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General Odierno Says ISIS was AvoidableGen. Raymond Odierno said he believes the Islamic State’s creation was avoidable during an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Host Joe Scarborough asked Odierno, who commanded the Multi-National Forces in Iraq for about two years, if ISIS and the current state of Iraq were avoidable when the United States ended formal combat operations there. “Did it ever have to begin? Was ISIS avoidable?” Scarborough asked. “I think it is, and I’m not one for revisionist history,” Odierno said. “Actually, I was, on 1 September 2010, that’s when I gave up command in Iraq and that...

Odierno Opens Door To U.S. Troops Embedding With Iraqi Security Forces By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Friday, May 29, 2015 Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. Army chief of staff, introduced the possibility of U.S. military personnel embedding with Iraqi security forces during battle. “Embedded advisers, with increased risk to our soldiers, probably would make this more effective,” the general said Thursday, Defense One reported. “You have to weigh the risk versus the outcome.” Iraqi security forces were dealt an embarrassing defeat May 17 when the Islamic State group took control of Ramadi. A series of coordinated suicide...

'AL Qaeda's worn out their welcome," Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno told The Post. Probably the tallest, and just maybe the toughest, man in Iraq, the Rockaway native also has a vigorous intellect at odds with the stereotype of generals. Even though he looks like he could've had a parallel career in the World Wrestling Federation. In a forthright interview with The Post yesterday, the commanding general of the Multinational Corps-Iraq - the man who leads the day-to-day fight in support of Gen. David Petraeus - noted that, while foreign terrorists remain a threat, al Qaeda's been wounded so deeply by...

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) - As his troops prepare to leave Iraq, the commander of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division says his soldiers achieved more than expected but challenges remain - from battling insurgents to improving infrastructure and providing jobs. The division, which arrived in April, is scheduled to leave Iraq in mid-March for neighboring Kuwait before returning home the next month. They will be replaced by the Germany-based 1st Infantry Division in the first troop rotation since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last March. "We are further along than I thought I would be," said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno,...