Operation Iraqi Freedom: One Year Later

11:20 A.M  EST

Real Audio of Briefing

COL MACHAMER: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. And I'd also like to extend a welcome to our reporters up in New York who are observing from the New York Foreign Press Center.

It was one year ago that the coalition forces launched Operation Iraqi Freedom, and on the first anniversary of that, we are very pleased to have with us, once again, General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Myers will have an opening statement, and then will be glad to take your questions. As a reminder, if you're called upon, please wait for the microphone and state your name and news organization.

And one final note, obviously, there are a lot of people here, so I would ask that you have your one question ready so we can get to as many people as possible during the limited amount of time we have.

And with that, General Myers, welcome back, sir.

GEN MYERS: Thank you very much and good morning, everybody.

A year ago this week, coalition forces fired the first shots of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The mission was to liberate the Iraqi people from one of world's most brutal and dangerous dictators, and to begin laying the foundation for a free and prosperous Iraq. We have done that.

Today the Iraqi people are free and the seeds of democracy in Iraq have been sown with the recent signing of the Transitional Administrative Law. The region is now more secure due to the elimination of a dangerous regime with a history of aggression and links to terrorist organizations.

The achievement of this historic effort is thanks to the brave and selfless sacrifice of our coalition forces. As democracy in Iraq takes hold, the message that will resonate is that freedom, peace and security can be the future of every nation.

Across the globe, the fact that we are at war may not be readily apparent. The war on terrorism does not always impact everyone's daily lives. Domestic agendas sometimes overshadow events that occur in countries on the other side of the world. But events such as the tragic bombing in Madrid remind us that our freedom and our civilized societies are still at risk.

While we have over 150,000 U.S. and coalition forces on the ground in Iraq, and over 20,000 U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, it will take more than just military might to defeat the threat to the way of life we hold so dear.

We must continue to join forces with our friends and allies to counter this menace. Each country plays a key role in this global war on terrorism, and we must continue to work together to see that freedom and democracy are achieved everywhere there exists the desire.

And with that, I'll be happy to take your questions.

COL MACHAMER: We'll start in the front.

QUESTION: Good morning, General. Mohamed Al Alami, Al-Jazeera Television.

Sir, the quick collapse of Baghdad is still mystery. Could you shed some lights on that? And to what extent psychological warfare helped in that quick collapse?

GEN MYERS: You're talking about during the war?

QUESTION: During the war? Yes.

GEN MYERS: Well, when we prosecuted combat operations, of course, information operations was a key role and part of our -- the way we defined information operations -- psychological warfare was part of that. Without going into areas that start to get into classified, it was certainly part of the campaign.

I think it probably helped, but I think, more than anything else was the fact that we very quickly got to Baghdad. I think there was an element of tactical surprise and that forces there simply weren't ready. At the same time, if you remember during the very bad weather portion of conflict, people say, well, that's when we heard the words, "We are in a quagmire and you're stalled," and so forth.

At the same time, we were able to see very clearly through all this weather and the dust storms from the air where some of the divisions and were taking out their capability with airpower -- Navy, Air Force, Army airpower. And so I think, in the end, it was probably a combination of all. I don't think there was one factor. I wouldn't put too much credit on psychological operations. It all has to work together on the battlefield -- it's a lot more art than it is science. I can guarantee you that.

COL MACHAMER: We'll go to Italy and --

QUESTION: Giampiero Gramaglia, Italian News Agency, ANSA. Also, thanks for being here with us, General.

I would like ask -- in view of the new Spanish position, are you confident that the Italian troops in Iraq and the other allied troops in Iraq will stay until the end of their mission? And how do you rate the Italian performances in Iraq?

GEN MYERS: First of all, let me say that the coalition, I believe it's 35 countries now with forces in Iraq -- 35 countries, is clearly an international effort to bring peace and hope to the Iraqi people.

The Spanish contribution to that, the Italian contribution to that, are extremely important. Every nation that contributes to that is very important. And why do I say that? And it's not important -- let me just take it beyond Iraq for a minute. It's not just important for Iraq, it's important for this war on terrorism.

Terrorism is a terrible scourge for those who desire to live in peace and in freedom. You just have to look back to Madrid -- very fresh memories, I think, in most of our minds -- to see how terrible this can be, where innocent men, women and children, just trying to pursue their daily lives were killed or maimed.

This is -- these are terrible things, and the only way we're going to defeat it is to, as an international community, decide that this is intolerable and to work together. And I'm speaking more than just the military piece of this. Clearly, there's a diplomatic piece; there's a law enforcement piece; there are financial pieces; there are commercial pieces. I mean, it's just -- every element of every government has to pull together to eradicate this threat.

Back to Iraq. For the folks in Al Nasariya, the only forces they know are the Italian force down there because they're the ones that are in that place. For the Spanish, it's in Najaf. As I was reminded earlier today in Al Quds, it's the Ukrainians. So each of these forces are first military forces because there are still serious security concerns in Iraq, but they're more than that. All of these professional military that go into Iraq, also bring with them civil affairs expertise and work with the local communities to help refurbish their schools or their medical clinics or to assist with clean water and sanitation or, in some cases, to advise them on municipal governance.

So what I would say is that this is extremely important. We are, in my view, making very good progress in Iraq, despite the challenges that remain. The Iraqi people are with us in this, and it's important for all of those countries that are contributing to continue to contribute to wipe out terrorism.

COL MACHAMER: Okay, we'll go to Turkey next.

QUESTION: Umit Enginsoy with Turkey's NTV Television.

General, is the United States planning to move against the Turkish-Kurdish terrorist group, PKK, before the Iraqis take over sovereignty in Iraq at the end of June?

Thank you.

GEN MYERS: Thank you. This is an issue that the coalition forces inside Iraq take very seriously. And we have had extensive dialogue, both at the political level between the United States and Turkey, and also at the military level, between the United States and Turkey, on how to appropriately deal with the PKK-Kadek -- and it may have another name these days, I know there's -- but that group.

Without going into any of the operational details, let me just assure you that there is very close collaboration on this with Turkey; that -- and that they will be dealt with appropriately. And I think I'd better just leave it there or I'll start getting into international -- but the thing I want to assure you of is that the U.S. and the Turkish Governments, at all levels, are working this issue.

COL MACHAMER: Okay. Al-Arabiya, center man, tan jacket.

QUESTION: Thank you, General Myers. A year after your action in Iraq --

COL MACHAMER: Please identify yourself, sir. It's on.

QUESTION: Lukman Ahmed, Al-Arabiya.

COL MACHAMER: Okay.

QUESTION: General Myers, sir, a year after action Iraq, there is a huge debate here in America regarding the link between Saddam and al-Qaida. As far as the American security concern, didn't you think that your action in Iraq is helping to invite al-Qaida to do some business with your troop in Iraq?

GEN MYERS: I missed the last part of that. We talked -- the question really is -- would you please repeat it?

QUESTION: Didn't you think that your action in Iraq is helping to invite al-Qaida to do some business with your troop in Iraq or the American in Iraq or everywhere?

GEN MYERS: You think our actions -- the question is: Do you think our actions in Iraq are inviting al-Qaida to -- yeah.

Al-Qaida did not need an invitation for September 11th. Al-Qaida helped to -- in Riyadh, didn't need help. This is an organization that has professed, both verbally and in writing and on videotape, that what they want to do is essentially do away with our way of life. And I'm not talking about the U.S. I'm talking about those who believe in peace and freedom.

They have also said that they will kill innocent men, women and children to achieve their goals. This is unacceptable. I do not think our action in Afghanistan or Iraq has emboldened them any more, or enabled them in any way. In fact, it's probably done just the opposite.

We have had very good success against al-Qaida. They no longer have Afghanistan to train. They no longer have the support of a Taliban regime because it's gone. They are finding it harder and harder to find places where they can gather, train, get access to more sophisticated weapons, which would cause a much larger number of casualties, and so I don't think in any way that we have enabled the al-Qaida, just the opposite.

We've had -- in just the last couple of days there have been arrests in Yemen. Al-Qaida operatives -- Saudi Arabia has picked up, killed one of the most senior al-Qaida operatives inside that country and an accomplice. And a couple of weeks ago, we picked up an al-Qaida operative trying to leave Iraq, again, a fairly senior individual. So this just continues the path that we're on. And I don't think that there is a relationship between international actions in Afghanistan, Iraq and al-Qaida and their enthusiasm to rain death and destruction.

COL MACHAMER: Okay, we'll next go to Russia.

QUESTION: Sir, may I ask a political question? According to --

COL MACHAMER: Please identify yourself.

GEN MYERS: You can try but I'm, you know, we're not a political military, sir.

QUESTION: Okay. Pavel Vanichkin, TASS, News Agency of Russia.

Sir, I'm reading the front page of today's Washington Post. A majority of free participants of the latest peer global research outside the United States believe that the war in Iraq hurts the war against terrorism.

Do you think that the people outside -- the majority of people outside the United States are deadly wrong in their perception of the military operation in Iraq? Thank you.

GEN MYERS: Thank you. If I understand, the question is does our effort in Iraq hurt our overall war on terrorism?

QUESTION: Does the war on Iraq hurt the battle against terrorism?

GEN MYERS: Yeah, I -- no, I don't -- then that's not a political question. To me, that's very directly a question that I would care a lot about because one of the things that I have to provide advice on to the senior leadership of this country are exactly questions like that. And no, I don't think it has at all.

I think our efforts against the al-Qaida, and for that matter, other terrorist organizations, has remained very robust. That was one of the things we -- we had to make sure happened, and it continues to this day. And some of the examples I just provided in terms of recent actions by other countries -- sometimes those actions enabled by intelligence we have, sometimes not; sometimes enabled by actions that we take that cause movement or other things to happen, which other countries can take advantage of, that continues and I don't -- we are not being distracted by Iraq. We've firmly got our eye on several areas of the world where we have to pay very close attention, to include international terrorism and the al-Qaida.

COL MACHAMER: Let's go to France. Le Monde.

QUESTION: Patrick Jarreau, the French daily, Le Monde.

What will be the status of the U.S. forces in Iraq after June 30th? Under what rules will they operate and whom will they report to?

GEN MYERS: That is being worked right now. The UN Security Council Resolution 1511 gives the coalition forces that are in there now substantial room to do the job.

There is a question about whether there will be another Security Council resolution prior to 30 June. That's a little bit outside my lane, or the things that I'm expert on. And as you know, even the UN role in the governance and political process is still to be determined. They have sent a UN representative in once. He may return again to work with the Iraqis and determine what that UN role will be, so some of this is to be determined. But the facts are that with the Transitional Administrative Law, with UN Security Council Resolution 1511, that we believe we have the authority to continue to help with security in Iraq post- the 30 June transition to Iraqi sovereignty.

COL MACHAMER: Good. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, General.

My name is Said Arikat from Al-Quds newspaper.

Sir, you have not concluded any arrangements on the shape of presence of U.S. forces in Iraq post-June 30th. Now, sir, how will you reconcile the transfer of power and sovereignty with such a large and needed large military U.S. presence in Iraq post that day?

GEN MYERS: Yeah, I think what is needed in Iraq -- you brought up the word "needed" -- what is really needed in Iraq is for progress to be made politically and economically, and with the infrastructure, is security and stability. And clearly, that is a task, come 30 June, that Iraqis will not be able to do by themselves. They will want us to be there to continue to help them.

Now in the process, as we get towards June and beyond, as much of the security responsibility as we can turn over to the Iraqis, we will do. And you're starting to see some of that occur in Baghdad where we're starting to reposition some of our forces from, you know, inside some of the neighborhoods to on -- more on the perimeter.

That does not mean we're going to be in some kind of garrison outside of town and not participate. We'll still be doing patrols. We'll still be doing the mentoring and joint patrols with the Iraqi police and the civil defense corps. We'll still provide quick reaction forces and security in many different ways. But it is an attempt to facilitate the Iraqis taking over more of their own responsibility. There are about 209,000, now, Iraqis in the various security forces that they have -- from the new Iraqi army to the Iraqi police to this civil defense corps to the Facilities Protection Services that mainly work the infrastructure protection and border police.

The responsibility for organized training and equipping them is, right now, squarely falls on the Department of Defense; a lot of people help. The State Department works a lot of the police training because they're expert in that. But in terms of the organized equipping and training and the employment of those forces, the Department of Defense has a significant responsibility, and then it falls on General Abizaid to do.

We are working that part very hard. A couple of other points on that: One is that increasingly, as the threat has changed, as you know, a little bit inside Iraq in that they -- those that don't want a stable Iraq are going after Iraqi citizens and an Iraqi -- Iraqis that are involved in governance and Iraqis that are involved in security.

Despite that, there are still Iraqi citizens that are willing to step forward and participate in the only hope this, this nation's had in a long time to a free and prosperous future for everybody, for every Iraqi.

So there are some very brave citizens in Iraq, and as soon as they're capable and trained and equipped and can take over their own security, it will be a good day for all of us and we can continue to reduce our presence.

COL MACHAMER: Okay. Let's move to this side of the wall for a question, the gentleman there in the blue shirt.

Yes.

QUESTION: Thank you. Javier Garza from Monitor in Mexico City.

General, you said at the beginning that it will take more than military might to win -- to win this war. How do you square that in the face of what could be perceived as a mistrust of U.S. policies abroad in some European countries and some Middle Eastern countries?

And how long does the United States Armed Forces plan to be in Iraq after the transfer in sovereignty?

GEN MYERS: On the last part, I think it remains to be seen how long.

The first thing I would say, though, is that we're going to be there as long as there is a job to do. And so there is resolve to see this through and to allow the Iraqis to develop a constitution, to allow them to go to national elections in the most secure and stable environment that can be provided, so that that, that political process has a chance to prosper.

On the other issue of the war on terrorism not just being a military issue, I would make a couple of comments: If people are willing to commit suicide, there is almost no way humanly possible that we've found yet to stop them from creating death and destruction.

We see it in Israel with the suicide bombers with the vests. We saw it in Madrid with the backpacks remotely detonated. We see it in Iraq with improvised explosive devices remotely detonated. We see it in lots, many -- Bali, Riyadh -- I mean the story goes on and on.

There are two ways to approach this: One is to think you can build the fences high enough to thwart this threat, and that simply hasn't proven to be true. As I just explained, people can get through those defenses. Defenses are important, and you have to have the appropriate law enforcement mechanisms and justice mechanisms and intelligence mechanisms to do the best you can to protect the publics.

But it's not sufficient in and of itself. You need to take the fight to an enemy. And I think the fact that we've taken the fight to Afghanistan has severely disrupted al-Qaida's planning. They -- in fact, they had a lab, laboratory in Kandahar that was being used to try to perfect anthrax so it could be employed in an effective way to cause mass casualties.

If they could kill -- instead of 3,000 on September 11th, if they could have killed 30,000 or 300,00, they would do so. So I think it's a combination of the two. Beyond that, and what I was getting at, beyond that, there are lots of other things that have to happen to end this threat. You've -- at some point you've got to set the conditions where men and women don't want to join an extremist cause. And that's clearly outside the lanes of the military, and has a lot more to do with political and economic concerns, diplomatic concerns that the international community needs to work as well.

So it is -- it's got to be broad-based across a wide front with the whole international community pulling at this. But to think you can sit at home and just direct defenses that are going to protect you, or that you are somehow, because of where you live in the world, immune to this, I reject that.

I don't think -- I don't think people are immune to Madrid. That's going to affect -- that'll affect Mexico in some way, and -- economically. And I, I'm not smart enough tell you what it is, but all you have to do is look at the airline stocks in this country right after it happened, and as I understand, they went down.

But, so -- I mean, it's just one example where terrorists try to create fear and they change our behavior. And behavior changes that aren't rational affect economies and the way we live, which is -- I think should be unacceptable.

COL MACHAMER: Let's go to Austria.

QUESTION: Germany.

COL MACHAMER: Germany, I'm sorry.

QUESTION: But it's very close. (Laugher.) My name is Olivia Schoeller from the German News Service Berliner Zeitung.

Looking back and considering Germany's effort in Afghanistan, how much do you miss this ally in Iraq? And looking back, what would you have done differently now, a year after invading Iraq? Thank you.

GEN MYERS: First of all, Germany's an important strategic ally. We're members of NATO together.

Every country needs to decide how it's going to participate in this war on terrorism in their own way and with what means they have available. Now, we have a fairly large coalition in the war on terrorism. I think it's 90 countries, basically, inside Afghanistan.

We have 35 countries, of which Germany is a big part of that. They have led, helped lead the force that is now a NATO force that provides security in the Kabul region, and they've also recently taken over one of the provincial reconstruction teams, as you know, up in Kunduz. All that's very important and they're performing very well. And I think we have, as we always have had, very good relations.

Again, it's -- every country has to make its own decision how they want to support this war, but I don't -- my personal view is that nobody can sit it out. This isn't one where you can be neutral. If you can neutral on terrorism, then it's going to be a pretty -- you're going to have a pretty miserable life.

On the other part, what would we do different, looking at it a year from now? Well, it's an unfair question because with perfect hindsight you can think of lots of things you'd like to do different.

The thing that I'm most proud of what we did right was maintain the flexibility to react to the situation as we found it inside Iraq. The character of the threat changed. In May, there was not much threat from the former regime elements, but as we got into June and July and then August, that threat emerged as a fairly major threat.

Now we have another threat emerging, and that's the foreign jihadists, best characterized, perhaps, by this fellow Zarkawi and his -- those folks that want to be led by him. And our ability to adapt to that, to develop intelligence on those threats, I think, is a tribute to our flexibility.

The other thing I would say is -- it kind of goes back to the question I got from your Italian cohort, and that was the way our armed forces have done this mission; and not just U.S. Armed Forces, but all the armed forces in there. It's the British in Basra, of course, and I mentioned the other countries and the other nations who are involved, that the men and women in our various armed forces, and those civilians that have gone over from our governments to do work over there, I mean, this is not easy. It's challenging and it's dangerous.

But they do it because the Iraqi people respond so positively. And I'm not directly -- I directly answered your question, I'm going a little beyond it now, but I just want to -- I want to put a plug in for those people that are trying to make a difference, both in Afghanistan and Iraq for these 55 million folks, if you combine those populations, that haven't had much hope in the last many decades.

COL MACHAMER: Okay, next question. The gentleman there.

QUESTION: Mohamed El-Sethouhi, Egyptian Television, Nile News Channel.

Going back to the question of the foreigners in Iraq, do you have any estimate for the numbers now, the jihadists you are talking about?

And with regard to Iraqi security forces, you have more than 200,000 Iraqis now involved with police and other services. But you have only 2,000 with the Iraqi army, while your goal, I believe, was 40,000 or something. Do you have an explanation for this situation?

GEN MYERS: On the first point, on the numbers of foreign jihadists, I better not give you a count from the top of my head, but we can provide that later through the center of what we think is the estimate. I think we'll find the numbers are in the thousand or so range. But it's imperfect because they don't show up for the census.

QUESTION: Are they related to al-Qaida in any way, or just like Islamic extremists or something?

GEN MYERS: Well, if you remember, it's been now about three weeks ago, there was a letter from Zarkawi to the al-Qaida leadership that was being carried by an al-Qaida person out of Iraq. And we captured that person and we got the letter. Part of it was published, I think, in The New York Times and it's -- I think it's widely available.

We think the letter is genuine. And in that letter, they were asking for al-Qaida support to their operations inside Iraq. So my view is, with the foreign jihadists, yes, there is a link.

The other thing they said that I thought was interesting in that letter and very disturbing is that if we can't make the coalition go away, then we've got to foment unrest between the various ethnic factions and religious factions inside Iraq. And that's where they talked about violence on the Shia so the Shia would turn on the Sunni and create some internal disturbance that would disrupt this process.

Certainly, we think there are foreign fighters involved in that. As to the Iraqi security -- or al-Qaida involved with these foreign fighters, as -- the new Iraqi army. The new Iraqi ought to be different and ought to have a different role than the Iraqi army that it's replacing.

The Iraqi army that it's replacing was as much repression on various factions inside Iraq as it was for external defense. So the new Iraqi army is being fashioned with a view to provide for the external defense against its neighbors.

Now, it's -- and so it needs to be brought along in a priority order of what you think is important. What we think is important is the internal security situation. That's why we're putting a lot of emphasis on those other organizations we mentioned.

We have not ignored the new Iraqi army. I think the numbers are, by later this fall -- and somebody could correct me on this -- but I think we want to have several tens of thousands of new Iraqi army trained by the beginning of fall this year. So we're not ignoring it. We're putting tremendous resources towards their training and towards their equipping, and making sure they're ready for their mission, and that they will conduct it in a way unlike the old Iraqi army, which was -- had other roles internally, as well.

COL MACHAMER: Let's go to Japan.

QUESTION: Thank you. My name is Toshi Matsuyama with Fuji TV.

Japan has deployed its troops to the southern part of Iraq, which is Samawah, and now they're engaging in the reconstruction process; and this the first full-range military deployment since World War Israel, so how do you evaluate the contribution of Japan so far?

And now the Spanish new leader indicated that they might pull out its troops from Iraq. If that's the case, do you have any plan to ask more contribution to Japan or any other allies?

GEN MYERS: Let me handle the last part first.

As I've made, I think, pretty clear in the remarks, this fight against terrorism has to be based on international participation, real teamwork between the -- all the nations that want peace and freedom. And there's always going to be a need for countries to stand up and provide as they can. And not all countries are created equal. Not all can provide the same sorts of things. Sometimes it's troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Sometimes it's basing or overflight. Sometimes it's in the diplomatic area or maybe in the financial area. Nevertheless, everybody should, should contribute.

On Japan's contribution, twice in my career I had tours in Japan that total up to almost six years -- the last time, as the Commander, U.S. Forces, Japan.

I'm very familiar with the Self Defense Forces, and they are a very professional force, and as you mentioned, this is their first deployment since World War II, although they have been on UN peacekeeping missions in many places -- I think, East Timor, Cambodia, I believe Mozambique, Golan Heights, so they are not unknown on the international scene. But this is the first time they've gone outside a UN blue-helmeted operation in a very challenging environment.

Everything I hear is they're performing absolutely superbly, which does not surprise me. Like I said, I'm somewhat familiar with the Self Defense Forces. They are a very professional force. They're clearly up to this challenge.

I was in Japan, I think it was in January, before this deployment, and had a chance to talk to the senior Japanese leadership about their preparation. They were thoroughly prepared and are ready and doing, doing very good work and making a difference inside Iraq.

COL MACHAMER: The gentleman second in there -- right there.

QUESTION: General, Mohammed Mensawi from Asharq Al-Awsat.

Do you have any comment in the fire exchange between the Iranian troops and the American in the Iranian-Iraqi war just last week?

GEN MYERS: No, other than it happened and that the shots that were fired originated from the Iranian side of the border. Fire was returned, and then our forces disengaged as soon as they can. And we don't know the outcome of the shots that we fired in terms of anybody being injured or killed. And that's all we know.

COL MACHAMER: Let's go to the back there. The man in blue.

QUESTION: Thank you. Petri Sarvamaa, the Finnish Broadcasting, Finland.

In one of your answers today, you said that nobody is immune and you took the happening, the tragedy in Madrid as an example of that.

GEN MYERS: Right.

QUESTION: But it seems to me that there is a very widespread attitude in Europe that says -- and as a matter of fact, the result of the Spanish election seem to prove that to some extent, that seems to be saying that the -- quite, quite opposite, which is that as long as we stay out of the trouble, there is no threat to us.

How would you address the audience as far as this, this wavering and, and -- because it's a very complex question, you know, dealing with terrorism. And if people are thinking in their very simple ways, which is meaning that, you know, "I don't want to have anyone, anybody bomb me."

GEN MYERS: Right. I think -- I'm not a great student of history, but as you look back through history and you look at situations that required people to stand up for principle, to stand up and lead and be counted against various threats, appeasement is -- just hasn't worked.

Weakness -- weakness if provocative. It's not -- it doesn't resolve the situation. And if, I think, many of the European countries have had various forms of terrorism in their countries for some time.

And I think back to Munich and the Olympics -- I mean, on and on it goes. Greece with November 17 -- I mean, Europe is no stranger to these issues and the way they were dealt with was not to pretend like it wasn't going to happen, but to deal with them as directly and as forthrightly as we can.

And again, as I said, it has to be broad-based and there's a defensive element and there's an offensive element, there's a diplomatic element -- all these various elements. But it has to be pursued in that way.

To think that we are not connected globally, economically, and that an attack in Riyadh doesn't have an effect on the economy in Finland or -- because it does in some way. We're all so connected. We can't just park in our corner of the world and hope this passes us by and maybe get to us last. That's just not a -- that's just not a -- that's sort of an attitude that has worked throughout history and I don't think it's appropriate now.

COL MACHAMER: Okay, Olga in the blue shirt there.

QUESTION: Yes. Slovak Radio.

I would like to ask you once again about Spain, if you are negotiating with Government in Madrid and if we can expect some visit from Secretary of State of -- or Defense in Madrid very soon?

GEN MYERS: I know of no negotiations with Spain that are ongoing, and I know of no delegation that's going to visit Spain or vice-versa right now. I don't know of any of that.

COL MACHAMER: Okay, fifth row.

QUESTION: Thank you. General Myers, Dalia Elkomy from Associated Press, covering for Kuwaiti Television.

Assessing Operation Iraqi Freedom one year later, can you tell us exactly what has been accepted by the government and by the military as success so far in view of all the contradictions and all the opposition you're still having from some of the coalition countries and other countries that are still opposing the idea of the war?

GEN MYERS: And the question is the success --

QUESTION: Assessment so far of how successful the United States was in Operation Iraqi Freedom one year later.

GEN MYERS: Oh, I think -- my personal view is -- and having visited there, I think, at least three times and planning on going back here shortly, that the coalition has been very successful in Iraq.

If you think about where we were just a year ago with a dictator that, I think Secretary Armitage from State Department has said, what we know about the mass graves and the mass casualties, it's somewhere between 300,000 -- and I think he said a million -- somewhere in that range. We know that -- had a war with Iran, that they invaded Kuwait and was oppressing his folks and using food and electrical power as a way to control the population. I mean that has all changed.

And now we have a Transitional -- on the political front, we have a Transitional Administrative Law that gives Iraq hope for democracy. It's a very democratic document and it gives the men and women in Iraq a chance for, for a new future.

If you look on the economic piece, all production now is, I think, at or slightly above pre-war levels. The infrastructure, despite needing a lot of work, is working. We're providing -- capable of providing more power than pre-war Iraq -- and that will only continue to grow. And we're working -- the coalition is working very hard on that.

And on the security front, the fact that right after the war we had zero Iraqis involved in security, now we have 209,000 -- admittedly, the training and equipping of those forces is uneven. They're not all the same. And that's why I mentioned earlier, that's a big focus for us is to make sure they're properly equipped, trained, and then we'll work with them to help mentor them, if you will, as they become more expert at their duties.

On the security front, we've got the Iraqi piece, we've got the UN looking at their role in the political governance piece, so I think on almost any front that you look at that there's been great, great progress.

If you -- you're probably familiar with the poll that was conducted by ABC and BBC. You know, when the polled Iraqis and said, "How do you view your life today compared to before the war?" and 57 percent said it's better now -- 57 percent. Only 19 percent said it was worse.

And if they looked out a year, 71 percent said it will be better in a year than it was in Saddam's time, and only 6 percent said it was going to be worse. And the poll also hinted very strongly that Iraqis want coalition forces around as long as they're needed for security, so I think there's some -- and that was a poll conducted by the Oxford Research International, I believe, so a reputable polling firm.

I think that gives you a very good indication of how we're doing today, which I would say is, given that the international community has been at this for one year -- very well.

COL MACHAMER: Well, General, our time is up. And I want to thank you again for coming to (inaudible).

COL MACHAMER: As I said, our time is up.

GEN MYERS: Thank you very much, and nice to see you all again. Thank you.