Watch Out

The war touched him more than most commanders. “The toughest day was the day I got called that my son was injured over here,” he said. Tony Odierno, then an army lieutenant, lost an arm in a rocket attack in 2004.

The US commander was confident that the overall timetable for the US pullout would be met. But he added that US combat troops might have to stay beyond June 30 in Mosul and Baqubah, where al-Qaeda retains an active presence. “The two areas I am concerned with are Mosul and then Baqubah and [other] parts of Diyala province,” he said. “We will conduct assessments and provide our assessments when the time is right.”

He added that over the next 12 months “we won’t see a large reduction in any forces in Mosul or Diyala. In fact we might see reinforcements in those areas if we continue to have issues”. Another flashpoint is the ethnically divided city of Kirkuk, on the border of Iraqi Kurdistan, where Arabs and Kurds are at loggerheads. Provincial elections were delayed there because of a disagreement over ownership of the city, a row that also covers towns and villages scattered along the border.

The general agreed that there was a risk of conflict in those areas. “We can’t allow politics, we can’t allow pride, we can’t allow ego to cause violence to occur when you can solve a problem with dialogue.”

He said that he was also keeping an eye on Iranian-backed Shia militants who are fewer in number compared with two years ago but restructuring into groups with a political and military wing, similar to Hezbollah.

A MILITARY LEADER WHO COMMANDS RESPECT

“One of the most effective military leaders of his generation”

Defence Secretary Robert Gates, speaking in February 2008

“He went through a complete metamorphosis. He educated himself and became the preeminent operational commander we have in conducting irregular warfare”

Retired General Jack Keane, who worked closely with General Odierno on the surge

“He really just wanted to play football, serve his five years and get out of the army. But he hurt his knee and never got the chance”

Linda Odierno, his wife, in an interview with the Baltimore Sun

“I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who were trying to defeat us in Iraq”

George W. Bush, thanking General Odierno in March 2008

Source: Times database

President Barack Obama is seeking $83.4 billion for US military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, pressing for special troop funding that he opposed two years ago when he was a senator and George W. Bush was President. Mr Obama’s request, including money to send thousands more troops into Afghanistan, would push the costs of the two wars to almost $1 trillion since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks against the US, according to the Congressional Research Service.

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