Clearly, an AAV (Amtrac) does not offer the same protection a tank does, |
I can tell you that they were a unit that was moving in an amphibious assault vehicle ... their normal vehicle to move in, ... It is an armored vehicle that they use in the conduct of their normal operations. |
It's fairly well understood that coalition forces are making a concerted effort to protect personnel and vehicles throughout the country as they are moving, and the enemy is seeking ways to counter that increased protected effort, |
Since about April, May, that had been going down, just every month, until last month, ... And then in September of '05, it started to come back up again. |
There are about 152,000 US (troops) in Iraq today, |
There are some isolated instances of insurgent contact, but relatively light, |
There's still a bit more coming and some that will leave, but that's a pretty good number, I think, for where we'll be through the referendum, |
They are dangerous and they certainly have a capability, ... But whether or not they have an ability to freely operate in that area, I think not. |
This is a very lethal, and unfortunately, adaptive enemy that we are faced with inside Iraq, |
Today, the new police chief has control of about 1,000 or 1,200 police inside the city now, ... And we think they'll probably -- they'll grow a little bit between now and the election, maybe about 1,500 or so. |
We are seeing larger amounts of explosives, |
We just don't know what happened, |
we'll do everything we can to help them. |