About a week ago, I speculated on Gen. James Mattis’ future in the military, now that Gen. Ray Odierno is set to take over for him at Joint Forces Command. Mattis is a four-star Marine general. He’s leaving a major command. The military is an up-and-out system — you More…
A joint U.S.-Iraqi raid near Tikrit decapitated al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate on Sunday. Two of the country’s most wanted terrorists, Abu Ayyub al Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who have been responsible for thousands of U.S. and Iraqi deaths since 2006, were tracked by U.S. and Iraqi intelligence and special-operations More…
The AP reports that Gen. Ray Odierno, who’s been commanding U.S. Forces-Iraq since mid-2008, when it was called Multinational Force-Iraq, will be succeeded by Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, who used to helm the corps-level command in that war. Odierno will go to the Joint Forces Command, the equivalent More…
The commander of U.S. troops in Iraq did not give much indication in congressional testimony Wednesday that he would accelerate his schedule to withdraw troops to accommodate a possible troop increase in Afghanistan, a move the Obama administration is debating.
Gen. Raymond Odierno, testifying for the first time as commander More…
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 More…
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
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 More…
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 More…
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 More…
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
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