a couple of years, for sure. |
A year from now, if there are not more battalions at level one I will be concerned. Right now, I am not. I am concerned about level two and we are making very good progress there, |
And it's obviously something that one has to be attentive to. It's obviously something that General Casey and his troops are attentive to and have to be concerned about, |
And so we're not waiting to get all 10 of these divisions all across Iraq to Level Two before we start drawing down forces, |
And there's division there ... and that caused the situation to change a little bit, |
And we certainly do look to do that over the course of next year. |
Army ... in bad shape |
Conditions-based reduction of coalition forces is a critical element of our strategy, |
do everything in their power to try to stop the march of freedom. And our troops are ready for it. |
Fighting insurgencies is a long-term proposition, and there's no reason that we should believe that the insurgency in Iraq will take any less time to deal with. |
I can tell you, Congressman, it's all going to be conditions-based, |
I share your concern about our Army's operational readiness and force protection posture, |
I think right now we're in a period of a little greater uncertainty than when I was asked that question back in July and March, |
I think that's entirely possible, senator, ... I mean, as we've looked at this, we've looked for the constitution to be a national compact, and the perception now is that it's not, particularly among the Sunni. |
I think we'll open up with a good price. What's a good price I don't know. |