KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And there's been a changing of the guard at U.S. Central Command with the retirement of General Tommy Franks. A new man is in charge of keeping tabs on some two dozen countries around the world. CNN's Barbara Starr has this profile.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the man who now has the job of finding Saddam Hussein and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, not to mention Osama bin Laden, the new head of Central Command, General John Abizaid. Fluent in Arabic, of Lebanese ancestry, Abizaid brings more than battlefield expertise to the job of rebuilding Iraq.</s>MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Abizaid is a regional expert who combines military training with this regional specialization, and I think he'll be very good, especially at a time when we really need to understand Iraq's politics.</s>STARR: Abizaid studied in Jordan, ran relief operations to northern Iraq in the 1990s and had tours in Kosovo and Bosnia. Now, he will keep an eye on 25 countries, ranging from the Horn of Africa to the Persian Gulf. He already is warning Iraqi militants about attacking U.S. troops.</s>GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, CENTRAL COMMAND: There are a lot of people in the Middle East that believe that our weakness is our inability to stay the course. And they believe that two casualties today, two casualties tomorrow, four the next day will eventually drive us out. And it is a belief that they hold firmly and we need to be just as firm that we can't be driven out.</s>STARR: And as he took charge, General Abizaid made it clear his command will not see a change in strategy.</s>ABIZAID: CENTCOM will continue to take the fight to the enemy on his ground. We will defeat these terrorists who kill innocents. We will defeat these murderers who spare no faith.</s>STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
Changing of Guard at U.S. Central Command