WEBVTT

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Oh hi , it's Debra letter back with

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Reuters in Washington . I'm checking if

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you can hear me well , Deborah , how

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are you today ? Good , I'm good .

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That's good . All right . Would you

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like to talk about today ? The surge ?

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The surge . The surge . Okay , okay .

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Let's just begin as usual with your

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name and title . Okay , gravel Patrick ,

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driscoll multinational force , Iraq

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spokesman . How is the

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search changed conditions in Iraq ?

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The serge provided local security that

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enabled uh the Iraqi security forces

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time to kind of build your capability

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and working with the Iraqi security

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forces . Uh They eliminated really uh

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the ethno sectarian violence . That was

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that Al Qaeda used the fuel the war .

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What is your sense about

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what the key contributing factors have

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been in terms of reducing the violence ?

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Well , first of all , uh the

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surge did go a long way to reducing the

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violence uh and eliminating the sources

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of ethno sectarian violence . Uh and

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that allowed uh additional time for

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General Petraeus's counterinsurgency

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strategy which was which he refers to

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as the anaconda strategy . And it's a

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holistic approach , not only trying to

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protect the people from the insurgents ,

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but also uh improving the ability of

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the government to meet the needs of the

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people that includes uh the embassy

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here , working with the government of

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Iraq multinational forces , working

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with the government Iraq in order for

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them to better meet those needs .

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Additionally asking neighbors to to not

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support the insurgents and uh that's

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eliminates sanctuaries and eliminates

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the flow of foreign fighters coming

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into the country and the flow of money

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into the country to support the

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insurgency . Uh all these , all these

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factors combined , constant pressure

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coming around and and and squeezing on

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al Qaeda to eliminate your capability .

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And I think the surge really enable

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that process . How biggest six was it

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for the United States to adopt this

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surge approach ? I guess I'm not a

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military person , but I just , I would

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imagine some kind of shift would be

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more like driving a battleship than a

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car . It's difficult . Uh It was

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difficult and that uh the mindset more

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than anything else and I think that uh

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the original strategy uh for the

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victory in Iraq that was written uh is

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one that was solid and it was , it was

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one that's called about training the

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Iraqis to in order to get their

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security situation in hand . But in

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order to get their uh , the al Qaeda

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was so strong that they needed to be to

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be suppressed . And so General Petraeus

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uh saw that they needed , we needed

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extra troops in order to come in and uh

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fight al Qaeda uh and all their

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enablers to get them to the point where

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security is at the level where the

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government would have a chance to make

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some progress in meeting the needs of

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the people . And so he envisioned the

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surge and obviously it's worked , it's

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one of the difficulties is kind of

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psychological , how would you describe

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from an american soldiers perspective

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what that ship would mean ? Well , it's

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interesting because the last search

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Brigade has just departed Iraq and

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there was interviews with many of them

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as they were going and they were very

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proud of what they've accomplished when

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they first arrived here . Uh they were

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just some very uh brutal fighting with

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Al Qaeda . Uh imagine soldiers out

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there were in full body armor . Uh It's

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122 degrees out there and they're

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putting up temporary security barriers

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every day and Al Qaeda's ripping them

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down and it's really it's really a

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fight for every block . Uh And as

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they're leaving some 15 months later ,

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uh they're talking about the poultry

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farms that they've restarted . We're

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talking about how they've helped the

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Iraqis clean out irrigation channels so

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they can farm date palms . Again ,

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we're talking about uh all sorts of new

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business ventures that they're helping

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them create . So really it's it's

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actually a model , or it's an example

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of what counterinsurgency is all about

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first established that security and

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then help them rebuild their their

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lives and their economy have jobs . And

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so there's no real wedge there for the

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insurgents to take advantage of . All

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right , How long will it take in order

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for you to tell if these security gains

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are , will hold ? Well , I think

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uh it's uh General Petraeus says that

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you don't know when you passed that

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point , uh you have to have some time

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between when that point actually

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happens and then some time uh to let

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things improve and to continue to get

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better and uh , and then you look back

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and say , you know , this is about that

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time when , when we actually get people

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the insurgency , you can't tell what

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has happened . And the reason is

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because there's so many factors in

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place . Uh , we're very confident now

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that the governor of Iraq has has

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definitely improved and its capability

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to meet the needs of its people . Uh ,

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they're blessed here with 22 key

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essential resources . They have water

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and they have oil and that's helping

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the economy . The economy is starting

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to take off . Uh , we're seeing the

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people's confidence grow in their their

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representatives . Uh , registering the

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vote here with 575 voter registration

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boost that are open now . Uh , there's

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lots of legislation moving forward in

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terms of uh uh guaranteeing uh foreign

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business ventures if they come in here ,

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they'll be protected . So all these

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things were happening that you see

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these confidence uh , measures . And I

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think that's really why the strategy is

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working . But what about the size of

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the Iraqi military over the course of

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the US third , how many additional

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Iraqi military forces were at it ? Well

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researched about 30,000 combat troops

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here uh , and withdrawn them down now .

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But during the same time period , Iraqi

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surged about 100 and 48,000 and they're

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staying here . Uh , and they're now

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much more confident force than they

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were a year and a half or two years ago ,

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officially , the sons of Iraq stood up

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and these are the local volunteers that

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are protecting local neighborhoods uh

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in order to uh facilitate this security

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drive and there's about 100 and 3000 of

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them . So you can see that the number

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of increased troops is significant .

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And what's really significant is they

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really gained their confidence with

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operations in bahsrah Insider City and

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Amara . They have demonstrated that

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they are operating in the front in the

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lead And uh their confidence is greater

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now and their capabilities greater as

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well . Is there any sense for estimates

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that you all used to think about the

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the size of the Iraqi military force ?

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What size will be needed in order for

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Iraqis to , you know , completely

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handle their own security ? Well ,

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the Ministry of Defense has a Iraqi

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Ministry of Defense has a goal around

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660,000 . Uh and their projection right

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now is they should reach that number

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sometime in the middle of 2009 . Uh and

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that's a goal for their

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counterinsurgency force . And and

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that's that's basically for the number

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of soldiers , the number of Iraqi

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police they need to have online in

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order to uh to take responsibility .

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But there's more to it than that . You

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know , when you , when you build a

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force that rapidly , you have the

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capability have the soldiers with

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armament . But the experience of the

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leadership is something that takes time

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and grow . Uh I'm in the navy and uh

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you know , we have Chief Petty Officer

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in the Navy , they run the Navy and it

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takes about 10 years to 12 years to

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really grow a good chief Petty officer

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who can lead uh sailors leave those in

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the service and with the experience and

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knowledge . And so it's gonna take a

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while for these uh these Iraqi troops

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to write them . They've done a great

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job , but they're they're benefiting

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from the embedded training teams that

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the coalition has with them and are

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also benefiting from the technology

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that coalition brings , like

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surveillance from overhead uh jet

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aircraft , close air support

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helicopters , uh logistic support ,

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things like that . Uh what lessons from

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the Iraq surge could be applied to

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other countries and basically , and

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asking about Afghanistan ? Well , once

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again , this is uh this is an

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insurgency fight . And General Petraeus

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is anaconda Philosophy is you got to

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take a holistic approach and uh and go

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after the insurgency , all all elements

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of it . You just can't go in and just

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attacking insurgents in their networks

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in the places where they're fighting .

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You also have to go after how their

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finance , where the money is coming

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from . You have to go after how they're

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transiting borders and entering into

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the fight . You have to go to where

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their sanctuaries are and uh and

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eliminate those sanctuaries , You have

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to prove to the people that really the

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battles for the hearts of the people .

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You have to go there and you have to

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give them a period of confidence in

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their government . So the government's

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got to demonstrate capability . So you

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have to work with the government uh in

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order to meet the needs of the people

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and it's got to be a holistic approach

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and each one of those have to be

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attacked very aggressively in order to

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be successful at Is there a sense that

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what the military has learned from the

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surge in Iraq is very different from

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what has been learned from

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counterinsurgencies in the past .

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Uh I don't think so . I think

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every situation is a little bit unique .

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Uh but you know , we've been fighting

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insurgency since the time of the romans .

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And so uh there's a large uh historical

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uh file if you will of experience to

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draw from , but each circumstances

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unique and of course uh unique in Iraq

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here is very challenging because it's

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kind of a hybrid insurgency , if you

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will . Alright , and the final question

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at anything on Al Anbar yet , when the

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handover might take place , there is

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still in the coming days , weeks

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etcetera . Well , Ambar was a done

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deal , there's gonna gonna sign on the

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dotted line , the Iraqi government ,

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the representative from the uh province

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were ready to go . We did have a

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weather delay uh and then that opened

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the door a little bit for some

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additional negotiations between the

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Iraqi government in Baghdad and the

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ones out in Anbar . So we're seeing

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some negotiations ongoing now . Uh we

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anticipate it's going to be in the near

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future . Uh and that will be the number

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11 . Uh and hopefully some others will

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follow their pretty soon after . All

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right . I'm just I'm just curious where

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the pope was sort of reaction on the

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ground after Senator Obama was in

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Iraq . Well , you know , Senator Obama

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obviously very charismatic and draws a

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crowd much like Secretary Rice did when

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she was here . We have people lined up

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waiting for hours just to get a picture

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with her in a glimpse when senators

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come over in delegations normally what

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they like to do . And this is what

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Senator Obama did met with the the

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soldiers here that are from Illinois .

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And so we had several opportunities for

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him to do that and meet with his

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constituents . He also obviously met

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with a lot of the military leaders and

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leaders from the government of Iraq and

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the State Department . And trying I'm

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trying to find out what the facts are

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on the ground . And uh , it's a pretty

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standard visit for for our

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representatives here . All right . Um

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once again , thank you so much . I very

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much appreciate you taking the time .

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Okay , thank you very much . Okay ,

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hope to talk to you next week . Bye bye .

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Okay , hope so . Goodbye