If there is anything that demonstrates to people the difference between what we stand for and what they stand for, it ought to be pretty apparent to them what it is, |
In terms of comparison from six months ago, in terms of foreign fighters, I believe there are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there were six months ago, ... In terms of overall strength of the insurgency, I would say it is the same as it was. |
In terms of overall strength of the insurgency, I would say it is the same as it was, |
is to build an Iraqi security capacity, all the way from the police level up to the national army level, that is militarily effective and loyal to the established civil government. |
It is a belief that they hold firmly, and we need to be just as firm that we can't be driven out. |
It makes sense that as NATO forces go in, and they're more in numbers, that we could drop some of the U.S. requirements somewhat, |
It's a workable document from which good things can flow. |
It's interesting. When I'm in Washington everyone seems to think there is a set schedule, an exact plan. It just doesn't work that way. There is a theatre of war. The commanders in the field ... react to the facts on the ground. |
necessarily an unusual or catastrophic event. |
Now, people will say, 'Well, that's a very small number,' but when you understand that they're organized in cellular structure, that they have a brutal and determined cadre, that they know how to operate covertly, they have access to a lot of money and a lot of ammunition, you'll understand how dangerous they are, |
Of course you've heard and seen in the press that Osama bin Laden is surrounded, we have him cornered and we know where he is, etc., etc. And of course, we don't know that, |
So we're bringing in as much as we can. I know that NATO forces will be coming and certainly we're bringing more forces from the US, more helicopters. |
Some of them did very well and some of them did not. And in the south, a number of units, both in the police force and also in the ICDC did not stand up to the intimidators of the forces of Sadr's militia and that was a great disappointment to us, |
Tell them we are winning, ... You don't define success as the absence of hard losses. You define it - are you defeating the enemy? |
that this is not a rush to failure. It's a rush to victory. |