Lana -- your 60% is right on -- and GWB is going to do whatever is required to assist the Iraqis in establishing democracy in the country -- amazing what 135,000 troops can do when the have the full support of a CIC -- the 200,000 Iraqi security force will be able to provide the necessary security ---
Note todays action report statements: ======= QUESTION: Could I ask you to address several points on your thinking about the current status of Iraqi security forces, their willingness, capability to fight, why one Iraqi army battalion did not turn up in Fallujah? What percentage of the force essentially they make up in fighting this insurgency? How much are Iraqi forces participating?
ABIZAID: I think I got most of your question. You're a bit broken up over the link here, but I think the gist of the question is how are the Iraqi security forces doing.
Well, the fact of the matter is that some of them did very well and some of them did not. And in the south, a number of units, both in the police force and also in the ICDC, did not stand up to the intimidators of the forces of Sadr's militia, and that was a great disappointment to us.
In other places, such as in and around Fallujah, we've had good, strong performances by several units, and we're satisfied with that.
With regard to the new Iraqi army, I think we can look for better performance in the future once we get a well-established Iraqi chain of command.
ABIZAID: The truth of the matter is that until we get well- formed Iraqi chains of command, all the way in the police service, from the minister of interior, to the lowest patrolman on the beat in whatever city it may be, and the same for the army, from private to minister of defense, that it's going to be tough to get them to perform at the level we want.
The good news is we're working on those chains of command, and I'm confident that with work on our part and work on their part, we'll have better performance.
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, COMBINED JOINT TASK FORCE 7: Sir, if I may add?
ABIZAID: Please.
SANCHEZ: I think for some time now, we have been stating that it was going to take us some time to stand up credible and capable Iraqi security forces that would be able to assume the internal and external security missions in the country.
Clearly, what we faced here in the last week to 10 days is a challenge that we've got to confront directly. We're in the process of doing that, but it's still going to take us a significant amount of time to ensure that they are properly equipped, properly trained and credible and capable with their countrymen to bring us security and stability.
>>>Just so you understand 60% of Americans feel the way I do.<<<
That's really a meaningless poll number unless you ask people why they think the Iraq war was such a good idea. I noticed the pollsters stopped asking that after it became clear 75% of americans thought we went to Iraq to pay them back for 9/11. I suppose professional pollsters don't feel good about publishing poll results from obviously misinformed and confused respondents, so they settled for the simplified good-or-bad question without a qualifier knowing full well the poll number is useless.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
