Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno has never gotten the press that his boss, General Petraeus has but this guy is sharp. And when he says it's quiet in Iraq, believe him folks. While the surge is Petraeus' baby and his brainstorm, don't forget that the execution of that has fallen on the broad shoulders of Odierno and he has performed admirably.
As a side note here...last Sunday I happened to catch the tail end of George Stephanopolous's DemHug Sunday show where he does the "In Memorium" segment. Now, I've never been a fan of this segment as although I'm all for recognizing the sacrifices of our troops, I resent the Dem agenda of George's show that had this showcased as a weekly "tally" - anyway, last Sunday there were four names of servicement killed. Now, that is four too many. But compared to nine months ago when there were six or seven screens to go through of names, it is so apparent that Odierno is speaking the truth here.
Here's the story from Yahoo.
As a side note here...last Sunday I happened to catch the tail end of George Stephanopolous's DemHug Sunday show where he does the "In Memorium" segment. Now, I've never been a fan of this segment as although I'm all for recognizing the sacrifices of our troops, I resent the Dem agenda of George's show that had this showcased as a weekly "tally" - anyway, last Sunday there were four names of servicement killed. Now, that is four too many. But compared to nine months ago when there were six or seven screens to go through of names, it is so apparent that Odierno is speaking the truth here.
Here's the story from Yahoo.
General: Iraq at its quietest since '04
BAGHDAD - Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general said Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.
Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq, said that the first six months of 2007 were probably the most violent period since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the change to an increase in both American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces.
"I feel we are back in '03 and early '04. Frankly I was here then, and the environment is about the same in terms of security in my opinion," he said. "What is different from then is that the Iraqi security forces are significantly more mature."
Odierno said Anbar province, once plagued by violence, only recorded 12 attacks in the past week, down from an average of 26 per week over the past three months.
"The violence last week was the lowest ever," he said of Anbar.
"So that kind of defines 2007 very simply. A long hard fight and a lot of sacrifice by a lot of soldiers, Marines and airmen to get there," Odierno said
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