Question 7: Mr. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX)

Summary:

Is there a better way to protect the Iraqi military/police forces during the recruiting/training process? When will the Iraqis be able to take over?

If 40-45% of the US reserves have been activated and if we leave a large portion of the equipment behind in Iraq, what will happen if we don't have the reserves or the equipment if an attack occurs here at home?
(question summary by incap)

Play Audio

Response from General Wesley Clark
transcript by Reg NYC

Congressman Ortiz, I think that the answer to the first, the issue of the insecurity in Iraq is something that's got to be dealt with from the top down, starting with the building of the Iraqi government, establishment of legitimacy, the building of the Armed Forces, local police forces, collecting intelligence gathering security.

In the near term, what's happening of course is US Armed Forces are filling in for the need and using the Iraqi forces as they are trained. And I'm sure that there are efforts underway to identify areas and times of specific vulnerability, such as when there's a graduation or crowd gathering. And I'm sure that there are efforts underway or there will be efforts underway, because this is just a function of good leadership on the ground, of assessing your vulnerabilities and developing a plan to protect yourself in those vulnerable areas.

It's a question of what the capacity is of the Iraqis. So, where we are right now in this process as I see it is we're in the risk-taking stage. We're going to re-deploy US forces away from the most intense fighting. We're going to push the Iraqi forces out front to do more and more. We're going to be, I hope, establishing an advisory structure so that there's a linkage between the Iraqi forces on the ground and our ability to reinforce if they hit something they can't handle in a timely fashion. And that will entail risk as we disengage US forces and put the Iraqi forces in. I think it's a risk that we have to take. So, and we know that the insurgency knows this and is targeting the Iraqis. So, we're witnessing the ongoing conflict there.

There's no reason to believe that we can't establish an effective Iraqi security force given time and adequate resources. And we just, as someone who's not part of the administration, I just have to watch it being developed. I know our generals who are doing the training. I have confidence in them. They simply have to ask and demand what they need to get the job done.

At home, we know our Reserve components have given up a lot of equipment, and they've got a substantial recovery mode. And we also know that the retention rate in the National Guard and Reserves is going to be impacted by their tours in Iraq. So, that's why I'm saying we need to fully fund all of our equipment requirements.

The Army needs to lay the bill in front of this committee to replace the equipment that's been left in Iraq. So our Reserve components have it to train with and to operate with. And we need to re-look the incentives and the support structure for our Reserve and National Guardsmen. Some of these are very simple matters. For example, the Arkansas Army National Guard brigade that just returned from Iraq, for some reason these troops were more or less, it was suggested that they take leave in route to Iraq because of transportation delays.

The leave they took was essentially at the convenience of the government, but it was chargeable against their individual leave. So, many of these soldiers are now coming back being de-processed and don't have adequate resources and time available to really transition back into their lives. They don't have any leave left, because they used it up. Surely, we can provide the authority for them to get another two or three weeks leave if it means a higher retention capacity.

There are a lot of issues like this that are specific to individual units that you won't see at this level, but I think what the leadership in the Armed Forces needs is the signal from the Congress that they've got - that the Congress will support the measures required to fully meet the needs of the Reserve component, both for personnel and equipment.