CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – When Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno first went to Iraq in 2003, the division he led was quickly accused of overly aggressive tactics that did more to fuel the insurgency than quell it.
But over the past 15 months, Odierno has earned a very different reputation. Even some of his critics now say his tenure as the No. 2 military official in Iraq – a position he handed over last week – reflects a newfound understanding of counterinsurgency doctrine and the necessity of using nonlethal tactics to reduce violence in Iraq.
“General Odierno has experienced an awakening. I've now completely revised my impression of him,” said retired Army Col. Stuart Herrington, who wrote a 2003 report for the military that identified Odierno's unit as “the major offender” in carrying out indiscriminate detentions of civilians. “He recognized that his guys were very, very heavy-handed before and realized tactics had to change.”
Odierno's evolution over the past five years is in many ways the story of how the U.S. military has transformed its Iraq strategy and helped to ease the country back from the brink of civil war.
In an interview before leaving Iraq to become the Army's vice chief of staff, Odierno said one pivotal moment came in late 2006 as he agonized over whether the United States should ally itself with Sunni tribesmen, many of whom had fought with the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq against the Americans.
“I might have had a harder time doing that in '03 and '04,” said Odierno, 53, who said descriptions of his division's conduct in those years have been overblown. “But I realized it was time to do that. We had to reach out to them.”
In December 2006, Odierno sat down with Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the Sunni tribal leader in Anbar province who led his tribesmen against al-Qaeda in Iraq and who told the general he saw the best chance for his people in joining with U.S. forces. “I spent quite a long time speaking with him, and he told me how his mind-set changed,” Odierno said. “I was willing to take a risk.”
Odierno, a native of a town of 6,000 in New Jersey, said he found the Sunni tribesmen to be similar to the police officers of his childhood: They might not join the military, but they would protect their neighborhoods.
Some military officials say Odierno has mainly been following the instructions of Gen. David Petraeus, the overall U.S. commander in Iraq, who also wrote the Army's counterinsurgency manual.
Petraeus disagrees. In an interview, he said that when he visited Odierno in 2006, it was clear that he understood they were no longer fighting a conventional war.
A man of striking appearance – 6 feet 5, 285 pounds and bald – Odierno is known to his troops as “General O.” He arrived in Iraq in April 2003 as commander of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, which was based in Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein.
Although the division eventually would win acclaim for capturing Hussein, its initial reputation centered on hard-nosed tactics that some officers feared were alienating the population that the military was trying to win over.
