there's actually some indication, based on intelligence information that we have, that ammo is starting to be difficult for them to obtain in certain areas.
You know as well as I do that counterinsurgency is a very nuanced type of military operation.
Yet, we believe that that's probably the vigilance of Iraqi security forces and some of our proactive measures the night before probably saved lives.
Well, the reports are correct that we're conducting very robust military operations on the Afghan side of the border in areas where we think al-Qaida is operating and Taliban remnants are.
We've got to ensure that the quality and the capability of these forces will be good enough to withstand the challenges that the insurgents and the terrorists will present to the new Iraqi government.
We'll try to include Iraqi officers in our staffs. We will do everything we can to empower Iraqi security forces to stand up on their own and operate where they can alone.
Undoubtedly, there are members of the former regime that are cooperating in some fashion and then there are extremists that are within Iraq that are cooperating with them.
The real target is creating enough chaos in Iraq so that an extremist government can emerge there that would be friendly and conducive to the form of ideology that bin Laden, Zawahiri and Zarqawi believe in.
Our forces will not be on the sidelines.
In other words, for every 10 enemy you kill you bring on 20 new recruits to their anti-coalition cause then essentially you are working against yourself.
I think what actually works best is local-level individual targeting of key leadership nodes.
But I am satisfied that the information that we have that this is the work of Zarqawi, is accurate.
As far as Zarqawi is concerned, there is a network of extremists it's not just Zarqawi.
And so I think that if the person has the funds, the network, and the equipment to do this, and also the experience, which is the key factor, then they can be quite deadly.
Well, the hardest thing to do, as we know from our own experience on 911 is protect everything all the time.
Capturing any member of any terrorist cell or any insurgent cell that we may happen to come across is always very, very valuable, and the thing that interests me is that in most instances after a time people talk and they tell us what they know.
And over time, I think, as Iraqi security capacity builds, you'll see American and coalition presence there decline.
that this is not a rush to failure. It's a rush to victory.
So, these political activities will create friction in and of themselves, and in this environment of friction there'll be additional violence.
What I've asked for is essentially to have a strong mobile combat arms capability, ... That's probably about two brigades worth of combat power, if not more.
The implications of allowing the region to become dominated by the ideology of al-Qaeda are the same as the implication in the years previous to World War II of allowing fascism to become the ideology of Germany, ... It will lead to a big war that none of us can stand.
We've got to get more senior Iraqis involved -- former military types -- involved in the Iraq security forces, ... In the next couple of days, you'll see a large number of senior officers being appointed to key positions in the Ministry of Defense and the Iraqi joint-staff and in Iraqi field commands.
It's interesting. When I'm in Washington everyone seems to think there is a set schedule, an exact plan. It just doesn't work that way. There is a theatre of war. The commanders in the field ... react to the facts on the ground.
But all that having been said, you can't, in a city of a million people like Karbala, or 5 million like Baghdad, you can't be in all places at all times.
This is a doctrinal problem of understanding ... what do the MPs do, what do the military intelligence guys do, how do they come together in the right way. And this doctrinal issue has got to be fixed if we're ever going to get our intelligence right to fight this war and defeat this enemy.
Picture Quotes to Inspire and Delight