Hm, I'm not entirely sure it's a good thing that John Negroponte's leaving Iraq. Recall that during the first year of the occupation, one of the major problems was the constant feuding between the CPA and military leadership in Iraq—culminating in the ugly Sanchez-Blackwill spat in late 2003 over just how big a footprint U.S. forces should have in Iraq. It all would've made for a splendid little farce except for the fact that, you know, people were dying and the insurgency was growing. But anyway, from what I've heard Negroponte and Gen. George Casey have actually worked quite well together, figuring out how to better coordinate military action with various civil-political strategies (though the latter are still pitiful). They weren't perfect, obviously, but light-years beyond their predecessors.