General: Iraqi Army Getting Better Every Day

[maddezmom]

Jan. 26, 2007 — "Good Morning America" anchor Chris Cuomo has been in Iraq all week talking to both U.S. troops and Iraqis, and covering war developments on the ground.

Today, he interviewed Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of ground troops in Iraq, and they discussed the Iraqi army and the progress of U.S. troops.

Here is a transcript of the interview:

Cuomo: Do you believe we're closer to the beginning or the end of our time here?

Odierno: Well, again, we'll continue to move forward and we're making progress every day, but in small steps. We got to continue to make sure we continue to move forward and make the small steps. We're doing that — trying to protect the population in Baghdad, protect the people, isolate the extremists. That's it.

Cuomo: Do you believe the campaign is taking us closer to the end or are we closer to the beginning?

more:http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/IraqCoverage/story?id=2825538&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Related Story(thanks to UpTolate:
(NYT/IHT) In a new joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol, Americans go first
(It sure doesn't sound like the Iraqi forces are "Ready to take the lead..." to me.)

In a new joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol, Americans go first

By Damien Cave and James Glanz
Published: January 24, 2007

BAGHDAD: In the battle for Baghdad, Haifa Street has changed hands so often that it has taken on the feel of a no man's land, the deadly space between opposing trenches. On Wednesday, as American and Iraqi troops poured in, the street showed why it is such a sensitive gauge of an urban conflict marked by front lines that melt into confusion, enemies with no clear identity and allies who disappear or do not show up at all.

In a miniature version of the troop increase that the United States hopes will secure the city, American soldiers and armored vehicles raced onto Haifa Street before dawn to dislodge Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias who have been battling for a stretch of ragged slums and mostly abandoned high rises. But as the sun rose, many of the Iraqi Army units who were supposed to do the actual searches of the buildings did not arrive on time, forcing the Americans to start the job on their own.

When the Iraqi units finally did show up, it was with the air of a class outing, cheering and laughing as the Americans blew locks off doors with shotguns. As the morning wore on and the troops came under fire from all directions, another apparent flaw in this strategy became clear as empty apartments became lairs for gunmen who flitted from window to window and killed at least one American soldier, with a shot to the head.

Whether the gunfire was coming from Sunni or Shiite insurgents or militia fighters or some of the Iraqi soldiers who had disappeared into the Gotham-like cityscape, no one could say. "Who the hell is shooting at us?" shouted Sgt. First Class Marc Biletski, whose platoon was jammed into a small room off an alley that was being swept by a sniper's bullets. "Who's shooting at us? Do we know who they are?"...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2701222#2702587

[iconoclastic cat]

1. Cue Beatles: "It can't get no worse!" nt

[sabra]

2. we've been hearing this line for a few years now...

[saigon68]

4. Same tune more Gold Star Mothers

These generals are boot lickers (I could describe it better if this were not a "family" forum)

[The Count]

3. "But I'm much better now" catch phrase of a crazy character in Night Court

I bet the Iraqi army is turning a corner every day...What am I saying? Every hour!

[rodeodance]

5. .....The only thing that was clear was that no one knew who the enemy was.

.....The only thing that was clear was that no one knew who the enemy was. "The thing is, we wear uniforms — they don't," said Specialist Terry Wilson.

At one point the Americans were forced to jog alongside the Strykers on Haifa Street, sheltering themselves as best they could from the gunfire. The Americans finally found the Iraqis and ended up accompanying them into an extremely dangerous and exposed warren of low-slung hovels behind the high rises as gunfire rained down.

American officers tried to persuade the Iraqi soldiers to leave the slum area for better cover, but the Iraqis refused to risk crossing a lane that was being raked by machine-gun fire. "It's their show," said Lt. David Stroud, adding that the Americans have orders to defer to the Iraqis in cases like this.

In this surreal setting, about 20 American soldiers were forced at one point to pull themselves one by one up a canted tin roof by a dangling rubber hose and then shimmy along a ledge to another hut. The soldiers were stunned when a small child suddenly walked out of a darkened doorway and an old man started wheezing and crying somewhere inside.

[damntexdem]

6. Does he mean that they are now less late in showing up,

and don't run away as fast?

Or does he mean that they are poorer shots when they turn their weapons on U.S. troops?

[nealmhughes]

7. Getting better at what?