http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Transcript for November 27 MEET THE PRESS
John Warner, Joe Biden and Tim Russert
Read this transcript and note that Biden is saying that there are *700 Iraqis who are able to carry on without US troops.
Do we have any scholars on the Koran in this group? I ask this question because we have a history of lies from the Pentagon and the White House about these Iraqi troop numbers.
If the Iraqis really want to be trained, then what's the problem? The press always describes the people of Iraq as being well educated and sophisticated. Assuming that's true, and assuming they want to take over the security of their own nation, then why aren't they ready to take over?
I've been wanting to ask this question for a long time, but the opportunity didn't arise until now. Does anyone know about the religious teachings of the Koran about Muslims killing Muslims? Could the difficulty in training troops lie in a religious or cultural aspect of their belief system?
This training story has been going on for so long. With all of the other crap these "so called war planners" have screwed up, could this be something that they haven't considered? If so, then we might be there forever.
SEN. WARNER: Joe, when I talked to Pace yesterday, he said one of the means with which we're going to maintain those force levels is what we call cross-training, taking certain segments of the Army and retraining them in 30 to 60 days to perform the basic fighting we see against the insurgents, take elements of the Guard, which might take a little longer. You know, artillery men can become infantry men, artillery men can become policemen.
SEN. BIDEN: Fundamental change.
SEN. WARNER: No, well, it may be a fundamental change. We certainly did it in World War II. We did it...
SEN. BIDEN: It's possible.
MR. RUSSERT: Senator Warner, you said for the next six months. What happens six months from now if there simply aren't enough Iraqis standing up, as the president would say? By every estimate of the American military, there are about 700 Iraqis who are fully competently trained, independent of fighting outside of U.S. control. What happens if not enough Iraqis step forward to defend their country? What do we do?
SEN. WARNER: All right, Tim. First place it's more than 700. You're talking about the one battalion which can do it all by itself. We have working today some 40 Iraqi battalions working with our troops, integrated in some instances, fighting side by side, sharing the equipment. It is a joint operation. Now, the test comes as follows. Once we have secured an area using that joint force, and the U.S. forces then move on and we leave the Iraqis, the test will come within the next six months. Are they able to maintain these communities and keep this insurgents out? That will be the test.
