The Name Change in Iraq

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1, 2010— -- The first of January will bring in more than a new year for U.S. troops serving in Iraq; it will also bring them a new name, as the moniker Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) is replaced by the new term, U.S. Forces-Iraq.

The dropping of the name "multi-national" removes one of the last reminders to the "coalition of the willing" that the Bush administration used to describe the 2003 allied invasion of Iraq and the subsequent effort to stabilize the country.

The long-awaited name change reflects the reality that, since July, only U.S. troops have continued to serve in Iraq.

At one time, as many as 39 countries had troops serving in some capacity in Iraq from places as varied as the United Kingdom, Poland, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Spain and the Pacific island of Tonga. In recent years, the number of participating countries had dwindled as had the number of troops contributed to the effort. The last non-U.S. troops to serve in Iraq were from the United Kingdom, Australia and Romania.

The move also consolidates U.S. forces into a new command structure ahead of the planned troop reductions scheduled for 2010. By the end of August 2010, the current force levels of 110,000 U.S. troops will be reduced to 50,000 troops who will be serve in a new training mission.

Under the security agreement between the United States and Iraq, all U.S. forces are supposed to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

The name change will result in a host of new acronyms.

For example, the overall command known as Multi-National Forces-Iraq will merge with the operational command known as Multi-National Corps-Iraq. This new combined unit will be renamed U.S. Forces-Iraq or USF-I.

Gen. Ray Odierno will continue to serve as the top U.S. commander in Iraq and Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, who currently heads MNC-I, will serve as his deputy.

In a briefing this past October with Pentagon reporters, Odierno said combining the headquarters would result in a 40 percent reduction in staff.