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| Iraq |
| General Pace briefing excerpts |
| 2006-01-06 |
| Q: General, is the violence that we saw today in Iraq an illustration that the December 15th elections did not diminish the intent of the insurgency in Iraq, as some had hoped? And could you assess what you see as the intensity of the insurgency? GEN. PACE: Well, especially today when there have been at least two suicide bombings, of which I'm aware, what's clear to me is that each of the elections has been a major blow to al Qaeda. In January, in October, in December, al Qaeda tried to influence the voters in each of those to not go to the polls, and the percentage went up. In January, the percentage of the people that voted was in the 50 percent mark, 50-plus. In October it was 60-plus. And in December it was 70- plus. So clearly, the terrorists failed at each of their primary missions with regard to stopping the vote. And I think what you're seeing now is their continuing attempt to disrupt the proper formation of the Iraqi government. And I'm very confident that they'll fail at this as well, because the Iraqi people will form a government that is representative of what they want to have, and it will begin functioning to the betterment of the Iraqi people. So I see the terrorist attack as acknowledgement on the terrorists' part that this is a center of gravity and that they're losing. Sir? Q: General, you mentioned al Qaeda specifically when you referred to the attacks. Of course the suicide attacks are generally thought to be non-Iraqi. But is that the primary concern you have in the insurgency, is not the Iraqi side of it, the former Ba'athists? GEN. PACE: There are several parts to those who are fighting against the Iraq government right now. But I think fundamentally that those who are Iraqi citizens, as they see the results of these elections, as they see their own government providing a way ahead that all of their citizens can understand as progress for their country, that those who are fighting against the government right now who are Iraqis will more and more lay down their arms and decide to become part of the future of Iraq and not the past. It is the foreign fighters, from whom I believe most of these suicide bombers come, who are the ones who are not going to adhere to that same kind of principle because they are not Iraqi, and they are there simply to try to subjugate the Iraqi people. Sir? Q: If I can just go back to the first question about the intensity. Whether or not they're going to be ultimately successful, do you see this kind of intensity, with this level of attacks, with 130 people killed in Iraq today, and also a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, do you expect that level of intensity to continue throughout the U.S. stay there? Or do you see that going down over time, as some of these events you're talking about occur -- Iraqis becoming more and more in line? GEN. PACE: I don't have a clear crystal ball on that. Clearly, though, the environment inside of which they are operating right now, as it changes, as more and more Iraqis want to have a peaceful solution to the problem, as more and more Iraqis see the benefit of their own government, there will be fewer places from which those folks who want to attack will have refuge. So the opportunity in the future for the folks who are against the government to hide, to store weapons and the like will go down. So I do believe that over the course of the coming year, that violence will subside. However, the enemy has a vote, and the bottom line is is that we will assist the Iraqi government and the Iraqi armed forces to be able to have enough security so that their government can function properly and start providing the services to their people that they deserve. Yes, sir? Q: General, first of all, welcome home and happy new year. GEN. PACE: Thank you. Q: Will the embedding now with the U.S. -- I mean, with the Iraqi police units, what type of U.S. troops are embedded? Are they MPs? Are they special forces? A mixture? And what's the ultimate goal to train the police as SWAT teams or as cops on the beat or something in between that? GEN. PACE: Thank you. The -- as you know, the current embeds are with the Iraqi armed forces, and they are able to assist them in bringing in medevac and fixed-wing attack and logistics and the like. The commando battalions that are part of the police are the ones that we're looking to have embedded people with, not the cops on the street, but these battalions that are in fact formed for operation at the battalion level to be able to do locally what some of the Iraqi armed forces have been doing regionally. So that the types of support that the police will receive will be more along the lines of what we've been providing to the Iraqi army battalions, not airstrikes and the like, but the ability to call in medevacs, the ability to help train -- train the trainers, so to speak, some of whom will be our own MPs, some will be gendarmerie from other countries, folks who can assist the police force in Iraq to understand how to function as a local police force, how to protect their citizens, but also to strengthen them where they initially won't have capacity, so they can go out and do their job. Q: General, can I follow up on that, please? Do you plan on increasing the number of U.S. trainers in Iraq? I think there are 230 11-member teams now with the Iraqi army. Do you plan on shifting those teams over to the police, or just increasing the number of teams? GEN. PACE: The number of teams will increase, and that's a good thing. As you've seen -- let's -- I mean, take 2005, as an example. It was an incredible year. About a year ago, there were only a handful of Iraqi army battalions in the fight. Today there are 100 battalions in the fight. A year ago, there were zero Iraqi brigade -- operational brigades. Today, there are 31 brigades. A year ago, there were zero Iraqi division headquarters operational. Today there are eight. As they've come online, we have had eight to 10 of our individuals with them. That allows them, then, to go out and take over responsibility. So now we have about 30 of those battalions that in fact have their own responsibility, their own area of the country for which they're responsible. So as their battalion displaces our battalion, you have perhaps 700 of our folks who are able to either do a different mission or come home, and we add eight to 10 of our folks to help them do what they're doing. So the addition of teams is a very, very healthy way of strengthening them and allowing us over time to transition to full control by the Iraqi government. Q: Any sense how many more teams you'll create? GEN. PACE: At this point, no. But for each of the commando battalions that I talked about, we will probably have a team, so that's 28 more. But as their individual units come online, we'll assess their needs and add what we need to do to give them the strength they need. Q: General? GEN. PACE: Sir? Q: General, you said the embeds will be with the special commandos with the police. But isn't the problem at the local level with local police departments in Iraq? For example, in Kirkuk there is cases where several police officers launched a spate of kidnappings. What's being done on the local level to shape up the Iraqi P.D.s? GEN. PACE: Yeah, the Iraqi government is very much aware of the fact that recruiting for both their army and their police force is their responsibility. And they have worked from the Iraqi central government with the provisional governments to go out, determine how many police are needed in a particular area, recruit to that need, and then vet the names of the individuals who've been selected through the national level to see whether or not the individual who has volunteered is a person who has some kind of a background that would not be the kind of person you'd want in the police force. That vetting is going on, and of course some people will slip through the net, and when they do, they'll be dealt with. But the training, the vetting, the recruiting is all Iraqi government responsibility with our assistance. Q: If I could follow up on that, is it fair to say the majority of police training will still be under the purview of the Iraqi government? So it will be up to them how much training they get on human rights and abiding by the law? GEN. PACE: Both the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army are primarily the responsibility, training-wise, for the Iraqi government. What we do is work hand in glove with the Iraqi government to recommend syllabi for the various units, to recommend how they're trained, to recommend things like human rights training. Q: And how much of the police force do these police commandos make up? Do you have an idea? GEN. PACE: I do not. There's 28 battalions. I can get you that number, but I don't have it off the top of my head. Yes, sir? Q: General, these past two days have been particularly bloody. Do you feel that this insurgency, these terrorists, have the capacity to continue this level of violence for an extended period of time? GEN. PACE: I think that depends on the Iraqi people. I think it depends on how comfortable these terrorists feel moving about the towns and cities in Iraq. I think if the Iraqi people demonstrate to the terrorists that they're not welcome in their cities, that they're not welcome in their towns, that murderers -- which they are -- murderers of fellow Muslims, indiscriminate murderers that they are -- are not welcome, that that will reduce the number of people. But clearly there is enough munitions scattered around that country still that the capacity to attack will be there. The difference will be the ability of the Iraqi armed forces and Iraqi police to maintain order inside the cities and countryside, and the desire of the Iraqi people to have -- to lead a normal life. Q: If I could switch topics, sir, this week Representative John Murtha was asked if he would join the U.S. military today, and he said no. And pressed in that ABC interview -- and I don't know if you saw it or not -- he said -- the interviewer said, "I think you're saying the average guy who's considering recruitment is justified in saying, 'I don't want to serve.'" And he said, "Exactly right." Can get your response to those statements? GEN. PACE: You know, when I got back yesterday, one of the first questions I was asked was what I thought about that. I had not seen the clip. I did get a chance to see it yesterday. A large segment of the clip had to do with opinion about the war, and that's not my lane. This country's strength is based on the ability of its citizens and its leadership to have divergent views. There were two parts in what I saw that went directly to my lane in the road, which is the health of the U.S. military. One was a statement that the U.S. Army is not well trained. The United States Army is well-trained. It is the best trained army in the world. It has never been better-trained, and we will continue to make sure that it stays well- trained. The second was a quote that you just mentioned. That's damaging to recruiting, it's damaging to morale of the troops who are deployed, and it's damaging to the morale of their families who believe in what they're doing to serve this country. We have almost 300 million Americans who are being protected by 2.4 (million) volunteer active, Guard and Reserve members. We must recruit to that force. When a respected leader like Mr. Murtha, who has spent 37 extremely honorable years as a Marine, fought in two wars, has served the country extremely well in the Congress of the United States, when a respected individual like that says what he said, and 18- and 19-year-olds look to their leadership to determine how they are expected to act, they can get the wrong message. Q: Sir, you look and sound a little angry about this. Am I misreading that? GEN. PACE: I would describe myself as "energized" -- (laughter) -- because we have an all-volunteer, all-recruited United States armed forces. I believe that all young people should have the opportunity to serve their country in whatever way they see fit, and that those who would elect to serve in the armed forces of the United States should be encouraged to do, especially when we're in a war where our enemy has stated intention of destroying our way of life. Q: So, General, is it irresponsible of the congressman to have made those remarks? GEN. PACE: I think I've said what I needed to say about that. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Thanks for the full context, Besoeker. No question that was scripted. I would be very surprised if the full JCS was not on board. |
| Posted by: Spinemble Sholuper4741 2006-01-06 09:37 |
| #1 When a previously respected leader like Mr. Murtha, who has spent 37 extremely honorable years as a Marine, fought in two wars, has served the country extremely well in the Congress of the United States, when a respected individual like that says what he said, he's just stuck on stupid. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-01-06 09:19 |