New U.S. commander

The top U.S. military officer in Iraq for the past three years, Army Gen. Ray Odierno, will leave that post in August, military officials said. He will be replaced by Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, currently staff director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Odierno, 55, succeeded Gen. David Petraeus in 2007, after Petraeus was put in charge of U.S. military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Odierno will remain in the Iraq post through the scheduled drawdown of U.S. combat forces there. The Pentagon said that the change was part of the normal rotation of top officers and that Odierno would take over the Joint Forces Command, which trains forces from all the military branches to work together.

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