Lawrence Rita
Lawrence Rita
afghan coalition country forces level overall security
The overall level of Afghan and coalition security forces in the country is growing.
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,
again approaches based continue goes hand occur presented responsibility variety waiting watching
He's presented a variety of alternative approaches that could occur after the election, but again it's all based on waiting to see how it goes and waiting and watching as we continue to hand over responsibility to the Iraqis,
casey determine elections general whatever
General Casey could determine after the elections that, I want more, for whatever reason, ... and then he'll get more.
assessment result
In July, he had one assessment. He has an assessment now that could still result in what he said earlier, it could result in no change, it could result in more.
defense department paying says somebody wrong
If somebody comes back to me and says there's nothing wrong with the Department of Defense paying journalists, I'll say, 'Even if there's nothing wrong, does it make sense ?
behalf certainly fine men perception regret
On behalf of these fine young men and women, we certainly regret any perception that they were told what to say. It is not the case.
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.
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
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,
congress decide next president process send step whether
The next step in the process is that the president will decide whether or not he's going to send it to the Congress as is,