I agree with Eden and with Tom. Chuck Horner would also agree with Tom...

With respect to Tom's comment, I'd add that as Yeosock was ill, he was backed up by DA who pulled Cal Waller out of I Corps Command and rapidly sent him over to be Yeosock's Deputy commander and reinforce the buffer zone -- pure personality based decision (by Powell through Vuono, I'm sure) and a good one. They got someone who could deflect Norm.

All of which suggests to me that there's a happy balance somewhere between the Abizaid (and possibly Fallon) hands off approach and the Storming approach...

On the command relationships issue, I agreed with John that Goldwater-Nichols had done more good than harm -- but part of the harm that was done happens to be in that area as Eden says. G-N, again, makes the mistake of believing and inadvertently saying that all human pegs are interchangeable. Not a fatal flaw but a significant one.