More than 300 US and Iraqi servicemen and civilians gathered Jan. 1 at Camp Victory, Iraq, for the activation ceremony of US Forces-Iraq, the new single headquarters organization for all US military forces in Iraq. It replaces Multinational Force-Iraq, Multinational Corps-Iraq, Multinational Security and Transition Command-Iraq, and Task Force 134, all of which were inactivated at the same ceremony. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, who led MNF-I, now commands USF-I. Army Gen. David Petraeus, US Central Command boss, said at the ceremony the new command “represents another important milestone in the continued drawdown of American forces.” All US ground troops are expected to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Troops from 30 different nations served as part of MNF-I during its tenure, but the last coalition troops left Iraq in July 2009. (US Forces-Iraq report)
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
