On the recordApril 9, 2008
Yes, we do. Yes, we do. You know, it is very important, there has been a lot of talk about this latest fight down in Basra. Fifteen thousand Iraqis went into the fight there and there has been a lot of talk about over 1,000 of those Iraqis ran. That is kind of looking at that glass half full or half empty. Yes, maybe 1,000 or more soldiers turned and ran, but 14,000 stayed and fought. If you went 3 years ago when I went on my second trip to Iraq and I sat down at a dinner table with a bunch of ordinary soldiers and said what are we trying to accomplish over here? And they said, sir, when they think about their units the way we think about our units, they will be a qualified fighting force over here, and we are trying to instill that in them. I say 14,000 of them acted like soldiers, and that is something we should be proud of.
Source
govinfo.gov
