John Cooper

Lieutenant-General John Cooper, (born 17 February 1955) is a former British Army officer. From March 2008 he was the Deputy Commander of Multinational Force-Iraq (MNF-I), the operational-level headquarters in Iraq, and the Senior British Military Representative-Iraq. As Deputy Commander, he was the principal assistant to General Raymond T. Odierno of the United States Army. He stepped down on 4 March 2009, and retired from the army later that year.

Early life and career

Cooper was born on 17 February 1955 in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Educated at Berwick Grammar School, he then went to Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned into the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) as a second lieutenant on 8 March 1975. He initially served in Northern Ireland, Britain and Germany, and captain on 8 September 1981. In the early 1980s he served two tours with a British Army advisory and training team in Zimbabwe before attending Staff College, Camberley in 1987. He was promoted major on 30 September 1987, and after graduation from the staff course, he was appointed Chief of Staff, 8th Infantry Brigade in Northern Ireland 1988–89, for which he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 6 November 1990. He then commanded a rifle company in 1st Battalion, KOSB (1KOSB), including active service in the Gulf War. and commanded 1KOSB for a further tour in Northern Ireland, for which he was appointed to the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), as well as tours in Edinburgh and Lancashire. He was officially promoted to brigadier on 31 December 1999, with seniority from 30 June 1999, He was appointed the Chief of the Defence Staff's liaison officer to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon (United States) in Washington DC in 2002. He then assumed the appointment of Chief of Staff, Field Army, HQ Land Command. Cooper became Deputy Commander Combined Forces Command (Afghanistan) until December 2004. When he departed Afghanistan, he took command of 1st (UK) Armoured Division on 25 January 2005, taking elements of that division to Iraq where it formed HQ Multi-National Division (South-East). He stepped down from the post on 4 March 2009. In an interview on 3 March 2009 he expressed his belief that the struggle against Al Qaida in Iraq had been won, and that the country was getting back on its feet. He retired from the army on 21 November 2009.