WEBVTT 00:00.840 --> 00:02.951 well , you know , I think uh when our 00:02.951 --> 00:05.520 soldiers uh come across things that are 00:05.530 --> 00:08.920 clearly out of bounds and illegal and 00:08.920 --> 00:11.480 are questionable , we we will uh do 00:11.480 --> 00:13.760 what we've always done , uh report 00:13.760 --> 00:16.020 those to the uh to the appropriate 00:16.020 --> 00:17.687 authorities , take actions to 00:17.687 --> 00:20.740 investigate uh and ensure that , you 00:20.740 --> 00:23.080 know , we minimize human suffering were 00:23.080 --> 00:25.640 appropriate . But I'm also confident 00:25.640 --> 00:27.862 that the Iraqi government and the Iraqi 00:27.862 --> 00:29.900 security forces , uh we'll we'll 00:29.900 --> 00:32.700 continue to do things to uh to police 00:32.700 --> 00:34.811 their own ranks and we'll continue to 00:34.811 --> 00:37.033 work with them as partners to help them 00:37.033 --> 00:39.650 uh be able to see themselves and help 00:39.650 --> 00:43.270 them uh develop techniques to uh 00:43.280 --> 00:45.990 to that we've learned over time that 00:46.000 --> 00:48.520 work well in terms of the control of 00:48.520 --> 00:52.450 detainees , uh uh and also 00:52.450 --> 00:54.950 develop those professional techniques 00:55.340 --> 00:57.600 to ensure that their their employees 00:57.600 --> 00:59.711 and their their troops are focused on 00:59.711 --> 01:00.767 the right things . 01:04.140 --> 01:07.660 Any more questions , Tina , 01:10.640 --> 01:12.862 Hi Tina Susman from Los Angeles Times . 01:13.240 --> 01:15.230 Um lately we've just we've seen a 01:15.240 --> 01:18.790 ongoing list of the various countries 01:18.800 --> 01:20.856 that have been in the coalition that 01:20.856 --> 01:23.133 are pulling out at the end of the year . 01:23.133 --> 01:25.244 You know , while individually they're 01:25.244 --> 01:25.030 quite small , collectively they add up 01:25.040 --> 01:27.590 to a sizable number . I'm just 01:27.590 --> 01:29.812 wondering how much of an effect is that 01:29.812 --> 01:31.923 going to have on U . S . Forces , You 01:31.923 --> 01:33.923 have to basically take over some of 01:33.923 --> 01:36.090 these duties that say the Tongans have 01:36.090 --> 01:38.370 been doing or the Macedonians or for 01:38.370 --> 01:40.314 instance , when the georgians left 01:40.314 --> 01:42.670 rather abruptly . Um how much is that 01:42.670 --> 01:44.726 requiring you to rejigger forces and 01:44.726 --> 01:47.060 spread yourselves a bit thinner . Well 01:47.070 --> 01:49.181 thanks Tina . That's a that's a great 01:49.181 --> 01:51.403 question . And let me say up front that 01:51.403 --> 01:55.370 uh , we are grateful for uh , 01:55.380 --> 01:57.436 tremendous contributions that all of 01:57.436 --> 02:00.310 our coalition partners have made over 02:00.310 --> 02:03.690 the , throughout the the conduct of 02:03.700 --> 02:06.610 this operation . They have provided 02:06.610 --> 02:08.970 significant capability and their 02:08.970 --> 02:11.300 presence will be missed . You know , 02:11.300 --> 02:13.830 the fact that we have the ability to uh , 02:13.840 --> 02:16.210 to redeploy some of those elements is 02:16.210 --> 02:18.210 actually a good news story . It's a 02:18.210 --> 02:20.321 good news story because it means that 02:20.321 --> 02:22.488 uh , security has improved in a lot of 02:22.488 --> 02:24.710 cases to the point where we can uh , we 02:24.710 --> 02:28.170 can actually operate effectively , uh , 02:28.180 --> 02:30.640 despite the loss of some of that great 02:30.640 --> 02:33.340 capability . And you're right , when we 02:33.340 --> 02:37.070 lose many of these , these soldiers 02:37.070 --> 02:39.750 and airmen and sailors , uh , we'll 02:39.750 --> 02:42.760 have to to expand our footprint to uh , 02:42.770 --> 02:45.390 to account for that loss . Fortunately , 02:45.390 --> 02:47.710 as I mentioned earlier , the Iraqi 02:47.710 --> 02:50.000 security forces have increased 02:50.010 --> 02:52.850 significantly in terms of numbers and 02:52.850 --> 02:54.790 capability . They've gained great 02:54.790 --> 02:56.790 experience and they are very , very 02:56.790 --> 03:00.060 confident in their abilities . And so , 03:00.070 --> 03:02.640 uh , we'll have to ask them to , to 03:02.640 --> 03:04.807 step up to the plate a little bit more 03:04.807 --> 03:07.029 and they are doing that every day . And 03:07.029 --> 03:09.196 quite frankly , it's impressive to see 03:09.196 --> 03:11.240 some of what uh , we've seen here 03:11.240 --> 03:13.407 recently and you and you're witnessing 03:13.407 --> 03:15.573 that some of that as you go around the 03:15.573 --> 03:17.518 city of Baghdad on a daily basis . 03:17.518 --> 03:19.684 You're seeing some soldiers , uh , you 03:19.684 --> 03:21.684 know , in national policemen on the 03:21.684 --> 03:23.851 street ? Uh , you know , behaving in a 03:23.851 --> 03:25.962 professional manner , looking good in 03:25.962 --> 03:28.184 their uniforms and being very confident 03:28.184 --> 03:30.407 about performing their duties . Uh , So 03:30.407 --> 03:32.629 I think that based upon the help of the 03:32.629 --> 03:34.840 Iraqi security forces will be will be 03:34.840 --> 03:37.950 just fine . But um 03:39.140 --> 03:40.918 President elect Obama yesterday 03:40.918 --> 03:43.750 indicated that he still sees his idea 03:43.750 --> 03:46.680 of a 16-month drawdown as as a good 03:46.680 --> 03:48.847 thing . That seems , he indicated that 03:48.847 --> 03:51.013 that's still what his goal is gonna be 03:51.013 --> 03:53.124 after . He takes office based on what 03:53.124 --> 03:55.291 you're seeing right now . Do you think 03:55.291 --> 03:58.540 that that's a reasonable goal ? Um Well , 03:58.540 --> 04:00.950 first of all , you know , I'm sure that 04:01.440 --> 04:04.930 the president elect , once he has had 04:04.930 --> 04:06.819 the ability or the opportunity to 04:06.819 --> 04:10.770 assess the situation and confer 04:10.770 --> 04:13.430 with the Secretary of Defense , uh you 04:13.430 --> 04:15.740 know , he'll solidify what his goals 04:15.750 --> 04:18.230 will be with the advice of the 04:18.230 --> 04:21.160 Secretary of Defense . He was also 04:21.160 --> 04:23.382 clear , I think in saying that he would 04:23.382 --> 04:25.660 listen to the commanders on the ground . 04:25.660 --> 04:29.090 And uh and that I think that is a that 04:29.090 --> 04:32.920 is a very positive sign and uh that 04:32.930 --> 04:36.250 uh that , you know , the the input from 04:36.250 --> 04:38.361 the commander on the ground will be , 04:38.361 --> 04:40.528 will be heard and we will uh certainly 04:40.528 --> 04:42.960 uh stand ready to provide that input to 04:42.970 --> 04:45.026 General Odierno and General Petraeus 04:45.026 --> 04:47.390 and uh , you know , whatever the the 04:47.400 --> 04:50.140 decisions that are made , we stand 04:50.140 --> 04:52.510 ready to execute . But uh , I think 04:52.510 --> 04:55.080 that it will take a little time for uh 04:55.090 --> 04:57.146 for the President elect to to really 04:57.146 --> 04:59.690 solidify what his uh what is , what the 04:59.690 --> 05:02.560 way ahead is going to be . Michael , 05:07.040 --> 05:09.207 I'm sorry , general , I'm just sitting 05:09.207 --> 05:09.070 here feeling like I've just been 05:09.070 --> 05:12.710 punched in the head . Um it's quite 05:12.710 --> 05:15.990 stunning to think um when you say 05:15.990 --> 05:18.046 there'll be no unilateral operations 05:18.046 --> 05:20.450 and so forth . Just example , in 05:21.440 --> 05:25.220 terms of it's hard for me to 05:25.220 --> 05:28.690 say . So for example , you identify um 05:28.700 --> 05:30.867 individuals whom you believe to be say 05:30.867 --> 05:33.033 could force officers as you've done in 05:33.033 --> 05:35.256 the past . Um and you have intelligence 05:35.256 --> 05:38.040 that would drive an operation to uh to 05:38.050 --> 05:40.230 intercept them , given their hardy 05:40.230 --> 05:42.230 assistance you received in the past 05:42.230 --> 05:43.897 from the Iraqi government and 05:43.897 --> 05:46.063 particularly the Iraqi President , how 05:46.063 --> 05:48.174 do you think you'll be able to , will 05:48.174 --> 05:50.341 you be able to conduct operations such 05:50.341 --> 05:52.674 as those against individuals you target ? 05:53.340 --> 05:56.990 Um uh in short , uh Michael , 05:57.000 --> 05:59.222 uh I am confident that we'll be able to 05:59.222 --> 06:02.220 do what we need to do to go after the 06:02.220 --> 06:06.180 folks that we need to go after . And I 06:06.180 --> 06:08.291 base that upon some of the techniques 06:08.291 --> 06:10.124 that we've developed in terms of 06:10.124 --> 06:12.370 sharing intelligence and in terms of , 06:12.380 --> 06:14.550 you know , developing target packages 06:14.550 --> 06:16.772 and and working with the Iraqi security 06:16.772 --> 06:19.290 forces . Uh we've become a lot more 06:19.290 --> 06:21.900 adept at working together than than 06:21.900 --> 06:24.540 most would imagine . And uh it is very 06:24.540 --> 06:27.670 encouraging . So , uh again , combat is 06:27.670 --> 06:29.670 a combat operations are very , very 06:29.670 --> 06:31.781 difficult , you know , no matter what 06:31.781 --> 06:34.520 the circumstances uh and uh and 06:34.520 --> 06:37.570 certainly uh it's very difficult to uh 06:37.580 --> 06:41.100 to it's dangerous to generalize to 06:41.110 --> 06:43.110 uh when you're talking about combat 06:43.110 --> 06:45.390 operations , but as a commander who has 06:45.390 --> 06:48.830 been doing this for for a long 06:48.830 --> 06:51.860 time , I can tell you that I am really 06:51.860 --> 06:53.638 confident that we'll be able to 06:53.638 --> 06:55.693 continue to be successful . This one 06:55.693 --> 06:57.670 little point . And given that the 06:57.670 --> 07:00.110 agreement outlines the broad groups of 07:01.340 --> 07:04.320 targets in terms of al Qaeda militia , 07:04.330 --> 07:07.570 outlaw groups , given that the 07:07.580 --> 07:10.460 coalition forces now are supporting 07:10.470 --> 07:12.780 strategic partner . And given that the 07:12.780 --> 07:14.891 Iraqi government will be defining its 07:14.891 --> 07:17.570 own national interests as spelled out 07:17.570 --> 07:20.990 in the agreement . Um Would you say now 07:20.990 --> 07:22.990 that the Iraqi government under the 07:22.990 --> 07:25.157 agreement will have the driving role , 07:25.157 --> 07:27.157 will have the whip hand in terms of 07:27.157 --> 07:29.220 operations and security arrangements 07:29.220 --> 07:30.800 from this point , from the 07:30.800 --> 07:33.160 implementation of the agreement on it's 07:33.160 --> 07:35.730 a sovereign country . And uh certainly 07:35.740 --> 07:39.410 uh we uh we respect the sovereignty of 07:39.410 --> 07:42.950 this uh this great nation and uh and so 07:42.960 --> 07:45.800 given that , I mean , it stands to 07:45.800 --> 07:48.440 reason that that follows that uh it is 07:48.440 --> 07:50.607 our country and they have the ultimate 07:50.607 --> 07:53.230 call on on how operations the 07:53.230 --> 07:55.510 directions that will will uh will take 07:55.510 --> 07:58.720 in proceeding . So but given that again , 07:58.730 --> 08:01.270 you know , I think that there uh the 08:01.270 --> 08:03.660 Iraqis are great strategic partners . I 08:03.660 --> 08:05.660 think we've made tremendous strides 08:05.660 --> 08:07.716 over the last uh 10 months that I've 08:07.716 --> 08:09.827 been here in terms of partnering with 08:09.827 --> 08:12.520 them and uh in developing techniques , 08:12.520 --> 08:15.630 I think that that work well uh on the 08:15.630 --> 08:18.460 battlefield that in , you know , and 08:18.460 --> 08:21.760 throughout the country . Uh so uh 08:21.840 --> 08:24.450 because we've we've been doing this for 08:24.450 --> 08:26.728 a while , working together for a while , 08:26.728 --> 08:28.839 The troops on the ground really don't 08:28.839 --> 08:30.839 have a lot of angst in terms of our 08:30.839 --> 08:33.117 ability to continue to get things done . 08:33.117 --> 08:35.006 You know , if you look across the 08:35.006 --> 08:37.061 country right now , uh out of the 18 08:37.061 --> 08:39.180 provinces , 13 of them have gone to 08:39.190 --> 08:41.390 provincial Iraqi control . And so in 08:41.390 --> 08:44.130 those 13 provinces , that is the way 08:44.130 --> 08:46.241 that we're doing business right now , 08:46.241 --> 08:48.960 and uh and we've been able to uh to 08:48.960 --> 08:52.720 conduct operations and go after uh 08:52.730 --> 08:55.320 specific individuals that we were 08:55.320 --> 08:58.240 targeting , ah had to do a little bit 08:58.240 --> 09:00.296 more work , but that's okay . That's 09:00.296 --> 09:02.351 that's what we need to be doing . So 09:02.351 --> 09:04.407 again , I'm confident that uh things 09:04.407 --> 09:07.100 will continue to to work out and and 09:07.100 --> 09:09.322 move in a in a positive direction . And 09:09.322 --> 09:11.544 ladies and gentlemen , we thank you for 09:11.544 --> 09:14.960 uh for joining us today . I really 09:14.960 --> 09:18.930 appreciate the questions that that you 09:18.930 --> 09:20.900 had . I think I thank you for your 09:20.900 --> 09:24.220 interest . I think the all of the folks 09:25.120 --> 09:27.780 that have supported us throughout and 09:27.780 --> 09:29.947 will continue to support us , I'm sure 09:30.040 --> 09:32.870 um I want to especially thank those 09:32.870 --> 09:36.010 families uh back home who are 09:36.010 --> 09:39.610 supporting their loved ones uh and and 09:39.610 --> 09:41.721 have been supporting them . This is a 09:41.721 --> 09:43.832 difficult time of year for to be away 09:43.832 --> 09:45.832 from your loved ones because it's a 09:45.832 --> 09:48.110 holiday period , but rest assured that , 09:48.110 --> 09:50.277 uh , your your troops are confident in 09:50.277 --> 09:52.443 what they're doing , they're committed 09:52.443 --> 09:54.610 to what they're doing . And so again , 09:54.610 --> 09:56.721 thanks for your support . And again , 09:56.721 --> 09:58.888 it's uh , it was good to see you today 09:58.888 --> 10:00.999 and I look forward to seeing the next 10:00.999 --> 10:01.460 time , uh , show crunch Gisella .