
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno believes that if U.S. troops had been allowed to remain in Iraq past 2011, the likely could have prevented the rise of the Islamic State by encouraging disparate political factions within the Iraqi security forces to work together.He took charge as chief of staff in 2011, the same year U.S. troops left Iraq seemingly for good. He will leave that office and his 38-year Army career on Aug. 14 with just over 3,000…