Future Worth Creating" became "best-sellers" in 2004 and 2005 in U.S.

And how ironic that in Turkey, leftist-nationalist pro-Ergenekon (crime gang) authors, most of whom are not fluent in English, writing books on the U.S. military strategies make it to the “best-sellers” list!

In his Esquire article, Barnett termed Fallon as an obstacle before a U.S. military strike against Iran and wrote: "If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it will all come down to one man. If we do not go to war with Iran, it will come down to the same man. He is that rarest of creatures in the Bush universe: The good cop on Iran and a man of strategic brilliance.”