Fascinating look at General John Abizaid, Chief of Centcom, by Greg Jaffe:

In the fall of 2002, the U.S. military set up a task force here on the Horn of Africa to kill any al Qaeda fighters seeking refuge in the region. The base was crawling with elite special-operations teams, and an unmanned Predator plane armed with Hellfire missiles sat ready on the runway.

Today, the base houses 1,800 troops whose mission is to build health clinics, wells and schools in areas where Islamic extremists are active. The idea is to ease some of the suffering that leaves the locals susceptible to the radicals’ message, thus bolstering local governments, which will run the new facilities and get credit for the improvements.

David Hackworth spoke well of Abizaid. Other sites worth checking out include Defense and the National Interest and Tom Barnett’s blog. Barnett posted a few words on Jaffe’s article (more). John Robb is also worth a visit. Centcom website and RSS feed.