Adm. William J. Fallon, who heads the U.S. Pacific Command from Hawai'i, is expected to be named to take over the U.S. Central Command and lead the increasingly difficult ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Bush next week also is expected to name a new top commander of multinational forces in Iraq as part of a strategy shakeup that could mean more U.S. troops being sent to fight in the 4-year-old Iraq war.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye yesterday confirmed Fallon's selection. The 62-year-old Fallon, whose nickname is "Fox," would be the first admiral to lead the U.S. Central Command in its 24-year history.

"I hate to see it happen," Inouye said of losing Fallon in the Pacific. "I think it demonstrates that Adm. Fallon is a person they need out there."

As Bush prepares to unveil his new Iraq strategy in a speech to the nation, Hawai'i's senior senator said at a Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i luncheon that he opposes troop increases, adding to growing bipartisan opposition to such a plan.

"Whether it be 30, 40, 50,000 or 100,000 more, I don't intend to vote to support this large number to add to the troops in Baghdad," Inouye said. "I think it will just exacerbate the bad situation."

The U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith had no comment yesterday on the expected command shift. Fallon was returning from Washington, D.C.

The selection of a Navy admiral to oversee two land-based wars is seen as unexpected. Army and Marine Corps generals have headed the Central Command, which covers the "central" area of the globe between Europe and the Pacific Command regions, since its creation in 1983.

Retired Adm. Tom Fargo, who led the Pacific Command until Feb. 26, 2005, when Fallon took over, said he has "tremendous confidence" in Fallon's judgment and leadership skills.

"I'm sure that he's going to take the kind of look that we would all expect and he'll do precisely what he thinks is right in terms of his recommendations to the secretary of defense," said Fargo.

Fargo said any criticism of an admiral being named to lead the war effort is misplaced.

"We're trained in joint warfare, and Bill Fallon's got a wealth of joint experience," Fargo said. "He spends a great deal of time with the Army and the Marine Corps. He's been to Iraq, and of course Korea and other theaters. He's got all the skills necessary to lead Central Command."

Fallon would replace Army Gen. John Abizaid, a fluent Arabic speaker who raised doubts about sending more U.S. troops to Iraq and is retiring in March.

Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus is expected to be nominated to be the next four-star commander in Iraq.

If Fallon is nominated, approved by Congress and takes over for Abizaid in March, he will have served in the Pacific role for nearly two years — less than the nearly three years Fargo served in Hawai'i.

Testifying before the U.S. Senate in March, Fallon said his priorities were to remain active in the global war on terror and to support activities in the neighboring Central Command with better joint and combined war-fighting.

But he also said a "major" area of emphasis was on helping countries to develop their own capacities and capabilities "to deal with their internal problems, to deal with their people, so that we try our best to eliminate the conditions that have been prone to foster the extremist activity that's resulted in so many problems in the world."

Fallon traveled to China three times and improved military-to-military relations with that country as well as Vietnam and Mongolia. Fallon flew over some of the same sections during a visit to Vietnam in July that he did as a naval aviator during the war.

In 2001, during Fallon's tenure as vice chief of naval operations, the Pearl Harbor-based submarine USS Greeneville slammed into the Japanese fisheries training vessel Ehime Maru nine miles off Diamond Head, killing nine men and boys on the ship.

Fallon went to Japan several weeks after the accident as a special envoy of the United States and delivered an apology to the nation and specifically to the victims' families on behalf of Bush.

Chinese warships visited Hawai'i and the West Coast for the first time in six years in September as the two nations continued a rapprochement after a U.S. spy plane was downed in 2001, leading to a deep freeze in relations.

Communications and ship passing and search-and-rescue exercises were practiced, with China later hosting U.S. ships in a continuation of the effort.

Following Fallon's third trip to China, Capt. Jeff Alderson, a Pacific Command spokesman, said the visit by the ships to Hawa'i was viewed "as just the next step in our military-to-military relationship."

Bush and first lady Laura Bush had dinner with Fallon and his wife, Mary, at Fallon's historic and palm-lined Pearl Harbor home in November during a 16-hour stopover by the president.

Fallon and his wife are avid runners, and the military commander instituted a monthly "Pacom run." The couple have four children, two of whom followed their father into the Navy.

During a TechNet Asia-Pacific 2005 conference, Fallon announced he had taken up surfing with some help from waterman and state Sen. Fred Hemmings.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.