Petraeus On Counterinsurgency: You Have To Clear And Hold

General David Petraeus, Commander of the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), explains that the U.S army has learnt not to simply clear an area off its insurgents and leave from its experience in Iraq. Petraeus says that the U.S army should instead leave only when the area is fully secured and hold as long as necessary, particularly in Afghanistan. (0:36)
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1,287 Recommendations Made For Iraq And Afghanistan Reconstruction, Many Ignored

According to Michael J. Thibault, co-Chairman of the Commission on War Time Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, there have been 1,287 recommendations have been made to improve oversight of the reconstruction effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of the recommendations have been ignored (0:38).
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Iraq And Afghanistan Reconstruction Lacks Oversight

Christopher Shays, the co-Chairman of the Commission on War Time Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, says that there is a significant lack of oversight for the reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sub-contractors, which make up 70% of the reconstruction effort, are not subjected to direct oversight from the U.S. (0:23)
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Lautenberg: Americans Need To Know Where Their Money Is Going

Senator Frank Lautenber (D-N.J.) discusses how Americans need to understand where their tax dollars are being spent, and praises the work of governmental audit agencies. But he is upset that KBR needlessly wasted American taxpayer dollars as well as endangered the lives of American soldiers. (0:38)
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Pelosi: "There won’t be any more war supplementals"

By Kayleigh Harvey and Celia Canon

At her weekly press conference today Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said: "There won’t be any more war supplementals. We have no expectation of that. My message to the members’ is the President has re-focused our efforts in Afghanistan, he has a path to ending the war in Iraq that will happen. So we have a plan for both places and this is the President’s request to fund that. I hope you can vote for it."
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General Petraeus Talks About Educating Soldiers

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

General David Petraeus says before Congress that it is important for soldiers to have an expanded understanding of Afghanistan, so that the army can function better as a whole. (01:18)
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McGovern thinks military options might stop genocide

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said today that although he hopes diplomacy can work to stop the genocide in Darfur, he thinks that a military option should be on the table. He thinks this military option could take the form of a no-fly zone. (01:43)
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Hindsight is 20/20

At CPAC 2009, Bob Ney interviewed former Republican Congressman John Hostetter about why he opposed the war in Iraq in 2003 and about why the Republicans have had political difficulties in recent elections. (09:00)
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Secretary Gate's personal view that a "modest" amount of troops will remain in Iraq after 2011

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, backed up President Obama's statement today, in a conference cal,l that all U.S. combat troops will be out of Iraq by August 31, 2010 and that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq by 2011. Gates said that if Iraqi forces asked for U.S. troops to remain, he believed people "should be prepared to have a very modest size presence" remaining in Iraq.
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Secretary Gates: Non-combat troops left in Iraq after 2010 will have combat capability

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates hosted a conference call where he discussed Obama's strategy to end the war in Iraq. Following the President's lead, Gates said, that all combat troops will be out of Iraq by August 31, 2010, but the non-combat troops left in Iraq "will have combat capability."
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Stuart W. Bowen speaks at commission hearing on contracting in Iraq

Stuart W. Bowen is put in the hot seat at the wartime contracting hearing. He says that we need to have better quality assurance to keep track of how money is being spent and that a good quality assurance program (the government) is key to assure good contracting programs.
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Modernization will not stop terrorism

Stephanie Kaplan, Ph.D candidate at the Department of Political Science at the M.I.T. and public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, says that no matter how extensively the U.S. modernizes the Middle East, terrorism will not be stopped (0:21).
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Iraq no longer poster boy for regime change

Stephanie Kaplan, Ph.D candidate at the Department of Political Science at the M.I.T. and public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, says that Iraq will no longer be the template for counter terrorism and that the election of Obama has brought an end to regime change as a counter terrorism strategy (0:25).
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Close to 100 percent of Iraqi's registered to vote

General John Kelly comments on how the current situation and the social progress in Iraq is proceeding. Kelly highlighted the new registration numbers of eligible Iraqi voters. (0:34)
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What the United States have accomplished in Iraq

Ambassador Tom C. Korologos comments on the United States accomplishments in the Middle-East and Iraq. Korologos also comments on the situation in Afghanistan. (0:54)
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Middle East is the center of American foreign policy

Chairman of the Jerusalem Fund Board of Directors, Dr. Subhi Ali talks about the different regions in the Middle East that make up the center of the U.S. foreign policy. (0:16)
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Colonel Battaglia says Iraqis "very appreciative"

At a live brief from Iraq, Army Col. Philip Battaglia, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division says the people throughout the province, are very appreciative of the Iraqi forces that are out there, and of the soldiers that are out there working with the police and army. Across the board, he says, they tell us there is an greater sense of security in the area. (0:33)
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Petraeus: Iraq ought to be the Japan of the Middle East

General Petraeus discusses the economic potential that the country of Iraq has.
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General Petraeus discusses the defeat of insurgents

General David Patraeus, the former Commanding General of the Multi-National Force in Iraq and the incoming Commander of the US Central Command, discusses how the militia in Iraq was defeated.
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Rice: Iraq has distracted us from central front in war on terror

Speaking to reporters after the first presidential debate, Obama campaign advisor Susan Rice says that McCain was involved in the decisions that led to a focus on Iraq, distracting our forces from the central front in the war on terror, Afghanistan and Pakistan. (0:46)



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