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Ken Allard: General. Ken Allart. You mav have seena In vestordev's New York Times by a
Marinewlonel talking about the need forpatience in fighting aninsurgeicy And he was
apparently trying to warn both against, you know, people who were too pessimistic85 well as
people who we- overly optimistic
Can you basicallylet! us a little bit aboutwhetheror notwe are continuingb In for (He long
haul here, or are we simply trying to see how quickly we can cut and run?
It h i i clearly
~ from the US. mllftary. me focus Is Increasmgq on helping the Iraqis defeat M s
insurgencythemselves. And that is becomingincreasingly Ihe focusof our efforts. And continually
the commanders on thescene. General Casey and certainlyGeneral Abidd from a theater
moective. are constantly waluatina theforces mat area-nt the OnerationaiconceDtS.the
tactics thatare employed to defeatthe insuqency
So 1.1 think lhws Is-&arty. everybody wants to defeat the insurgency as quickly as can
pos5ibty bedone. But mere Is a reality' Defeatingan insurgencycan bea long-term affair
There's no timeline It's help the Iraqis defeat the insutpnto.
mnAllard Where therubber hits the mad is when we have w rotate trocpa inof course Now js
the percentage of Reserviststo Active troops about lhe same Inthis next rotationas it has bee"
1the current one - about 40 percent of so?
The key. again, is not so much $5it Active. Ã a Reserve, but is it right? And is it the right mixof
fo- to meet me wmfnandors' requirements in theater?
fewer and fewer claims mat anybody-n Iraq sees as credible,because there s n& a government
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there and people feel -generally speaking supportive of the governmentand supportive of me
process
But the onhf dace whora the insurgents c a n d a i i am soMantv with general public DerC&ion I S
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on the desire m t w y ~merstan&ie- that CotflUon fmcw I& Ana so the balancing
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m t n a O-rg,ys tha our eommanoers nave is to n0( have so many Coafrt on forces to rave too
M u a ~ f w n c e01.1weo it a a SJHO~M level w DC awe to help make sure mesa lraa Sec-iw
~orcescan actuafrysucceed
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So, tfs 6 tough balancingact. But Ifs somethifig vary mucft on ma commandem'm!nd U that
we don't-they're not asking for more Forceson that basis, because n's in part they know that
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there'svary llttlecredibllitythat thfe insurgency bas othertmn the widespread teal that it would be
nice at some point tor Coalition forces to leave that county
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Chuck Nash: General. Chuck Nash. Fox News. Got a question about you mantlonodthe forces
going over. and making sure they're (tie right forces. The issue comes down to whatwe see a lot
in the madla wtiich is, a recent article that said that we've lost, either total loas or bad enough trial
we had to ship them back to the Stales. 80main bame tanks We've got Strykers running around
up north; the Army is lookingat a fairly sizable InvestmentIn a thlng called FCS (Future Combat
Systems)we're told a family of 18 lightly armoredvehicles And we're ali" getting people whacked
on the road to the airoon.
Would you JUSIgive me your thoughts on when this all goes. and a p the lessonsthat we're
teaming about armor In Iraq real world? Are those lessons getting picked up and used in the
Pentagon" Or are we still son 01keeping the power point slides mat we're (were?) in the process
still mowng7
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and adapting And clearly they adapt their tactics, tactiniquea and prcieaures as w e l l s o thls
remains a very, vary dangerous, a dangerous area.
ahead and taking the lessons leamec both fromi matenai inatene17)side and from a tactical
employmentside to do the bast mat we can
Again, none of that will ever cUminate the riskentirely: It remains a dangerous place
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It lfi an Ifihrestina ohenamera to watch tha w In01 Sacm Forces havÃM e n attackedi? the
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pait again I'll speak from my personal experience having s& that, was very worried about the
potential negative effect that would have, and it never materialized. Amazmg. yiitialfy amazinglyto
w after on- of m O M iUtacks. the next day mere would be, again, many more youno Iraqis show
up at the recruiting sfationsthan there were positions t o a c c o m d a t e them. So I think that
bodes well for the country and bodes well for the security forces
will said the pllcipsnfs list assoon as I gel it. I think you m a n cclonel gordm cucullu?
;$
... and oh yeah. Non Responsive
thanksagain.i t
Thanks muOlF"?]
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