George Casey
George Casey
forceful senator
I would not say necessarily as forceful as Senator Levin just put it,
coalition element forces iraqi key presence reducing remains security transition ultimately visibility
reducing the visibility and ultimately the presence of coalition forces as we transition to Iraqi security self-reliance remains a key element of our counter-insurgency strategy.
battalions concerned good level progress year
A year from now, if there are not more battalions at level one I will be concerned. Right now, I am not. I am concerned about level two and we are making very good progress there,
amount degrees ice judging laid looks
It got down to about 20 degrees by 4 a.m., but judging by the amount of ice we laid down, it looks like we got through okay. But it was a very long night.
attentive casey concerned general obviously troops
And it's obviously something that one has to be attentive to. It's obviously something that General Casey and his troops are attentive to and have to be concerned about,
coalition critical element forces reduction
Conditions-based reduction of coalition forces is a critical element of our strategy,
battalions level year
In a year from now, if there's not more battalions at Level One, I'll be concerned. Right now, I'm not,
coalition directly draw iraqi milestones numbers tie timeline
We do not have a timeline or milestones that directly tie the draw down of coalition units to numbers of Iraqi battalions,
aspects constitution december elections referendum
The referendum on the constitution and the elections at the end of December are the most important aspects of what we're doing now.
coalition exists forces
the possibility for condition-based reductions of coalition forces still exists for 2006.
daily fighting forward improving side
We are fighting with them side by side on a daily basis, improving their capabilities day by day, ... We are measuring this very carefully, and we're not going forward with this capriciously.
checked ice layer means nice solid
When I checked in the morning, the ice was nice and clear, not milky. That usually means that the ice layer was solid enough to do the job.