Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who's leading U.S. military forces on the ground in Iraq, is going to be replaced.
"Sanchez has been besieged lately by questions about his oversight of detainee operations in Iraq, especially his role in the scandal over the abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad," the Washington Post notes. "But administration officials said the move to install a new four-star commander has been under consideration for months, well before the mistreatment of detainees became major news. "
The Army's second-in-command, Gen. George Casey, is the main contender for Sanchez' job. But whoever the new American leader is, it's clear that he won't have control over all the forces keeping order in Iraq. The New York Times reports that with "the sharp deterioration of the security situation in recent months, American officials appear to have resigned themselves to working with [private and tribal] militias in Falluja, Baghdad and elsewhere even as American soldiers die fighting them in street battles in Karbala and Najaf."
THERE'S MORE: "An Army summary of deaths and mistreatment involving prisoners in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan shows a widespread pattern of abuse involving more military units than previously known," according to the Times.
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