Los Angeles Times (Free subscription) | 12 hours ago
... they want to be sure Iraq is stable before the troops start to leave in significant numbers. Gen. Ray Odierno, the overall commander, is to make an assessment of security conditions 60 days after the poll, before giving the final word on whether the withdrawal will go ahead under the planned timetable. A residual force of 50,000 is due to remain behind until the end of 2011 to train Iraqi...
Pen and Sword (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
... Petraeus, and Mullen all came out against the idea. Months after Obama’s inauguration, Gen. Ray Odierno expressed his desire to keep 30,000 or more troops in Iraq through 2014 or 2015, well beyond the December 2011 deadline for U.S. forces to be out of Iraq as dictated by the Status of Forces Agreement. Odierno also says the insurgency in Iraq may go on for another 15 years....
Bradenton.com: Politics (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
... question.In an e-mail this week to top Pentagon officials, the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. Ray Odierno, warned that the elections could be delayed - potentially delaying the exit of U.S. troops with each passing day.Odierno in September told Congress that he would keep the number of troops in Iraq - currently about 117,000 - steady until about two months after the election to...
Ethics Newsline (Free subscription) | 11/03/2009
“The endemic corruption within the Iraqi system — not only the security forces, but the system — is still probably the biggest problem facing Iraq.” – U.S. general Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq since September 2008, speaking recently with the BBC. The New York Times includes Odierno’s comment in a piece [...]
