Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/top-u-s-commander-in-mideast-steps-down Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The top military commander for the Middle East, Admiral William J. Fallon, resigned Tuesday amid speculation that he disagreed with the Bush administration's policy toward Iran. Time magazine reporter Mark Thompson details the story. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Admiral Fallon resigns. Judy Woodruff has our story. JUDY WOODRUFF: Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that the admiral will be stepping down from Central Command, an area that spans a region from North Africa to Afghanistan. For more on this surprise announcement, we turn to Mark Thompson, national security correspondent at Time magazine.Mark, good to have you with us again.Why the resignation? MARK THOMPSON, Time Magazine: Basically, there was the appearance of a growing chasm between Admiral Fallon and his bosses back in Washington, including the president, the secretary of defense, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that they were more eager to go to war with Iran than Admiral Fallon was.And, as a recent article said, that he was the only fellow standing strong against going to war with Iran, as that chasm persisted, even if it were merely a perception and not a reality, basically, Admiral Fallon felt that he had to resign. JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, how much of it was this Esquire magazine article that came out a few days ago? MARK THOMPSON: A lot of people in the Pentagon, they split into two camps. The military people basically think that Admiral Fallon was pushed out.Civilians in the Pentagon say that's not the case. In fact, Admiral Fallon called Secretary Gates before the article came out to warn him about it. Apparently, Admiral Fallon got a little too cozy with the reporter, Tom Barnett, and Tom Barnett, the author, sort of asserted things that Fallon really didn't say.Plus, Fallon posed for photographs that irritated some civilian leaders in the Pentagon. It gave the imprimatur that it really was an authorized piece.