mike huckabee for one called this unconscionable, so i asked some experts how does it really work, and i was told that americans serving at the unit level always answer up to another american and that the president himself never can give a direct command over american units. allies, i m told, can set the operation or direct american units to conduct missions, but they never actually have direct command. i even went to the allied commander s office, the head guy who is running the overall nato mission, and he said the president always retains and cannot relinquish national command. americans can even opt out of assignments if they think it doesn t square with u.s. rules of engagement. that s on that point. another political story related to 2012. u.s. ambassador to china, jon huntsman, a lot of speculation he might run for president next year and that s super interesting because as a republican he s serving under