WASHINGTON - Earlier this year, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., just three months into his job as vice chief of staff of the Army, appeared at a luncheon at Fort Myer, Va. He recalled visiting soldiers in Iraq and talking with National Guard troops in the United States as they prepared to go to the Persian Gulf. Casey said he could see their focus and determination.
The challenges of his own three-decade career, from preparing to battle the Soviet Union to peacekeeping in the Balkans, "pale in comparison to what our soldiers and leaders are dealing with in Iraq today," he told the gathering of active-duty and retired officers.
Now the killing fields and political complexities of Iraq will fall to Casey. A stern and taciturn staff officer with little time in the Middle East and no combat experience. Casey was nominated yesterday to command all U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, subject to confirmation by the Senate, the Pentagon said.
He will replace Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who has been grappling with the bloody insurgency in Iraq and has absorbed criticism for his handling of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The Pentagon has described the replacement of Sanchez, though, as a normal step in its review of the command in Iraq, in which a more senior officer will now be the top American general in the country.
Casey will face the formidable challenge of improving security in Iraq as well as dealing with the new Iraqi government that will take over after June 30.
But those who have worked with Casey, a compact, silver-haired 55-year-old soldier, say his broad experience with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with the upper reaches of the Army hierarchy and with the international tangle of Bosnia, will serve him well when he wins likely Senate approval and takes up residence in Baghdad this summer.
"Casey's got a terrific reputation in the Army - he's without ego and extremely experienced," said retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who commanded the 24th Mechanized Division during the Persian Gulf war.
In recent years, McCaffrey said, Casey has immersed himself as a staff member with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in studying how all the services work and fight together, as well as how the Army has been modernizing. "He is demanding, serious. I think it's a very sensible choice."
