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Saturday, Jun 21, 2003
What's a factor of 10 or 20 between friends?
That was April ...
NBC News' MEET THE PRESS -- April 6, 2003
GUESTS: Dr. PAUL WOLFOWITZ, Deputy Secretary of Defense; General PETER PACE, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
DR. WOLFOWITZ: Tim, the important message to Iraqis and to everybody in that region is that we do not come as a new colonial power. We do not come as an army of occupation. We come as an army of liberation. And we want to see the Iraqis running their own affairs as soon as they can.and this is June ...
MR. RUSSERT: But it is a nation of 23 million people. And if General Shinseki believes it’s going to take a force of 200,000 American troops, he should keep on saying that, shouldn’t he?
GEN. PACE: All of our leaders should give our best military advice whenever we’re asked it. But you have, for example, in Afghanistan, a country that is larger, has maybe three or four million more people than are currently in Iraq. And the U.S. coalition forces there is around 10,000. So to try to equate millions of people on the ground with how many forces are needed truly is not the right exercise. What you need to determine is what missions need to be accomplished and then how many forces do you need to do that to give the Iraqi people a chance to rebuild their own army, get their own police force up, get their own government working so we can, in fact, leave as quickly as possible.
MR. RUSSERT: But in Afghanistan, the only secure place is actually Kabul. The rest of the country is being treated in a very chaotic fashion. Are you concerned that unless we have a significantly large American presence in Iraq, we could be creating another Afghanistan, which would be a haven for terrorists to come to Iraq rather than Afghanistan to kill Americans?
Paul Wolfowitz's prepared comments, June 18, 2003, House Armed Services Committee.
We are devoting military forces and other assets commensurate with the importance of the mission and the conditions on the ground in Iraq. In some ways, winning the peace in Iraq is more challenging than winning the war; but the stakes in success are large as well.U.S. seeks peacekeeping help
We currently have approximately 146,000 U.S. military personnel operating in Iraq and additional personnel in other countries in the region (for example, the Gulf states) supporting those operations.
We are pleased that the number and capability of coalition forces pledged to contribute to the current operations in Iraq is growing.
NATIONS RECRUITED FOR TROOPS IN POSTWAR IRAQ
Knight Ridder via SJ Mercury News -- June 20, 2003
By Drew Brown
WASHINGTON - To remove Saddam Hussein from power, the United States was willing to go it alone if necessary, but now the Bush administration wants allies to help establish peace in a chaotic postwar Iraq.
U.S. officials say they are talking to more than four dozen nations about contributing to peacekeeping forces, and they ultimately hope to get three divisions, or 60,000 new soldiers, into Iraq.
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