The Patton Of Counterinsurgency

With a sequence of brilliant offensives, Raymond Odierno adapted

the Petraeus doctrine into a successful operational art.

From The Weekly Standard:

Great commanders often come in pairs: Eisenhower and Patton, Grant and Sherman, Napoleon and Davout, Marlborough and Eugene, Caesar and Labienus. Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno can now be added to the list.

It's natural to assume that successful pairs of commanders complement each other's personalities (the diplomatic Eisenhower and the hard-charging Patton, for example) or that the junior partner is merely executing the vision of the other (Sherman seen as acting on Grant's orders). In reality, the task of planning and conducting large-scale military operations is too great for any single commander, no matter how talented his staff. The subordinate in every successful command pair has played a key role in designing and implementing the campaign plan.

Read more ....

Background information:
Raymond Odierno -- Wikipedia
Official Multi National Corps Iraq Website
Lieutenant General Raymond T. Odierno -- Joint Chiefs Of Staff

My Comment: A must read piece from the Weekly Standard on the Iraq War. The article is long, but deep in details and analysis. I personally wished that there were more articles and analysis like this one in the main stream media.

After reading this article a second time, I was then struck with the impression that Afghanistan, with its many different groups and coalition partners operating with no cohesion or strategic objective on defeating the Taliban .... badly needs the leadership that Iraq has right now.