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GEN. ODIERNO: Twelve contracts, oil contracts, have been signed by the government of Iraq with different countries. In fact, it's interesting that every country -- member of the United Nations Security Council has a contract in Iraq for oil. I find that to be a very interesting point, a very important one, that this is a worldwide issue and helping them to develop their economy.
[...]
GEN. ODIERNO: What is out there, though, is Iraq continues to buy a significant amount of military materiel from the United States. They've committed to M1A1 tanks. They've committed to helicopters. They committed to other things. So my guess is -- and these will go beyond 2011, so there'll be some requirement for us to continue to coordinate and help them to bring those systems onboard, but that is yet to be --
[...]
GEN. ODIERNO: Well, what we're working with now -- we're working with the government of Iraq on building what we're calling a -- their own air sovereignty. We have a plan in place. We're working with them to develop this plan, and depending on how far along we can get between now and the end of 2011, will go a long way in saying: Do they have that established and will they feel like we'll have to continue to assist them post-2011?
And part of this will have to do with how much they can purchase and how much their budget will support buying these systems and how long it will take them to buy those systems, because their budget is still limited, and although I said they have 12 oil contracts, we think it'll take five to 10 years to get those oil contracts to such an extent they would contribute additional revenue to the government, which would increase their ability to buy some of these capabilities.
So it depends on how quickly they'll be able to bring on an air defense capability, radars, whether they're able to have their own air force that can protect their own air sovereignty. We're working very closely with them. And these will be decisions that will be -- one of the first decisions that the new government will have to make when they come in place is, how much support will we need? Do we need any support or not? And that will be one of the key issues that we have to work with them as they come in.
[...]
GEN. ODIERNO: Well, again, today we're at 96,000 boots on the ground in Iraq. It might vary 1(,000) or 2,000 between now and the -- and the elections March 7th. And what I look at as we look at the continued drawdown to the transition force of approximately 50,000 come September will be several factors.
Q Just let me follow up, General. If you could, answer my question about -- if you can, give us an update about Iran's role right now in Iraq.
And do you think Iraq has been accepted by its neighbors?
GEN. ODIERNO: I would just say that I think first, again, as I said, Iran sees Iraq as very important to them, and so they continue to play a wide variety of roles. They are trying to help develop Iraq in some -- investing inside of Iraq, investing in some corporations, investing in some banks. They continue to play a role in, unfortunately, supporting surrogates inside of Iraq that continue to conduct attacks both against U.S. and Iraqi security forces. And they continue to have significant diplomatic activity inside of Iraq on many different levels. So they use those three areas to try to influence the outcome, and that will continue...
[...]
GEN. ODIERNO: Well, I mean, I think -- I would just say if we see instability forming inside of Iraq, I mean, all of a sudden we see -- because, as the new governments form, we see this instability growing, (inaudible) -- there's tension -- there's tension between groups. They feel like they no longer have a say. They feel like -- that the government might not be able to move forward. They're losing confidence in the democratic process inside of -- I mean, those are the kind of things.
Tom.
Q Thanks, sir. Looking at the chart of security incidents --
GEN. ODIERNO: Yeah.
Q -- attacks are down in all categories, it looks like.
GEN. ODIERNO: Yeah.
Q But I'm especially intrigued by the steep drop in attacks against Iraqi infrastructure and the government itself. That was the main target for a very long time. Do you see a shift in the strategy of the anti-government forces as far as what they're going after? Or are they simply doing less across the board?
GEN. ODIERNO: Yeah, I think it's they're simply doing less. I think they're still -- what they try to do is -- al Qaeda specifically -- al Qaeda has changed significantly. They are no longer a broad-based insurgency. They are what I call a covert terrorist organization who are attempting to lose -- have the population lose confidence in the government. And so they are targeting very specific governmental facilities. They just can't do it at the levels they were once able to do it at.
And what they want to prove is they want -- they don't want the elections to happen. They want to see the people lose faith in the government. So they don't want to see people come out for the elections.
So what they want to try to do is cause some level of insecurity, chaos and lack of trust in the government, so people don't show up to vote.
So one of my measurements of a successful election is, how many people come out to vote? Above 50 percent is a good indicator for me. And you know, it could be higher than that. That will show how people believe in the process or not. And that will be important, as we move forward.
Q On election security also, can you -- with any detail you can give, how will the security role for American troops on the ground, this time around, be different than the past? (Inaudible.)
And on the violence that we've seen ' there are, you know, attacks on markets, on some government institutions -- but what about attacks on Americans specifically, on either troops on patrol or working with the Iraqi forces in tandem?
Any kind of indications that you expect to see more of that?
GEN. ODIERNO: I would just say that first off, could you -- I'm sorry. Could you ask your question again? I apologize.
Q Yes, on --
Q He can't remember it either. (Laughter.)
GEN. ODIERNO: I very much apologize.
Q On the difference in security, from previous elections to now, for troops on the ground, specifically what they'll be doing.
GEN. ODIERNO: Okay. First off, I think it will be very similar to what we did in the provincial elections back in January. I think what you'll see is, it's Iraqi security force led, planned, executed.
We will -- we will help them to plan, train, rehearse. We will provide them enablers. For example, we provide them UAV support. We'll provide them intelligence support. We would maybe provide quick reaction forces, if they are necessary. But for the most part, it will be Iraqi led, Iraqi run. And you'll see mostly Iraqis.
We'll also provide escorts for international observers. That will be our role. But I'm very pleased. We've been doing this. We've been planning for this for a couple months. They're very organized. I feel very comfortable with the plan on the ground. We're integrated at every level, from top to bottom. So I'm very comfortable with the elections.
In terms of the attack on U.S. forces, the one thing I will say -- and I -- we're as active as we've ever been. Although we are not in the lead and although -- we still go out on significant numbers every single day, conduct significant patrols, but we do them with the Iraqi security forces, training and advising. We have actually seen a decrease in attacks.
However, as you run up to the elections, there are probably some Iranian surrogates; they like to shoot some indirect fire at some of our joint bases. We've seeing an increase in that. Very -- so far it has not been very effective. I mean, over the last three months -- in December we had zero non-battle deaths, in January we had one, and so far in February we've not had any battle deaths. We've had some non- battle deaths, which we -- still trying to help (inaudible) work through.
So that kind of also -- and there's been a decrease in the amount of casualties to Iraqi security forces as well. Civilian casualties have been lower; howe |
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Name(s:) |
Raymond Odierno |
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Title: |
Commander |
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Agency(ies): |
United States Forces Iraq, Department of Defense |
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Url: |
Url Link
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Archive: |
Archive Link
http://archive.is/ApjJH |
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Title: |
DOD News Briefing with Gen. Odierno from the Pentagon |
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Author: |
Raymond Odierno |
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Title: |
Commander |
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Authoring or Creator Agency: |
United States Forces Iraq, Department of Defense |
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Title: |
Security Operations in Iraq |
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Author: |
Raymond Odierno |
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Title: |
Commander |
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Authoring or Creator Agency: |
United States Forces Iraq, Department of Defense |
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