Lawrence Rita
Lawrence Rita
based conditions latest political reduction series troop
As we have already said, the troop reduction will be based on conditions, and one of the important conditions is this election, which will be the latest in a series of political developments.
close continue either presence reduced self turn
As you continue to either close or turn over these bases, it's just self-evident that there would be some reduced need for the American presence in those areas,
continue decision government operate whether
it's a decision the Uzbek government has to make as to whether or not we would continue to operate from that.
obvious people question
There's a lot of people who know that that's an obvious question
above define expect good kick kinds questions relationships
Is there a way to define a threshold, or an anticipated threshold, above which a different set of relationships would kick in? ... That's a good question. It's only been two weeks, so don't expect us to have the answers. But those are the kinds of questions we need to be asking.
cases gone recent ruled three weeks
Is there a pattern? Certainly, in recent weeks three helicopters have gone down. Nothing has been ruled in or out in any of those three cases yet.
feels push secretary
The secretary doesn't feel this is push back. He feels it's an important clarification.
advised among decided expect issues soldiers speak themselves
The soldiers were advised as to the issues they should expect to discuss, and decided among themselves who would speak to each issue as it may arise,
footprint heavy lower presence tension
The tension that the commanders feel between heavy presence and lower footprint is something they're measuring all the time.
careful operating perhaps procedures reviewed standard
So they've reviewed the standard operating procedures to see if perhaps we could have been more careful in those cases.
bad determine good
That's not a good way to determine how good or bad things are going - by (counting) how many things are exploding.
analyze defense department happened last leadership learn ongoing reference review senior since terms various
Obviously, a lot has happened since the last Quadrennial Defense Review. The senior leadership of this department has established terms of reference for the ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review to look at a lot of activities, try and learn from what has happened since the last Quadrennial Defense Review, try and analyze various options, and come to some conclusions about how we're organized.
assessment include likely stand thinking
I think it's likely he (Casey) will give some kind of an assessment on where we stand post-election and what his thinking is. I can't say that it will include a recommendation. I just don't know that.
It could be more. It could be less.