WEBVTT

00:00.040 --> 00:03.060
right right now , I would characterize

00:03.060 --> 00:04.782
it as terrorists attacking the

00:04.782 --> 00:06.949
government and its citizens attempting

00:06.949 --> 00:08.782
to intimidate the government and

00:08.782 --> 00:10.893
discredited because they're terrified

00:10.893 --> 00:12.893
of a government that is selected by

00:12.893 --> 00:15.250
some people . An enormous progress has

00:15.250 --> 00:17.620
been made much remains to be done . But

00:17.630 --> 00:19.852
what it appears is we're dealing with a

00:19.852 --> 00:22.040
fairly small and narrow group of

00:22.040 --> 00:25.300
terrorists were using people who are

00:25.310 --> 00:28.410
recruited from other countries brought

00:28.410 --> 00:31.560
into murder other Iraqi citizens

00:31.570 --> 00:33.840
coalition forces and government

00:33.840 --> 00:36.310
officials . And so the numbers of these

00:36.310 --> 00:38.510
insurgents appear to be relatively

00:38.510 --> 00:40.677
small . That they are legal . There is

00:40.677 --> 00:43.010
no question . No question about it . Mm ,

00:43.010 --> 00:45.066
Well , I wouldn't characterize it as

00:45.066 --> 00:46.899
disappointing . There's enormous

00:46.899 --> 00:49.066
progress that has been made . There is

00:49.066 --> 00:51.288
much that remains to be done . But keep

00:51.288 --> 00:50.820
in mind that there was no government

00:50.830 --> 00:52.941
here less than a year ago , there was

00:52.941 --> 00:55.052
no Ministry of Defense , there was no

00:55.052 --> 00:57.219
Ministry of Interior . And so this was

00:57.219 --> 00:58.830
not a sovereign country . So

00:58.830 --> 01:00.997
consequently , since that time they've

01:00.997 --> 01:03.163
held an election , they selected their

01:03.163 --> 01:05.163
their own transitional government .

01:05.163 --> 01:07.386
They're writing a constitution . And so

01:07.386 --> 01:09.608
we're at the same time , we're building

01:09.608 --> 01:11.552
security forces . And that that is

01:11.552 --> 01:13.441
something that can't be generated

01:13.441 --> 01:15.497
overnight . So there are some people

01:15.497 --> 01:17.774
that they're pretty impatient about it .

01:17.774 --> 01:19.719
But uh , some things take time and

01:19.719 --> 01:21.886
that's just the fact . Well , that's a

01:21.886 --> 01:23.997
fair question . But keep in mind that

01:23.997 --> 01:26.108
polls are snapshots and perhaps there

01:26.108 --> 01:27.997
were unreasonable expectations in

01:27.997 --> 01:30.219
january and perhaps it looks worse than

01:30.219 --> 01:33.310
it really is in on the most recent poll .

01:33.320 --> 01:35.542
I don't think it was ever quite as good

01:35.542 --> 01:37.598
as they perhaps thought in january .

01:37.598 --> 01:39.264
Perhaps they expected a magic

01:39.264 --> 01:41.431
turnaround . Perhaps there was some of

01:41.431 --> 01:40.780
the United States that thought this

01:40.780 --> 01:43.500
election meant that the war was over

01:43.510 --> 01:45.566
over here . That was not true then .

01:45.566 --> 01:47.660
And it doesn't , it's not as bad as

01:47.660 --> 01:50.040
perhaps some people think now . So

01:50.050 --> 01:51.950
confidence of the people in their

01:51.950 --> 01:53.894
government is a key part of that .

01:53.894 --> 01:56.117
There is no question about that . Their

01:56.117 --> 01:58.270
forces are doing a great job in some

01:58.270 --> 02:00.492
cases , In some cases they're not we're

02:00.492 --> 02:02.750
continuing to work with them . And so

02:02.760 --> 02:04.816
uh as I said , there's been enormous

02:04.816 --> 02:07.149
progress that has been made . All right .

02:07.149 --> 02:09.260
What do you think ? Well , again keep

02:09.260 --> 02:11.371
in mind that the insurgents felt like

02:11.371 --> 02:13.427
to take control of the entire city .

02:13.427 --> 02:16.000
For example , in in Fallujah . Uh they

02:16.010 --> 02:17.954
there was an election to , despite

02:17.954 --> 02:19.954
their best efforts to disrupt on 30

02:19.954 --> 02:22.288
january , they were not able to do that .

02:22.288 --> 02:24.121
Iraqi stood in line and voted in

02:24.121 --> 02:26.066
numbers that quite honestly should

02:26.066 --> 02:27.732
should embarrass some Western

02:27.732 --> 02:29.843
democracies . I think that's a pretty

02:29.843 --> 02:31.788
any example of some progress right

02:31.788 --> 02:31.780
there . Lieutenant generals online ,

02:33.640 --> 02:35.862
Thank you . In the meantime , President

02:35.862 --> 02:35.460
Bush