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BAGHDAD – The top U.S. military commander in Iraq on Tuesday accused Iran of continuing to support and train militants who are carrying out attacks, including most of the ones in Baghdad. Gen. Ray Odierno said the attacks have fallen in number but are still a problem. He made the comments just after the U.S. relinquished security for Baghdad and other urban areas to Iraqi forces, part of a security agreement that will see all American soldiers out of the country by the end of 2011. "Iran is still supporting, funding and training surrogates who operate inside of Iraq. They...

Iran continues to "interfere" in Iraq, including training insurgents and paying surrogates, the U.S. commander in Iraq told CNN on Sunday. But Army Gen. Ray Odierno said his mission is limited to providing security within Iraq, no matter the provocation from Iran or elsewhere. "I'm not authorized to do anything outside the borders of Iraq," he said on the CNN program "State of the Union." Iran's government has repeatedly denied fomenting violence inside Iraq. Despite some high-profile bombings and attacks in recent days, Iraq's security forces are ready to take over for U.S. forces this week to stabilize the nation's...

US commander in Iraq claims the military has largely honored the security agreement with Baghdad amid, what he claimed to be, a relative lull in militant activities. On Monday, General Ray Odierno said the pullout from urban areas was on the go with the troops having left the Iraqi forces in charge of 142 former US bases, Xinhua reported. Briefing a press conference in Baghdad, he suggested a link between the withdrawal and an alleged respite in al-Qaeda-linked attacks -- which the United States projects as an outcome its invasion of Iraq. Odierno claimed the US was 'absolutely committed' to...

April 9, 2009 General Ray Odierno: we may miss Iraq deadline to halt al-Qaeda terror (Karim Kadim/AP) President Obama has pledged to withdraw all combat forces from Iraq by August 2010 The activities of al-Qaeda in two of Iraq’s most troubled cities could keep US combat troops engaged beyond the June 30 deadline for their withdrawal, the top US commander in the country has warned. US troop numbers in Mosul and Baqubah, in the north of the country, could rise rather than fall over the next year if necessary, General Ray Odierno told The Times in his first interview with...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2009 – The U.S. is on track to meet the terms of a timeline of withdrawal from Iraq, the top American commander in Iraq said today. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said he believes the U.S. is prepared to fulfill a deal requiring U.S. forces to leave major Iraqi cities by June 30 and all combat troops to depart the country by the end of 2011. “We continue to work with the government of Iraq so they can meet that timeline so that they are able to maintain stability after...

Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno was an unlikely dissident, with little in his past to suggest that he would buck his superiors and push the U.S. military in radically new directions. A 1976 West Point graduate and veteran of the Persian Gulf War and the Kosovo campaign, Odierno had earned a reputation as the best of the Army's conventional thinkers -- intelligent and ambitious, but focused on using the tools in front of him rather than discovering new and unexpected ones. That image was only reinforced during his first tour in Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003. As commander...

<p>Gen. David Petraeus, whose strategy for countering the Iraq insurgency is credited by many with rescuing the country from all-out civil war, stepped aside today as Gen. Ray Odierno took over as the top American commander of the conflict.   At a traditional change-of-command ceremony attended by top Iraqi and American military and civilian officials, Petraeus said the Rockaway native's skills and experience make him "the perfect man for the job."   With Defense Secretary Robert Gates presiding at the ceremony in a cavernous rotunda of a former Saddam Hussein palace outside Baghdad, Petraeus handed over the flag of his command, known as Multi-National Force Iraq, to Odierno and then bade farewell.</p>

CAMP TAJI — The Commanding General of Multi-National Force - Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, visited the neighborhood of Sab al Bour, northwest of Baghdad, Nov. 5. “I’ve been to Sab al Bour before, a couple years ago, and this is my third trip back,” said Odierno. “The first couple times it was deserted (of civilians) and there was fighting on every block for a ghost town.” What the MNF-I commander saw during this visit was vastly different from his previous experience, as his Soldiers showed him the successes made in the area in the economic areas, essential services and quality...

BAGHDAD — Gen. Raymond Odierno assumed command of the war effort in Iraq on Tuesday, saying that future troop withdrawals would be heavily influenced by a new U.S. administration and the long-term security pact with Iraq still under negotiation. Odierno, who added his fourth star just hours before the ceremony in Baghdad’s Al Faw Palace, said of the past 18 months’ gains in Iraq, "where chaos reigned, hope prevails." But, he warned, "our work here is far from done." Odierno assumed command of Multi-National Force — Iraq from Gen. David Petraeus in the ceremony attended by Secretary of Defense Robert...

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2008 – The Senate has confirmed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus as commander of U.S. Central Command and Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno to receive his fourth star and succeed Petraeus as commander of Multinational Force Iraq. The full Senate confirmed Petraeus by a vote of 95-2 and Odierno by a 96-1 margin. Odierno is the Army’s 3rd Corps commander and served as commander of Multinational Corps Iraq for 14 months. The changes put Petraeus -- who implemented the U.S. surge into Iraq -- in charge of U.S. military forces in a dangerous part of the...

The nominee to take over Gen. David H. Petraeus' command of U.S. forces there, Odierno evolved from a conventional warrior to help shape the strategy. WASHINGTON -- When Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno began his second tour of duty in Iraq late in 2006 as the war's No. 2 commander, he was handed a battle plan that he and his staff quickly determined was out of touch with reality -- a set of precise timetables for handing over whole provinces to Iraqi security forces, regardless of their readiness. "This race to victory based on a timeline did not pass...

Petraeus's appointment as combatant commander of Central Command was set in motion several weeks ago, with the firing of then-combatant commander Adm. William Fallon. The administration let him go not for opposing a possible strike against Iran, as was widely speculated, but for arguing too often with Petraeus over troop levels in Iraq. Petraeus, who may be the most well-read analytical mind in the military, wanted to maintain troop levels, rather than reduce them for use in Afghanistan and for other contingencies -- to say nothing of relieving strains on the army. But Fallon and Pentagon generals wanted troop levels...

Great commanders often come in pairs: Eisenhower and Patton, Grant and Sherman, Napoleon and Davout, Marlborough and Eugene, Caesar and Labienus. Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno can now be added to the list. It's natural to assume that successful pairs of commanders complement each other's personalities (the diplomatic Eisenhower and the hard-charging Patton, for example) or that the junior partner is merely executing the vision of the other (Sherman seen as acting on Grant's orders). In reality, the task of planning and conducting large-scale military operations is too great for any single commander, no matter how talented his staff....

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2008 – The White House will nominate Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, currently commander of Multinational Force Iraq, to be the next U.S. Central Command commander, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced today. “I recommended him to the president because I am absolutely confident he is the best man for the job,” Gates told reporters. He cited Petraeus’ in-depth understanding of the situation in Iraq as well as counterinsurgency operations, and the successes seen in Iraq under his leadership. “The kinds of conflicts we are dealing with not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan and some of...

LT. Gen. Ray Odierno looks like he could snap an NFL linebacker in half. Yet his voice is so quiet you strain to hear him across the table in an empty pub. And the general's worth listening to. Just back from commanding our day-to-day military operations in Iraq, he's been nominated as the Army's next vice chief of staff. He'll take the battlefield's lessons along to that post. What did Iraq teach Odierno as a soldier? What professional tenets were reinforced by his multiple combat tours? "First, you have to empower your subordinates. That means you have to underwrite the...

General Odierno Returns Home By G. Tracy Mehan, III Published 3/7/2008 12:07:28 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran may pose the greatest long-term threat to Iraq's stability, a U.S. general said on Tuesday, the day after Iran's president wrapped up a visit to Baghdad. Army Lt. Gen Ray Odierno, who recently ended a 15-month assignment as the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said Iran continued to train extremist militia groups in Iraq. Odierno also said he was not surprised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was able to move around without security problems during his two-day visit to Baghdad as the groups that often target high-profile visitors are Iranian-backed. "Over the last 12 months, every...

The Patton of Counterinsurgency With a sequence of brilliant offensives, Raymond Odierno adapted the Petraeus doctrine into a successful operational art. by Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan 03/10/2008, Volume 013, Issue 25 Great commanders often come in pairs: Eisenhower and Patton, Grant and Sherman, Napoleon and Davout, Marlborough and Eugene, Caesar and Labienus. Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno can now be added to the list. It's natural to assume that successful pairs of commanders complement each other's personalities (the diplomatic Eisenhower and the hard-charging Patton, for example) or that the junior partner is merely executing the vision...

Odierno’s Departure Max Boot Nadia Schadlow has an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal pointing out why it would be folly to move General Petraeus out of Iraq prematurely. This is a point that others, including me, have previously made, but Nadia adds an important historical dimension by noting all of the major generals, from George Washington to Creighton Abrams, who have spent years overseas directing American war efforts. By those standards, Petraeus’s deployment abroad, while lengthy and strenuous (counting a tour in the Balkans, since 2001 he has spent 50 months, or more than four years, overseas), is...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2008 – The commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq today cited a series of positive trends that includes more civilian cooperation and declines in attacks and in military and civilian casualties. During a conference call with military analysts from his headquarters in Baghdad, Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, said that June through December 2007 saw 28 straight weeks of declines in attacks. The decline brought the levels of violence in Iraq down to levels not seen since 2004, Odierno said. The decline covered all areas of the country and included...