Changing Horses

There is an old saying that you dont change horses in the middle of the stream. I suppose that it could be extended by saying, unless you have to. Yesterday, General Petraeus was relieved as MNF Commander by General Odierno. This is good news. Just like you dont change horses in mid-stream, you dont change generals in the middle of the fight, unless you have too. Sometimes the general might be killed or otherwise become incapable of continuing. Then you would have to replace him out of necesity. Sometimes he might be so incompetant or reckless, that you might replace him so as not to provide aid to the enemy by having someone working for the other side in charge of your own. That isn't the case here. We are changing generals now, because the one was successful and solved the problem that he was sent to handle. The new one has his own, but different, issue to deal with. The old one is being bumped up the ladder to apply his solution to a broader arena. It can't be pleasant for the rest of the nations of CENTCOM to know that the general who smashed the insurgency in Iraq is now in charge of the entire region that spawned them. Overall, I think this is one more indicator that conditions are improving.