2006
Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Army educational establishment, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Retired Gen. Jack Keane, former vice chief of staff, U.S. Army
Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense
Gen. John Abizaid, chief, Central Command, U.S. military headquarters for Mideast
Army Gen. George Casey, U.S. commander in Iraq
Army Col. Sean MacFarland, commander, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, operating primarily in Ramadi, Iraq
Fred Kagan, policy analyst, American Enterprise Institute
Tom Donnelly, defense expert, American Enterprise Institute
Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister of Iraq
Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Sadr Trend and its militia, the Jaysh al-Mahdi
2007
Petraeus, promoted to full four-star general, succeeds Casey as top U.S. commander in Iraq
Robert Gates, replaces Rumsfeld
Adm. Michael Mullen, replaces Pace
Adm. William “Fox” Fallon, replaces Abizaid at Central Command and becomes Petraeus’s superior officer in the chain of command
Col. Bill Rapp, head of Commander’s Initiatives Group, Petraeus’s internal think tank
Lt. Col. Charles Miller, deputy director of Petraeus’s think tank, drafter of Petraeus’s memoranda to President Bush
Capt. Elizabeth McNally, writer and editor for Petraeus
Col. Pete Mansoor, executive officer to Petraeus
Sadi Othman, interpreter and cultural and political adviser to Petraeus David Kilcullen, counterinsurgency adviser to Petraeus
Maj. Gen. David Fastabend, director, strategic operations for Petraeus (in mid- 2007, succeeded by Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero)
Lt. Gen. James Dubik, chief of mission to train and advise Iraqi army and police
Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander III Corps, oversees day-to-day operations
Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, chief of staff for Odierno
Emma Sky, political and cultural adviser to Odierno
Col. Martin Stanton, chief of reconciliation for Odierno
III Corps planners: Col. Martin Wilson, Lt. Col. Jeff McDougall, Maj. James Powell, Maj. Kent Strader
Brig. Gen. John Allen, deputy commander, Marine Corps in Iraq
Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq
2008
Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, succeeds Odierno
Col. Michael Bell, succeeds Rapp as head of Petraeus’s internal think tank
September: Odierno succeeds Petraeus as top American commander in Iraq
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ACR—armored cavalry regiment
AO—area of operation
AOR—area of responsibility
AQI or AQIZ—Al Qaeda in Iraq; also known as “al Qaeda in Mesopotamia” or “al Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers” (“IZ” is U.S. military code for Iraq.)
Centcom—Central Command, the U.S. military headquarters for the Middle East
BCT—brigade combat team, or a brigade with attached units
BUA—battle update assessment, a daily overview meeting for senior commanders and staff, sometimes also called a BUB, for “battle update briefing”
CF—coalition forces; often used by American officials to refer to U.S., Iraqi, and British forces
CG—commanding general
CLC—Concerned Local Citizens, official U.S. term for local fighters, many of them former insurgents who changed sides and began to support the U.S. position, but not necessarily the Baghdad government; also known as ISVs, or Iraqi Security Volunteers; later euphemized as “Sons of Iraq”
COIN—counterinsurgency
COP—a U.S. military combat outpost
DoD—Department of Defense
EFP—explosively formed penetrator, also sometimes called explosively formed projectile; a particularly lethal kind of roadside bomb, or “IED”
FOB -forward operating base, the biggest U.S. bases in Iraq; compare COP
HMMWV—high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle; the modern U.S. military equivalent of the jeep; acronym usually pronounced “Humvee”
HUMINT—human intelligence
ID—infantry division
IP—Iraqi Police
IED—improvised explosive device, U.S. military term for a roadside bomb
ISF—Iraqi Security Forces (that is, Iraqi army and police)
ISR—intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
IZ—International Zone, official name of the Green Zone, home of the U.S. headquarters, the Iraqi government, and many foreign embassies
JAM—Jaysh al-Mahdi, the militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr; its personnel are occasionally referred to by U.S. personnel as “JAMsters”
JSS—joint security station, similar to a COP but jointly operated with Iraqi army or police
KIA—killed in action
MI—military intelligence
MNF—Multi-National Forces, also sometimes rendered as MNF-I, for MultiNational Forces-Iraq
NCO—non-commissioned officer (that is, a sergeant or a corporal)
NSC—National Security Council
PRT—Provincial Reconstruction Team
OIF—Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. military name for the Iraq war
QRF—quick reaction force
RoE—rules of engagement
RPG—rocket-propelled grenade
SIGINT—signals intelligence
SOF—Special Operations Forces
SOI—“Sons of Iraq”; see CLC
SVTC—secure video teleconference
TCN—third country national
UAV—unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone aircraft, often referring to the missile-equipped Predator
WMD—weapons of mass destruction