Washington - General Raymond Odierno begins his third stint in Iraq on Tuesday, when he takes over command of US forces there, hoping to build on the successes that have been gained under the troop surge.

Odierno has been credited with implementing the new strategy ordered by President George W Bush in January 2007, while serving as the deputy commander to General David Petraeus.

Petraeus is leaving the position to become the head of US Central Command, which runs military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, including Afghanistan.

Petraeus and Odierno oversaw the buildup of US forces as part of the revised strategy that including reaching out to Iraq's tribal leaders, which has seen violence reduced in Iraq to the lowest levels in years.

Odierno will hope to capitalize on that success as the Bush administration will have cut troop levels in Iraq by the end of the year to about 140,000 solders, the size of the force before the surge.

Bush last week announced the withdrawal of another 8,000 US soldiers from Iraq, while signalling no further pullouts before he leaves office in January, meaning the next administration will determine when more troops can come home.

Odierno, who earns his fourth star with the job, has had two tours in Iraq. He commanded the 4th Infantry Division in 2003 and was responsible for an area north-west of Baghdad known as the Sunni triangle.

The triangle, which includes Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, for years was the hotbed for the insurgency and had been overrun by al-Qaeda. Odierno's forces captured Saddam in December 2003.

Under Petraeus and Odierno, the area has now become one of the calmer areas in Iraq, in large part because of their strategy to embrace tribal leaders, who were turning against al-Qaeda as the surge strategy was launched.

Odierno, sporting a shaved head and standing at an imposing 1.9 metres tall, first left Iraq in June 2004. He returned to help Petraeus implement the surge strategy before leaving again in February.

Odierno had been slated to become vice chief of staff of the US Army before Bush pulled his nomination to send him back to Iraq. Odierno graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1976 and rose through the artillery ranks with stints in Europe and the United States. He served in the Gulf War in 1991. dpa