Friday
Feb272009
Secretary Gates: Combat troops out by August 2010, all troops out by 2011
Friday, February 27, 2009 at 2:13PM
By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service
Following President Barack Obama’s address at Camp Lejeune, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates hosted a conference call where he discussed Obama’s strategy to end the war in Iraq.
In his opening comments Secretary Gates said: “The atmosphere here at Camp Lejeune for the speech was very warm, very enthusiastic and I would also say that the welcome has been pretty extraordinary.”
“On the substance I am obviously very supportive of the option the President has chosen and the decision he has made as is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Frankly, this is where both the Chairman and I thought this should come out and it was a very thorough and deliberative process where a lot of different options and a lot of different analysis were examined,” said Gates.
Asked about Obama’s statement that all troops would be out of Iraq by 2011, Secretary Gates said: “Under the terms of the status of forces agreement which is what we are operating under now all U.S. forces must be out by the end of 2011. It will require a new agreement, a new negotiation, almost certainly at Iraqi initiative to provide for some presence beyond the end of 2011. So in the absence of that agreement and the absence of that negotiation, for such an agreement, it is in keeping with the sofa to say definitively that we will be out by 2011.”
Asked what would happen if Iraqi forces asked for the U.S. military to remain in Iraq to assist with training and strengthening, Gates said: “It’s a hypothetical the Iraqis have not said anything about that at this point...My own view would be, that, we should be prepared to have some very modest size presence, for training and helping them with their new equipment and providing perhaps intelligence support, beyond that.”
In his address Obama said that all combat troops would be out of Iraq by August 31, 2010. Asked whether the remaining non-combat troops would have combat capability, Gates said: “Those that are left will have a combat capability...there will be target counter-terrorism organizations, there will be continued embeds with some of the Iraqi forces, training capacities...but the units will have gone and the mission will have changed, so the notion of being engaged in combat, in the way we have been up until now, will be completely different.”
Following President Barack Obama’s address at Camp Lejeune, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates hosted a conference call where he discussed Obama’s strategy to end the war in Iraq.
In his opening comments Secretary Gates said: “The atmosphere here at Camp Lejeune for the speech was very warm, very enthusiastic and I would also say that the welcome has been pretty extraordinary.”
“On the substance I am obviously very supportive of the option the President has chosen and the decision he has made as is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Frankly, this is where both the Chairman and I thought this should come out and it was a very thorough and deliberative process where a lot of different options and a lot of different analysis were examined,” said Gates.
Asked about Obama’s statement that all troops would be out of Iraq by 2011, Secretary Gates said: “Under the terms of the status of forces agreement which is what we are operating under now all U.S. forces must be out by the end of 2011. It will require a new agreement, a new negotiation, almost certainly at Iraqi initiative to provide for some presence beyond the end of 2011. So in the absence of that agreement and the absence of that negotiation, for such an agreement, it is in keeping with the sofa to say definitively that we will be out by 2011.”
Asked what would happen if Iraqi forces asked for the U.S. military to remain in Iraq to assist with training and strengthening, Gates said: “It’s a hypothetical the Iraqis have not said anything about that at this point...My own view would be, that, we should be prepared to have some very modest size presence, for training and helping them with their new equipment and providing perhaps intelligence support, beyond that.”
In his address Obama said that all combat troops would be out of Iraq by August 31, 2010. Asked whether the remaining non-combat troops would have combat capability, Gates said: “Those that are left will have a combat capability...there will be target counter-terrorism organizations, there will be continued embeds with some of the Iraqi forces, training capacities...but the units will have gone and the mission will have changed, so the notion of being engaged in combat, in the way we have been up until now, will be completely different.”
Silence at the question - How can we make the 2010 census more cost effective?
The Senate Homeland Security Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security, met today to discuss “Lessons Learned: How the New Administration Can Achieve an Accurate and Cost Effective 2010 Census.”
Testifying before the subcommittee was Barbara Everitt Bryant, former Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, John Thompson, President of the National Opinion Research Council, Robert Goldenkoff, director of strategic issues at the Government Accountability Office, David Powner, director of IT management issues at the Government Accountability Office, Dr. Lawrence Brown, chair of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on National Statistics and Dr. Robert Hill, sociologist and former chair of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Advisory Committee on the African American Population.
The committee hearing identified to main focuses; questions over how to make the 2010 census more cost effective and the need for a new director of the U.S. Census Bureau to be appointed immediately.
Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del) said in his introductory comments: “I do not think it is overstating things to say that the 2010 Census is approaching a state of emergency. Significant work has to be done, and the bureau does not have a director in place to make these critical decisions.”
Chairman Carper asked the witnesses how they felt the 2010 could be made more cost effective. There was a silence amongst them and no conclusive response.
The witnesses did propose other suggestions on how the Census Bureau could and should be improved for future consideration; Barbara Bryant suggested that the director of the Census Bureau should be a 5-year term instead of the current 4-year term, in order to fill this current state of ‘limbo’ between administrations.
Dr. Hill made four key suggestions for the bureau; that the bureau be given sufficient financial resources to work efficiently, that the bureau hire a racially diverse workforce, devise effective advertisement campaigns to target minority and non-represented communities in the census, and provide assistance with completing census forms.
All witnesses expressed the urgent need for the currently vacant position of director of the Census Bureau to be filled immediately so that key decisions can be made. Chairman Carper requested that each of the witnesses submit two names to the subcommittee by close of business tomorrow of candidates they feel should be considered by the Obama administration to fill this void.
Chairman Carper will also call the acting director before the subcommittee to provide an update on the current arrangement for the 2010 census.