Posted on 08/22/2003 7:49:24 AM PDT by CHICAGOFARMER
This morning was attacked by liberal Bush bashers over coffee. Their arguement was the United States need a colalition of nations. I laughed and quoted Rummy from yesterday's briefing that 90 countries are in the fight on terrorism and 20 nations have boots on the ground.
Spent a good bit of time this morning on the internet searching for the list and failed to find a current list.
Can any Freeprs help with this list and where can we find it ??
Thanks
The website only discusses generalities and some specifics for Afghanistan. But there are five .pdf Coalition update links on this page that are quite informative.
But don't expect your pals to change their minds. If you're effective in engaging them, they'll either change their attacks or slink away. I'll look for more specifically discussing Iraq.
You know, he hasn't done a half bad job, considering he's a reckless, unilateral cowboy. LOL
If you use logic to bludgeon them about the head they will simply get a thicker helmet. Anything that doesn't support their noting of "Evil Bush, poor Iraqi terrorists" just cannot penetrate.
SOD Rumsfeld and Gen. Abizaid set the record straight in a terrific briefing that was very positive in spite of all the misguided press reports to the contrary today.
THE experts - on troop strength:
Q: General Abizaid, I'd like to ask you: Despite the litany of successes that the secretary just mentioned, horrors like that car bomb loom large in people's minds. The secretary says that you told Secretary Wolfowitz that you don't need more troops, that you have a sufficient number of troops. And he says that --
Abizaid: U.S. troops.
Q: U.S. troops, right. And you said that it's up to the Iraqis to eventually provide their own security. However, apparently they can't do that now. What are you doing in the short term, short of adding more troops, to provide some security? Are you bringing in some policemen quickly or -- what are you doing in the short term to try to provide more security?
Abizaid: Well, thanks for that question. I think it's clear that we've got to do a lot more to bring an Iraqi face to the security establishments throughout Iraq very quickly.
Having said that, I think it's also important for people to know that there's more than 50,000 Iraqis already under arms that are working in coordination with the coalition. We've got 35,000 people, for example, in the police forces. We've got a border force that's forming. We've got Iraqi Civil Defense Corps volunteers -- over 2,300 of them -- that have come forward to form battalions to work with our divisions. We've got an awful lot of people that we've hired to defend infrastructure, somewhere close to 17,000. So --
Rumsfeld: This is in 3-1/2 months.
Abizaid: Yes, sir. Yeah.
Rumsfeld: This is the 50,000 or 60,000 Iraqis have been pulled together.
Abizaid: So it's not the lone American rifleman out there defending Iraq. We're working in conjunction with Iraqis to make the place a better place to live. That having been said, there's a hell of a lot more work that has to be done to secure Iraq in terms of building their capacity. And I know the secretary's talked to you a number of times about what we want to do with regard to building international capacity. True, we've got 27 nations as part of the coalition. They're up over 20,000, and we hope to increase that number over time. We're hopeful that over time we get Islamic forces that would come into Iraq to help us.
So, it is not an American-only mission by any stretch of the imagination. It's an Iraqi mission, it is a coalition mission, and we are participating.
I also would just like to finish by saying, you know, we have over 1 million people under arms in the United States of America and it didn't protect us from what happened on 9/11. And the Israeli army, for all of its strength, was not protected from what happened in Jerusalem the other day. I mean, terrorist attacks can happen regardless of the strength of the military commitment. But over time, you'll see that we'll continue to make good progress on security.
Q: But the Iraqis can't do yet what you say they need to and what you want them to do. Is there anything being done -- are the Americans doing anything to increase security? Or can you, in fact?
Abizaid: Well, actually, we should be careful about saying the Iraqis can't do it. The Iraqis are fighting and dying out there, as well, against the people. I mean, Iraqi police are arresting people. Iraqi police are attacking former regime loyalists. They are moving with us, in conjunction with us, patrolling with us. They're doing an awful lot, and we shouldn't underestimate their contribution, it's quite high.
Q: Secretary Rumsfeld, and General Abizaid as well, you talked about there being enough U.S. troops. Secretary Powell was at the United Nations today, in talking about a resolution --
Rumsfeld: I think what I said was that General Abizaid has indicated that at the present time, he believes -- or you can say it yourself. At the present time, you believe that the U.S. level of forces is about right.
Q: So, if --
Abizaid: That's right! (Laughter.)
Rumsfeld: That's what you said before, right?
Abizaid: Yes sir, that's what I said.
Q: So, if a multinational force, beyond what is there now, is introduced, what do you see that force doing? Does it augment forces already there? Does it allow some of the U.S. troops, numbers, to be reduced? What do you see them doing? And also, training for those troops, what kind of troops they would be, what you need.
Abizaid: The question always comes up after a major incident: Do we need more troops? And I think before, I've answered the question by saying there's a lot of things that we need. Sometimes you have to change the way that you're using your troops; so you do tactics, techniques and procedures differently. We've made some adjustments. You have to bring in different types of troops. For example, you saw that as the 3rd Infantry Division, a heavy force, left, we brought in the 82nd Airborne Division -- lighter troops.
As foreign troops come in, as other coalition comes in, and as Iraqi forces become more mature, we intend to turn over some of the security duties, the internal security duties that we're currently doing, to them, and we'll adopt a more aggressive posture on external duties, such as borders or other sorts of things.
So, the number of troops, boots per square inch, is not the issue. It also -- the real issue, by the way, Martha, is intelligence. You have to have good, solid intelligence in a conflict such as this so you can get at the terrorists. That's the number one thing we've got to have, and we're working hard at it.
Rumsfeld: And I would add this, that the forces there are as General Abizaid has indicated. They are comprised of Americans, coalition forces and Iraqis. And the numbers of each change from time to time. The overall number is going up, and the reason it's going up is because the Iraqis have gone from zero up to 50,000 or 60,000 people with arms in participating in this process of providing security in the country.
The president has said -- and General Abizaid knows this -- that as far as the U.S. element, that we're -- we intend to see this through to success. And the president has indicated that whatever level of U.S. forces is appropriate, that the general will have that level. And he knows that.
And so it is important that we continue to bring in other countries, and Secretary Powell and General Abizaid and others have been working very hard on including other countries and trying to get them to send troops, and more are coming in continuously, and there's a very aggressive program going on to increase Iraqi forces.
Q: So it wouldn't necessary bring down the number of U.S. forces? So it wouldn't necessary bring down the number of U.S. forces?
Rumsfeld: Well, I think I answered it rather well. The level of U.S. forces will be totally a function of the general's recommendations to the president and to me.
----
Q: General, you said you've got enough troops. And, as you know, a number of outside military analysts have suggested you might need more to deal with the kinds of attacks that you're facing now. Is there a downside -- is there no benefit to adding more troops? Would that not be a more conservative approach?
Abizaid: Sure, there's -- if I may, Mr. Secretary.
I mean, there is a downside to having too many troops there. I mean, clearly, there's a downside where you increase your lines of communication, you increase your number of logistics troops, you increase the -- you know, the energy that you have to expend just to guard yourself. I have never been one in favor of huge, ponderous forces, but light, agile, mobile forces that not only can deal with the problem in Iraq, but throughout the theater.
___
Q: Mr. Secretary, I was wondering, sir, while these terrorist activities were going on in Iraq, there was an uptick as well in activities in Afghanistan, which is also part of your command. Now, with NATO formally taking over there a couple weeks ago, do you think --
Rumsfeld: I think it's important to clarify, NATO took over the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul.
Q: And that goes to the heart of my question. Is it perhaps time to reconsider the request of President Karzai and others that the ISAF force that we were just talking about be permitted to expand beyond Kabul?
Rumsfeld: We have always -- the United States has always been happy to see the ISAF expand. The ISAF has not wanted to expand, and the people in charge of ISAF have not wanted to expand. And there have not -- in fact, we have spent a great deal of time just keeping an appropriate level of forces in the ISAF doing Kabul. But I do know that the people that were just relieved had a very specific indication that they did not want to extend it beyond Kabul. And I believe the leadership today that's doing it for NATO feels that way, is that not correct?
Abizaid: That's correct, sir.
Rumsfeld: So we'd be happy to have them expand.
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030821-secdef0604.html
The Saudis are now actively pursuing, capturing and killing Al Qaeda and other terrorists in their homeland.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.