Remarks on

http://www.jcs.mil ^ | 12-1-05 | Gen. Peter Pace

[jcb8199]

{SNIP} As I was thinking about the publication of the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq that happened yesterday, and I thought about how I might want to punctuate its publication, I immediately thought about this National Defense University as the exact right place for me to come talk about -- a little bit about Iraq, a little bit about challenges to you as individuals, and a way that we might find together to use our energies in a way that will be useful to the nation, all of our nations; and an opportunity for you who have this incredible year to work together in a non-attribution forum, to be able to talk to each other about some of the ideas that might help us get on down to the road to the victory that we all are looking for.

Let me start though, first, by saying to each of you who are sitting in this room, congratulations on being here. You're about one-third of the way through your academic year, I think. But you're not here because you fell off the back of a turnip truck. You're here because you have for many years served your nation extremely well. You are the leaders inside your organizations, whether you be wearing a uniform or civilian clothes today, and it is recognized by your organization by having selected you to come here and spend this year with your fellow students. So sincere congratulations to the U.S. military who are here, and the U.S. civilians who are here.

Also, a congratulations to our international officers. Clearly, those who are having this year with you now understand what we all understand, which is that your nations have picked the very finest leaders to send to this country to spend a year with us. As we go around the world nation to nation to nation, a large number of ministers of defense, chiefs of defense, have had the opportunity to travel here to the United States in the past, to live and work with us as you are doing, and to share your experiences with us. And we thank you and appreciate who you are and what you represent.

And it is your unique perspective that adds so much flavor to the discussion that goes on in these halls of academia. So thank you for being here to represent your country.

But also, thank you for the sacrifice you are making this year. We hope you are enjoying your time in the United States, but we also recognize the fact that there are holidays and special events in your country, family things that are happening in your country that you're missing because you're here. So thank you for taking time out of your lives to come here to be able to sit down with us as coalition partners, as friends, to discuss the ways we can do business together.

Thanks, too, to the faculty who are here. The environment that you create is unique and facilitates the kind of open dialogue that helps all of our nations.

It's important, too, to recognize the fact that -- unusual, but for today in this environment we have members of the media, some cameras in the back. The reason for that is because I think it's important to have as many opportunities as all of us can have to address the American people. When our PFCs and lance corporals come home and can go on leave, we hope they are able to get out and talk to community leaders. When you are here in the classroom, when you're home, we want to have as many opportunities as possible to address our fellow citizens. And this is one more opportunity for us to be very public about where we are, where we're going, and to help have a dialogue with the American folks.

So today, your questions, please be as direct and forthright as you always are, and I will try to respond in the same way. But do not hesitate -- please, do not hesitate to ask very pointed, direct questions. This is your opportunity to ask the questions that you would like to ask the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and my opportunity to try to answer them to the best I can. I did write some notes down on some cards because I want make sure that I cover a couple of very important points before we get to your questions.

The strategy that was published yesterday, after our president spoke at the Naval Academy, talks about the National Strategy For Victory in Iraq. And it focuses in on three tracks: political, economic and security, and the need to make progress in each of those, and the way that the three of those, as you well know, are interrelated and interdependent.

But to talk about how we are going to proceed, we need to understand the nature of the enemy. And clearly, the nature of this enemy is different than any we have faced in the past. A question that I get frequently is: Wouldn't we all just be better off if we just let them alone? The answer that I give is: That would be nice if it would work, but that's not the world we live in. On September 11th, 2001, we were leaving them alone. That was the day we realized in the United States that we were at war.

Our enemies had declared war on us years before, but the attacks in New York, in the skies over Pennsylvania and here in Washington, D.C. brought home very clearly to us that we were at war.

So I say to those now who say, if we just stop fighting in Iraq, if we just stop fighting in Afghanistan, if we just stopped worrying about and chasing the terrorists -- that this would go away -- I say you need to get out and read what our enemies have said. Remember Hitler. Remember he wrote Mein Kampf. He said in writing exactly what his plan was, and we collectively ignored that to our great detriment. Now, our enemies have said publicly on film, on the Internet their goal is to destroy our way of life. No equivocation on their part.

They're not saying if you stay home, we will not come after you. They are saying their goal is to rid the Middle East of all foreigners. Then, overthrow all governments that are not friendly to them, which means every single one of those governments. Then, to use that base as a way to spread their terrorism and their oppression across the globe to include a map that shows 100 years from now that the entire globe will be under their domination. I say that to you even though you know it, because your service and all those others in uniform and not in uniform serving this country and all of our friends and neighbors around the world are the ones who are going to make a difference, and why it's important for us to realize that there is no option other than victory.

Our enemies are ruthless, uncaring. They murder children with bombs. They murdered tourists in Bali, children in Russia, folks waiting in line to vote. They are so bad that they are in fact vulnerable because of who they are. Even Zarqawi's family now recognizes what a murderer and thug he is, and they have disowned him. Think about that. The more people understand who these terrorists are, the more they will gather together to defeat them.

So what is victory in this battle? First of all, it is not victory in Europe day, it is not victory in Japan day, it is not something where there will be a signing ceremony. In Iraq, short term it is steady progress in political, economic and security; in the midterm, it's Iraqi leading all of those categories; and in the long term is a free and peaceful Iraq living at peace with its neighbors and no longer hospitable to terrorist acts.

Globally, victory is a suppression of terrorist incidents to a level below which all free nations can carry out the business of taking care of their citizens in the way that their citizens choose to be governed. This is a over time victory, it is not a pinpoint victory. And it is something that must be guarded daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. We cannot say we win and get on to the next event. We can say we are winning and we will stay at it because our children and our grandchildren deserve to live in the same kinds of freedom that you and I have enjoyed all of our lives.

On the political track, we are making progress; a little bit outside lane for guys in uniform, but we should at least recognize amongst ourselves here that there has been enormous progress in Iraq politically. They are about to have their third election inside of this calendar year. They have over 300 political parties that have come forward with candidates for this election for 275 seats. That's incredible when you think about it.

Their economy is coming on line. Over 30,000 new businesses have come on line in Iraq. They are smart people. They're well educated. They've got resources. They have an economy that's ready and capable of creating wealth for their citizens.

Security, though, is what we're about, and it is a fundamental part of long-term success in Iraq and globally. The question I get most often is -- about security and security forces -- is, don't we need more troops? The answer is we need more Iraqi troops. And we are working on that.

There was zero in May of '03; there were about 100,000 in June of '04. There are over 200,000 today, growing toward 300,000.

But it's about more than just gross numbers; it's also about quality. You all know as well as I do that it takes time to train an individual soldier, an individual policeman. It takes time for small units to get cohesion. It takes time for larger units to develop the kinds of leadership they need and the kind of sustainment they need. So we ought to understand that we still have a lot of work to do to assist the Iraqis in having an armed force and a police force that is fully capable, but we should take collective pride as a community of nations -- 34 nations in Iraq should take great pride in the enormous progress that has been made to date by the Iraqis. And yes, we do need to continue to help them grow so that they can take over more and more of the responsibilities so that as they are ready to, we can then hand over and come home to our collective countries.

Another question I get: How can there be only one -- count them -- only one Iraqi battalion capable of independent operations? We have done ourselves a disservice in the way that we have defined how we are tracking the progress of Iraqi forces. In an attempt to be very precise with ourselves, to give ourselves metrics that we could all understand, we have done ourselves and everyone who's listening to us a disservice.

Let me give you an example. I had the great privilege of commanding the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines from June of 1983 to June of 1985. As the battalion commander with those 750 to 850 Marines, if you were to say to me, "Pete, are you ready for independent operation, your battalion?" I would say, "You bet. Throw me in there. There's no place in the world I wouldn't go with that battalion." If you sat me down with a pencil and paper and said, "Okay, now grade yourself; are you really independent?" I'd have to admit just a few things as a Marine battalion commander.

First of all, if I wanted to get to the fight, I'd need either the Navy or the Air Force to get me there. Second, when I got there, in addition to Marine aviation, I would probably be looking for a whole lot of airplanes coming out of the sky with U.S. Air Force folks flying. Third, if I was going to be there more than 60 days, I'd be looking to the United States Army for sustainment, logistics sustainment.

So if you asked me then to grade my own battalion on a piece of paper as far as level one, level two, level three, level four, I would have to put level two. Why? Because I'm very capable, but I do need some outside help.

And that's the story that has been lost as we try to be very precise about articulating level one, level two, level three, level four for Iraqi battalions. They've got a division headquarters, four brigade headquarters and 30-plus battalions out there right now that are controlling their own areas of operation and more coming online. That to me is a real measure of progress. The fact that that division, those brigades and those battalions need some external help is true for them just as it is for our divisions, brigades and battalions.

Another real measure of success on the security side is the attitude and atmosphere inside of Iraq for the Iraqi people. One example, the number of call-in tips from Iraqis about things that they see, that they think they should be reporting to their government or to us, has increased geometrically. This past March just over 400 tips per month. This past September, two months ago, over 4,700 tips per month from Iraqis telling their own government things that are going on in their neighborhoods that are not right. This past Monday, based on one of those tips, Iraqi armed forces and U.S. coalition forces together followed a tip and found an IED factory, 4,000 pounds of explosives, I think it was 11 or 12 500-pound bombs, garage door openers, all those things you need to create and make IEDs -- found, taken out of the inventory because an Iraqi came forward. And those things are happening every day.

I mentioned the quality of Iraqi armed forces. We should also talk about the courage of the Iraqi armed forces. We rightfully so cherish and mourn every death of every one of our service members. We should not forget that Iraqi service members are dying in larger numbers for their country. Iraqi civilians are being murdered for simply trying to live their lives. They have enormous courage, the Iraqis.

One anecdote from Mosul. There was a police recruiting station. Forty young men lined up to sign up to become Iraqi policemen.

A vehicle-borne IED explodes, kills or badly injures 12 of them. The next day, the 28 remaining return to the same spot to sign up to be policemen. And that kind of courage is being shown across Iraq by literally thousands and thousands of Iraqis who want to serve their country.

I said I wanted to challenge you. It's really a request. You all are in a unique position. You have basically one year to sit, think, talk, write -- and I know that this institution provides you an opportunity to write papers -- (laughter) -- do reports, have group sessions. You need to have something to talk about. You need to have something to write about. I'd ask you to do this; if you haven't already read the strategy that was published yesterday, either reread it or get it and read it. It's 24 pages long. Read it. And then together think about, talk about how can we as a nation efficiently and effectively go about accomplishing what is written in that document? We have folks here in civilian clothes who can help us with the discussion of political and economic. We've got lots of folks here in uniform who can talk about security. We have international partners who are here. Take time to think about what are the big ideas? What are the things from your own experience -- and many, many, many of you have already served in Iraq and Afghanistan -- what is it from your experience that would help us all better understand how to achieve these objectives more effectively and more efficiently for our own government?

Beyond Iraq, some other things that your brainpower would help. Over time, Iraq and Afghanistan will join the free community of nations and will be able to stand on their own. Transcending that will be what we've already talked about, which is the need to stay vigilant with regard to terrorists' efforts to attack free nations globally. How do we work, fight an enemy inside of countries with whom we are not at war? Each sovereign country has its own understanding of what its threat level is, what it wants to do about that. And it differs, understandably, based on lots of factors. We have a unique opportunity here with you all to have you have that dialogue without having to worry about real government positions. Just have the dialogue amongst yourselves in this academic environment, and let's find some way to understand what are the problems, how might they be overcome. Where are the red lines for various countries, so that we can collectively understand how to be effective and efficient in fighting these terrorists who have no flag, have no constitution, have no land, have no legitimacy, but operate inside of countries that do, and therefore with whom we need to figure out how to fight without stepping on others' sovereignty.

A huge issue for the long term in fighting terrorism.

For those of us who are here as U.S. citizens, and especially in this environment where we have lots of folks in different agencies, what is it that we can do collectively that would empower our interagency process to be more effective and more efficient? If you go back to Goldwater-Nichols in the mid-1980s, we had the best Army, best Air Force, best Navy, best Marine Corps. But those institutions were not working well together; they were not the joint force that we assume today. I was in these seats 20 years ago. Goldwater-Nichols was just being penned 20 years ago. Now it's an assumption -- rightly so -- that we will operate jointly. But that has happened over 20 years of building trust and interoperability amongst the services.

The fact that we have lots of interagency folks here in this class environment is a very, very strong message that we know the value of interagency cooperation. The question is, for you all, are we getting the most out of that that we could? What big ideas are there that would help us get the synergy in the interagency process that we currently enjoy in the inter-military service environment? Big opportunities, I believe, for you all to talk about that and to feed ideas.

Also, because we do have the international officers here, how might we better build coalitions? What are the things that stand in the way of being more effective and efficient in that regard, and how might we overcome them?

A fundamental truth in my mind is that there is no nation so big, so powerful that it can carry this fight by itself. And there's no nation so small that it cannot have strategic impact in that fight.

We need to work together as friends to understand how best to leverage each others' strengths and weaknesses in a way that does good for all freedom-loving nations.

This is a long war. I've told you I sat where you're sitting 20 years ago. You are the leaders who will carry forth this war. It might have been 20 years ago for me, but it was six years after graduation for me that I became a general. It's tomorrow for you. You have come from leadership positions. You will return to leadership positions, and you will very, very soon be wearing stars or be SES, senior executive service folks. You are the leadership for this country for the next 20 years. When I look around, I feel good about that -- probably scares you a little bit -- (laughter) -- not about yourself or the guy sitting next to you. (Laughter.)

We've talked. It's true. Failure is not an option. There is no way that we can lose if we maintain our patience and our will, our resolve. But it's also true that inside of that patience and resolve, we should execute our mission as smartly as we possibly can. And that's what this opportunity for you all is about, and why I wanted to come talk to you today, to ask you to use the time you have to help us critique ourselves, to take a look at the document that was just published and see what is it that we could do collectively, that would get us to the goals in that document as fast as humanly possible.

Let me stop talking at you, and let me answer your questions. The rules are very simple. Whatever you ask, I'll try to answer. If I don't know the answer, I'll make something up. (Laughter.)

Who's got the first question? {SNIP} --See Website for the rest of the speech--

[CBart95]

Thanks but no thanks. We are working our own strategy for victory in Iraq.

While you may not realize it, we have a full staff of professionals actively working our plan and it seems to be moving ahead well. The woods are full of well intended "know-it-alls" like you who in their fantasies envision themelves as "saviors".

Whoever started the notion that our government needs or welcomes unbiden advice on everything under the sun really ought to be executed.

Just know that we who have the task are doing the job and don't welcome or encourage "sidewalk superintendents" like you telling us how bad we are doing.

No reply is invited.