Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CNN
January 17, 2008 Lou Dobbs Tonight (CNN), 7:00 PM
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. New questions tonight about the Bush administration's plans to withdraw our troops from Iraq. The Joint Chiefs vice chairman, General David Cartwright today admitted there are tensions between Pentagon planners and military commanders in Iraq about future troop levels. Meanwhile, the White House today declared President Bush will present his ideas on a possible stimulus package for this economy tomorrow. But that package, when it does come, may be too late to save this economy from recession. We'll have much more on that tonight. But first, Jamie McIntyre with our report from the Pentagon -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, with things getting better in Iraq, you might think that U.S. troops would be coming home sooner but that's not the way some U.S. commanders are thinking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: As conditions in Iraq improve, there is an uneasy tension building between Pentagon planners anxious to reap a peace dividend by bringing U.S. troops home faster and front-line commanders such as Lieutenant General Ray Odierno.
LT. GEN. RAYMOND ODIERNO, CMDR., MULTINAT'L CORPS IRAQ: What we don't want to do is suddenly pull out a whole bunch of U.S. forces and suddenly turn things over to Iraqi security forces. I would like to see it done very slowly over time.
MCINTYRE: The Pentagon says its goal of going from 20 to 15 combat brigades by July is on track. In fact, one brigade is already home. That will drop U.S. troop levels to roughly 130,000 by summer. But the hope for additional force cuts in Iraq from 15 to 10 brigades down to 100,000 troops will depend entirely on the judgment of top Commander General David Petraeus who has been told by both President Bush and Defense Secretary Gates, he'll have the final word.
DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: I've asked General Petraeus to make his evaluation of the situation in Iraq and what he needs. And the situation on the ground, completely based on what's going on in Iraq. But he doesn't need to look over his shoulder, think about stress on the force or anything else.
MCINTYRE: General Petraeus' cautious go slow approach is budding right up against pressure from generals like George Casey, the Army chief of staff who told the "Wall Street Journal" the surge has sucked all the flexibility out of the system. The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs acknowledges there's tension in the upper ranks, but insists it's a good thing.
GEN. JAMES CARTWRIGHT, JOINT CHIEFS VICE CHMN.: The important part here is we don't want everybody looking at the problem from the same direction.
MCINTYRE: Despite U.S. military maps like these showing al Qaeda's waning influence and briefing charts like these showing attacks, IEDs and U.S. casualties all nose diving, the U.S. faces the same old problem, Iraqi forces are simply not ready. That's what the U.S. general in charge of Iraqi training just told Congress.
LT. GEN. JAMES DUBIK, SECURITY TRANSITION COMMAND: But the truth is, right now, they cannot fix, supply, arm or fuel themselves completely enough at this point.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: And Lou, even though the general, General Dubik says that Iraq is on track to add some 80,000 troop this year, it still won't be self-sufficient for at least four years and cannot defend its borders for at least 10 years. That means, at least for the short term, the U.S. is going to be doing more pulling back than pulling out because it's going to have to maintain a significant force in Iraq to backstop the Iraqis -- Lou.
DOBBS: If that indeed is the case as General Dubik portrays it, then there should be a complete congressional investigation as to how the United States is going to about building Iraqi security because it makes absolutely no sense from any possibility. On the other point, as you talk about the tensions, Jamie McIntyre, between the planners at the Pentagon and the commanders in the field and Iraq, I have to say that sounds like one of the most positive developments of this entire war, that we are hearing an expression of views that are in conflict, that are different, and giving us some sense of transparency and life in the thinking of the general's staff.
MCINTYRE: There are two things that are real worries. One of them is, obviously, there's a lot of stress on the U.S. military. The sooner the U.S. can pull some of those troops out of Iraq, it can relieve the stress, and by the way it might need some of those troops for Afghanistan as well. But at the same time, these gains in Iraq have been very hard won and the commanders who are in charge there don't want to see those slip away. So they want to have the flexibility to do what they think they need to maintain that momentum. So it's two competing forces and it is a lot of tension.
DOBBS: And as I say, it seems also -- although there is tension, it also seems to me at least to me a positive development that this administration and this general's staff is now beginning to express itself in more than monolithic terms and sometimes not very productive monolithic terms -- Jamie, thank you very much. Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon.
January 17, 2008 Lou Dobbs Tonight (CNN), 7:00 PM
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. New questions tonight about the Bush administration's plans to withdraw our troops from Iraq. The Joint Chiefs vice chairman, General David Cartwright today admitted there are tensions between Pentagon planners and military commanders in Iraq about future troop levels. Meanwhile, the White House today declared President Bush will present his ideas on a possible stimulus package for this economy tomorrow. But that package, when it does come, may be too late to save this economy from recession. We'll have much more on that tonight. But first, Jamie McIntyre with our report from the Pentagon -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, with things getting better in Iraq, you might think that U.S. troops would be coming home sooner but that's not the way some U.S. commanders are thinking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: As conditions in Iraq improve, there is an uneasy tension building between Pentagon planners anxious to reap a peace dividend by bringing U.S. troops home faster and front-line commanders such as Lieutenant General Ray Odierno.
LT. GEN. RAYMOND ODIERNO, CMDR., MULTINAT'L CORPS IRAQ: What we don't want to do is suddenly pull out a whole bunch of U.S. forces and suddenly turn things over to Iraqi security forces. I would like to see it done very slowly over time.
MCINTYRE: The Pentagon says its goal of going from 20 to 15 combat brigades by July is on track. In fact, one brigade is already home. That will drop U.S. troop levels to roughly 130,000 by summer. But the hope for additional force cuts in Iraq from 15 to 10 brigades down to 100,000 troops will depend entirely on the judgment of top Commander General David Petraeus who has been told by both President Bush and Defense Secretary Gates, he'll have the final word.
DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: I've asked General Petraeus to make his evaluation of the situation in Iraq and what he needs. And the situation on the ground, completely based on what's going on in Iraq. But he doesn't need to look over his shoulder, think about stress on the force or anything else.
MCINTYRE: General Petraeus' cautious go slow approach is budding right up against pressure from generals like George Casey, the Army chief of staff who told the "Wall Street Journal" the surge has sucked all the flexibility out of the system. The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs acknowledges there's tension in the upper ranks, but insists it's a good thing.
GEN. JAMES CARTWRIGHT, JOINT CHIEFS VICE CHMN.: The important part here is we don't want everybody looking at the problem from the same direction.
MCINTYRE: Despite U.S. military maps like these showing al Qaeda's waning influence and briefing charts like these showing attacks, IEDs and U.S. casualties all nose diving, the U.S. faces the same old problem, Iraqi forces are simply not ready. That's what the U.S. general in charge of Iraqi training just told Congress.
LT. GEN. JAMES DUBIK, SECURITY TRANSITION COMMAND: But the truth is, right now, they cannot fix, supply, arm or fuel themselves completely enough at this point.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: And Lou, even though the general, General Dubik says that Iraq is on track to add some 80,000 troop this year, it still won't be self-sufficient for at least four years and cannot defend its borders for at least 10 years. That means, at least for the short term, the U.S. is going to be doing more pulling back than pulling out because it's going to have to maintain a significant force in Iraq to backstop the Iraqis -- Lou.
DOBBS: If that indeed is the case as General Dubik portrays it, then there should be a complete congressional investigation as to how the United States is going to about building Iraqi security because it makes absolutely no sense from any possibility. On the other point, as you talk about the tensions, Jamie McIntyre, between the planners at the Pentagon and the commanders in the field and Iraq, I have to say that sounds like one of the most positive developments of this entire war, that we are hearing an expression of views that are in conflict, that are different, and giving us some sense of transparency and life in the thinking of the general's staff.
MCINTYRE: There are two things that are real worries. One of them is, obviously, there's a lot of stress on the U.S. military. The sooner the U.S. can pull some of those troops out of Iraq, it can relieve the stress, and by the way it might need some of those troops for Afghanistan as well. But at the same time, these gains in Iraq have been very hard won and the commanders who are in charge there don't want to see those slip away. So they want to have the flexibility to do what they think they need to maintain that momentum. So it's two competing forces and it is a lot of tension.
DOBBS: And as I say, it seems also -- although there is tension, it also seems to me at least to me a positive development that this administration and this general's staff is now beginning to express itself in more than monolithic terms and sometimes not very productive monolithic terms -- Jamie, thank you very much. Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon.