ray odierno

Gen. Raymond Odierno, testifying for the first time as commander of Multinational Forces-Iraq, told the House Armed Services Committee that his plan to reduce his 124,000 troops to 50,000 non-combat forces by August 2010 had “flexibility” built into it, and said that he would consider speeding up the drawdown as circumstances permit.

Twitter user @sgwhiteinfla, proprietor of the excellent blog Smooth Like Remy, asked me if I thought Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, was up to something by suggesting that U.S. forces wouldn’t respect the Status of Forces Agreement’s provision that U.S. troops depart from Iraqi cities by June. My initial response was [...]

Here’s a just-released statement from President Obama after meeting in Iraq with Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces there. First he says he’s there to thank the troops. Then:
I’ll have the opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Maliki and President Talabani while I’m here. Obviously we’ve spent a lot of time trying to [...]

In this corner: Christopher Hill, the Obama administration’s choice to become ambassador to Iraq; Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the committee’s ranking GOPer; Defense Secretary Bob Gates; Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno; and former ambassadors to Iraq John Negroponte, Zalmay Khalilzad and Ryan Crocker.
In [...]

So: how does Maj. Gen. David Perkins, director of strategic effects for Multinational Forces-Iraq, view the final three years in Iraq? Here’s what he told a bloggers during a conference call this morning.
It’s still a population-centric counterinsurgency campaign. Perkins talked about gradually moving U.S. troops out of installations in Iraqi cities by June in accordance [...]

Those who view the U.S. military command in Iraq as being an outpost of opposition to President Obama’s withdrawal plans would have an interesting time with Maj. Gen. David Perkins, who’s the director of strategic effects for Multinational Forces-Iraq. With regard to both the improving security picture — there are days with just 10 insurgent [...]

Good for Gen. Ray Odierno:
Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander in Iraq, recently issued a directive asking his subordinate commanders to reduce the use of civilian contractors on at least 50 bases and small installations across Iraq and, where possible, provide employment to Iraqis instead. …
“This initiative supports our desired end state of a stable, [...]

As noted, Defense Secretary Bob Gates told reporters on Friday that President Obama’s combat-troop withdrawal plan had the support of Gens. David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno, the chief of U.S. Central Command and the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, respectively. And that raises an interesting question: What hasn’t happened in the month between Obama’s [...]

In a conference call with reporters immediately after President Obama’s Iraq withdrawal speech, Defense Secretary Bob Gates said that the withdrawal plan has the support of key military leaders.
I’m obviously very supportive of the decision the president has made, as is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In 2003, then Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division that had participated in the invasion of Iraq, had a running joke with an embedded reporter, Rick Atkinson. Slyly acknowledging the unclear aims of the inchoate occupation of Iraq, the general would turn to the reporter and muse, “Tell me how this [...]