General Ray Odierno replaced Gen. David Petraeus as head of coalition forces in Iraq today,
at a time when violence in that country has decreased measurably, and
the military's combat focus seems to be shifting towards Afghanistan.
As expected, today's changeover ceremony brought words of warning
over assumptions that Iraq is now 100 percent on the right path.
Perhaps one of the more telling observations of the day came from
Newsweek's Baghdad bureau chief Larry Kaplow who wrote:
The dress code for the handover of American power in Iraq from Gen.
David Petraeus to Gen. Ray Odierno was different today than it had been
when Petraeus took the job 19 months ago. For reporters riding the
armored military bus – the "Rhino" – to the ceremony, helmets and
bullet-proof vests were optional. Last year, amid the anarchic
sectarian violence and frequent deadly attacks on U.S. forces,
protective gear was a must, even with the armor, on the ride down the
dangerous airport road to the American military headquarters west of
Baghdad.
It was early last year when Gen. Petraeus first took command following
the bloody year of 2006 when U.S. military fatalities numbered several dozen each month. Writing in the New York Times on January 6, 2007, Michael R. Gordon laid out Petraeus' perceived game plan:
Having overseen the recent drafting of the military’s
counterinsurgency manual, General Petraeus is also likely to change the
American military operation in Baghdad. American forces can be expected
to take up positions in neighborhoods throughout the capital instead of
limiting themselves to conducting patrols from large, fortified bases
in and around the city.
The overarching goal of the American
military operation may be altered as well. Under General Casey, the
principal focus has been on transferring security responsibilities to
the Iraqi security forces, so American troops could gradually withdraw.
Now, the emphasis will shift to protecting the Iraqi population from
sectarian strife and insurgent attacks.
And now, nearly 18 months later, in a letter to U.S. troops dated yesterday, Gen. Petraeus wrote:
When I took command of Multi-National Force-Iraq in
February 2007, I noted the situation in Iraq was hard but not
hopeless. You have proven that assessment to be correct. Indeed, your
great work, sacrifice, courage, and skill have helped to reverse a
downward spiral toward civil war and to wrest the initiative from the
enemies of the new Iraq...The progress achieved has been hard-earned.
There have been many tough days along the way, and we have suffered
tragic losses. Indeed, nothing in Iraq has been anything but hard.
But you have been more than equal to every task.
Now we have Gen. Odierno, who once commanded the Army's 4th
Infantry Division during the period when the unit was responsible for
capturing Saddam Hussein back in 2003. When word came down in April
that the general would take Petraeus' place, CNN's Pentagon
correspondent Barbara Starr wrote of the general's private side when his own soldier son lost his arm in an RPG attack while serving in Iraq.
Odierno was on his way home in 2004 when his then 26-year-old son
Tony was headed into Iraq—the two met for a 90-minute dinner in a mess
tent in Kuwait. General Odierno at that point was sometimes referred to
as “Tony Soprano” for his very tough line with Iraqis suspected of
being involved in insurgent activity.
But for the entire Odierno family, the war was about to change.
Five months later, while on patrol in
Baghdad, young Tony was wounded when the Humvee he was riding in was
hit by a rocket propelled grenade. The driver was killed instantly;
Tony’s armed was ripped off. General Odierno and his wife Linda got the
call and were on a plane within hours—like so many other parents—flying
to Landstuhl Hospital in Germany to meet the medivac flight out of Iraq.
Agence France-Presse gave this description of Odierno's military side as a strong proponent of the "surge," weary of dramatic troop reductions:
Petraeus oversaw the surge, but it was Odierno who first proposed it
in December 2006 to a resistant Pentagon, setting the stage for what
would become a pivotal turn in the unpopular war.
Odierno, a
hulking artillery man criticised for running roughshod over civilians
during his first tour to Iraq in 2003-2004, implemented the "surge" as
corps commander from December 2006 to March 2008.
He carried out
the detailed campaign that poured US troops into Baghdad, cleared
Al-Qaeda insurgents from havens surrounding the capital, and targeted
Shiite extremists...Odierno has argued consistently against sharp cutbacks in force levels
in Iraq, which is negotiating a security pact with Washington to
determine troop levels after a UN mandate expires at the end of the
year.
A Guardian UK profile
of Odierno extrapolated on aggressive tactics once used by troops under
the general's command. The profile characterized him as a "latecomer"
to the idea of winning "hearts and minds," though at the same time
credited Odierno with helping to formulate the surge strategy:
Few US military commanders or soldiers have much good to say about
Odierno's aggressive tactics. His division's mistreatment of Iraqis and
the heavy use of artillery appalled others within the country's armed
forces.
Army reporters and commanders said Odierno's unit - a
heavy armoured division, despite its name – used an iron-fist strategy
that may have appeared to pacify the area in the short term, but
alienated large parts of the population. Some argue that the behaviour
of the 4th Infantry Division helped create the insurgency.
"Fourth
ID fuelled the insurgency," an army psychological operations officer
told Thomas Ricks in his book on the Iraq war, Fiasco. An unnamed
general said bluntly: "The 4th ID – what they did was a crime."
Odierno
defended his troops' conduct by saying his men faced a population more
hostile than in the rest of Iraq and had to act accordingly.
Generals Odierno and Petraeus are certainly two different types
of men who've assumed command in Iraq at very different times. If
Petraeus' tenure was marked by the surge's heavy fighting, Odierno's
seems as if it will be marked by his ability to address Iraq's
challenges without the use of rifles but with words and laws. During
his brief remarks today the general summed up precisely what he's
looking to do:
"Time is changing. Iraq is going to take more responsibility. The
environment has changed. What I hope to see is a change from military
to political, economic and diplomatic strategy."
