it will consist of three great. it is tailored to support iraqi development. we have begun to deliberately drawing forces. we have approximately 124,000 troops and of them agree, at teams operating iraq today. by the end of october, i believe we will be done to 120,000 troops in iraq.

we will continue to keep them systematically. we will also reduce our carvin for a friend from 149,000 to over 15,000 contractors today. fifth we will also combine six headquartered elements of multinational forces. force iraq into a single headquarters called united states forces iraq. this will reduce our headquarters forestructure by 40% while maintaining the overall capacity to command-and-control the force as we transition more and more responsibility to the government of iraq to the end of the mission in 2011. over the course of this campaign non-lethal operations have been critical to our success as we change our mission in continue to drawdown they will become

even more vital. i am referring to emergency response program in information operations both of which have paid huge dividends so far. this past spring following the seating of the provincial governments multinational force iraq in concert with the state department let provincial reconstruction teams and the newly elected the iraqi provincial leaders focused monies on project designed to meet the central needs of the iraqi people for khuzestan security gains and support for provincial governments-- governance development. search remains a critical enabler that we are using judiciously. in jen we return 20070-- $247 million of sir money ended the ended the year we will return another $135 million of sir money. as we begin a responsible drawdown of forces in change of mission in mid to late fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year

2011 we expect tierney to reduce however serbs will remain a critical and abler for the stabilization and their research expenditures in the future will remain within the approved categories that have already been discussed. information operations has also been a vital component of our overall operations in defeating violent extremist groups to themselves use emerging media conduits to recruit solicit funding insure their ideology. r.n. formation operations have complemented partly full operations to save lives contributed to host nation's stability promoted support for democratic processes and the rule of law. and reduce the level of violence. yet we are engaged with adversaries who continue to exploit the information space to try and reverse sardines. i cannot overstate the importance of information operations in achieving our

national goals in iraq. over the years the environment and thread of change as we have adapted their strategy from protecting the people in the counterinsurgency fight to concentrating in developing the iraqi capacity. given the hard fought security gains were transitioning to stability operations and we will continue to responsibly transfer responsibilities to the government of iraq, the iraqi security forces in the u.s. embassy in baghdad. through the focus of our forces in shifting from security to capacity building our strategic goal remains to foster a long-term partnership with a sovereign stables self-reliant iraq. we have a good plan that we are executing and i am confident in their way ahead. iraqis say state and society under construction, struggling to define its identity and its place in the world after decades

of oppression and violence. the way in which we drawdown our forces will impact of only the relationship between the u.s. and iraq into the future but also the nature of the new iraq. our presence there 2011 provide psychological and physical support to the iraqi people, the government of iraq in the iraqi security forces. it provides the opportunity for different groups to build up their constituencies, to participate in politics, to form alliances and reach consensus. the level and nature of u.s. slinkys met with the iraqis will continue to change as the u.s. military draws down. iraq is making steady progress but as ale lung way to go. we must have strategic patients. through the framework agreement united states has a mechanism for supporting iraq to develop its institutionalist human capacity.

success will be defined by our ability to support iraq developing capacity from governance to economics that will sustain the iraq's long-term stability. the iraqi security forces have made steady progress and our efforts over the next two and a half years will help solidify the foundation of a professional and competent iraqis security force. we must leave iraq with security forces capable of defending the mbeki people in protecting their institutions. i close as i begin by recognizing soldiers' sailors airmen marines coast guard mendon civilians currently serving in iraq. these great patriots and their families have made tremendous sacrifices on behalf of our nation. they have made a positive difference in the lives of millions of americans and-- excuse me, they have made positive differences in the lives of millions and all-american should take pride in their accomplishments. not long ago iraq was a society

burdened by seamlessly endless cycles of violence and destruction. today it is buoyed by a tremendous sense of hope for a bright and prosperous future as the iraqi's prepare for their national elections. elections that will determine the future direction of iraq. having demonstrated tremendous resiliency i believe the iraq people are determined to make iraq something very different from what it once was. we have invested an awful lot in iraq. both from the monetary standpoint and from our personal investment of the many lives of those who have been killed and injured in iraq and i think we have a true opportunity to have success so it is important i think that we continue along the line we are so thank you so much for the support that you have given us in the past and the support i expect he will

continue to give us as we move forward. thank you very much mr. chairman. >> general, thank you for your very thorough and positive report to us and we welcome your presence here today and thank you for your great contribution. general, in your opinion how fast can we responsibly redeploy our troops from that country and gaziano our military has been greatly stressed over the past several years. and, we potentially face increase demand for troops in afghanistan, so what are the risks in speeding up the redeployment of troops from iraq? >> again, as we continue to look at the competing demands, first my responsibility as you have stated mr. chairman is to present to my chain of command

with the risks are inside of iraq as we drawdown our forces and as i stated the important part is that we do not want to lose the security progress that has been made. the physical and psychological presence of u.s. forces helps significantly as iraq continues to move forward so what we don't want to do is we don't want to see what i mentioned as the drivers of instability caused by the reduction in the confidence of the iraqi people and moving forward with developing through nascent democracy. we have to ensure that we don't take enough risk were ethnosectarian violence is able to continue for example lobert erred kurd tensions or that we don't allow al qaeda and some of the outside external influences by iran and others to cause violence inside of iraq that will cause the iraqi political system to fall, so those are the risks. the plan we have i believe allows us to withdraw

deliberately and maintain what i believe is appropriate level of security that the iraqi security forces ultimately can sustain and continue to improve. that said, we worked very carefully, i work carefully with general petraeus in order to identify any capabilities that we have in no longer need that could be used in afghanistan but we have done that over the last several months and we will continue to do that. we will not require within power plant i have flexibility to speed up if i think the situation on the ground allows it or to slow down. we will-- i will continue to make those judgments as we move forward. as i announce we will probably be down 120,000 strength by the end of october. that is a bit faster than we originally planned and that is based on the improvement we have seen in anbar province where we have now replaced two brigades

with one brigade oughten anbar and so we are able to make those decisions as we see progress on the ground and we will continue to do that so what i have to do is dilatorily do this without losing the gains we have made well understanding i cannot have forces there that will not-- that are not being used efficiently. >> general, iran has been in the news a great deal lately. what influence does that country have on your efforts in iraq? >> obviously as a neighbor, iran, all neighboring countries have influence inside iraq. what we want is the iran that once were the positive influence inside of iraq. unfortunately we still see some maligned intent with iran as we continue to seek training

conducted in iran of iranian circuits that have now come back into iraq. we still continue to uncover large caches of rockets, reels to shoot rockets and some explosive foreign projectiles that are made in iran. we continue to see potential interference in the political process inside of iraq so those obviously our concerns. the good part about this is that the iraqis security forces are uncovering many of these elements in southern iraq. they have continued to go after these caches and individuals who let been trained in side of iran so that is a positive aspect but it is still very much a concern that they continue to fund and conduct operations of surrogate elements inside of iraq. >> it appears that the future polls for success in iraq is the

upcoming elections. from your vantage point today, do you see that in a positive light? >> i think these elections are extremely important for the government of iraq and i do believe they will occur in a safe manner as they look at it today. the important part about these elections is that this is the first election that will be conducted fully by the iraqis. they will be conducted by the hi electoral commission and this election will be conducted and secured by the iraqis with just training and advice and assistance. we will see i believe a turnout among all iraqis elements, all religious groups, people from all areas of iraq so i think it will be critical to the future of iraq but we are seeing many

coalitions formed. the last count there were almost 300 political parties that had registered for these elections. i think that is important to show how much these elections mean to the iraqi people in the interest that has been shown, so i believe that these elections will occur. they will occur on time and hopefully the iraqis will pass an election law here in the next several days ago we know they are working very hard to do that but these elections are important. those who are elected will set the stage for iraq over the next several years whether they continue to move towards democratic process and an open economy or not because of these will be very important elections for iraq in the future of iraq. >> mr. mckeon. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you again general for your statement and you know as well as anyone the sacrifice our

country is made in bringing stability to iraq. ..@@@@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @g

that is represents all of the middle east with its population. iraq is moving towards an instant democracy and wants to move towards an open economy and the ability it would have to potentially contribute to stability in the middle east and long term in my mind is strategically important to less and we can't lose sight of that. we have an opportunity to have a long-term strategic partner to. to the iraqis the agreement i discussed in my opening statement is important to them because that will help developing a long-term relationship with the united states and economic relationships security relationship and a educational relationship technological exchanges. that's important to them as that

is respected, has a democracy and can continue to develop its own economy with vast resources it has available. but it is yet been able to take advantage. and so i think for those factors its important for us to stay engaged. we have spent else i said earlier a lot of money. we have spent a lot of personal sacrifice inside of iraq and security is headed in the right direction. we want to give them the time and space. some leading combat forces by september 1st, 2010 allows them to go through the elections, allows them to seek their new government and then allowing forces to stay there through 2011 allows them to continue to build symbol capacity so we can take advantage of the opportunities that we think iraq brings to stability.

>> thank you, general. every four years we hold an election to determine our president. we do that in november, and we understand that the president is sworn in in january and it seems to be a very, for a couple of hundred years we have done that very well. maybe you could explain the timeline of how the election of works. they have a different system of government and the election will be held in january but it will take a while to establish a government. perhaps you could explain that. >> i will walk through the general terms. first, again by the constitution the election is supposed to occur no later than the 31st of january. right now is scheduled for the 16th of january pending the

passing of bill law. once it is completed 45 days to certify and so what happens is we will have hundreds of international observers, maybe thousands, this could be quite a few international observers as well as the iraqi electoral commission will certify, take all complaints and then they will deem the elections to be credible legitimate or not. that takes 45 days. once that happens you have 30 days to begin the formation of ceding the council of representatives. you then have another 30 days to select the leadership presidency and another time period to select the prime minister and speaker so within that time period we expect it will take from january until june or so, maybe july to seek the new government. a and 2005 following the elections, the elections are in

december in of the government will see to it in may of 2005. this is the parliamentary system of government and it just takes time for them to do this. so is -- there are time lines on it. they will follow the time lines strictly but it will take time to seat the government. >> based on the timeline you are comfortable with keeping combat troops in the country until august and that will be sufficient in your -- your comfortable being able to pull them out securely at that time? >> i do. i look at the first 60 days or so following the election as the most critical time if we think there might be some violence as the results are certified. experiences in the past have been if within the 60 days that is when you would see some level of violence so that allows us to make sure we believe this will be a peaceful transition of power which we expect but that

will allow us to ensure this peaceful transition of power and their allowance to draw down as they see the government down to a level of 50,000 by the end of august. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. ortiz. >> thank you, mr. chairman, general, mr. secretary, we appreciate your service. the gao suggested there is a breakdown between the army's central command and on the movement of iraq. for its simple but gao stated that equipment has not been completed nor have any communicated with each other how they are going to accelerate the movement of troops out of iraq. in your opinion are you concerned this would increase the time required for all

deployment of forces and ultimately impact unit readiness and durham forces in kuwait have the resources available to support our troops out of iraq and what role, if any, would turkey play and the redeployment of forces? leedy you can give a little -- >> thank you, congressman. i can answer some of those questions and i will. first of all, if we have been planning for the redeployment of forces and equipment for some time now. in iraq i have a cell that has been established about six months that has representatives from centcom, from the army, navy, air force, marines that we have coordinated the movement of all equipment and personnel out of the theater.

we have done a complete inventory of all the equipment that is an iraq and we understand why we have in iraq and that immediately within the cell gets transmitted to the services and to centcom in order for them to decide how this equipment will be distributed whether it comes back to the united states or goes somewhere else so i feel confident we have a good handle on this. we've already started moving equipment out that we believe is no longer needed based on the withdrawal of some of the forces already in all the change in the mission we have and we have already sent out over 150,000 pieces of equipment from iraq so we continue to do this on a regular basis. we plan on in some ways using -- we are taking a look at equipment going through turkey as well as jordan now as well as

kuwait and we are now actually sending some equipment through jordan as well as through kuwait. we toward it carefully with army central command who is responsible for the logistics support inside of kuwait. they are also represented in the cell we have established and we know what the capacity is. we have planned this in such a way a word we deployment fits within the capacity that is established for both people and equipment. >> and i know that for some time years back you were utilizing a lot of the national guard equipment because of the damage to some of the regular army equipment. are you still -- do you still have a lot of equipment that belongs to the national guard? >> congressman i can't tell how much we have been over the years we have deployed and redeployed units out of iraq we continue to rotate equipment through iraq

depending on that the usage as you pointed out is why don't know the exact figure but i am certain there is national guard equipment inside of iraq so what will happen is again we have identified all of this equipment transmitted back to the surface and most of it is army equipment so most of it back to the army materiel command and they then will provide distribution instructions and actually we will ship the equipment to kuwait or jordan then they will ship it back to the units of its origin or some other destination if they decide there is!(her. the decision will be made back in the pentagon between the joint staff, secretary defense and services on where exactly the equipment those. mr. sherman. >> let me point out in front of

each member is the timeline for each questioner which is a new experience mr. wilson? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to thank the general for being here. mr. secretary, thank you. general, i appreciate a briefing by a received last month with you in baghdad. i appreciate your leadership. in fact, i had two songs serve in iraq. the reason i felt so comfortable about their service is persons like you, capable american leadership. it was reassuring as a parent and i am so grateful for our troops serving currently, for the veterans. they are making a difference defeating the terrorists overseas. my question and it's very similar to my good friend, congressman solomon ortiz and relative to equipment and that is as you execute the redeployment of personnel and

equipment from iraq to what extent is it reasonable to move the equipment to afghanistan? in your opinion are we fully capitalizing on that opportunity? >> again, we are. i would say again those decisions are made by others -- let me give an example what happened recently. we had 19 sets of routt clearance equipment accessed that we once needed that we no longer needed and we expedited the movement of that equipment to afghanistan. so we identified key pieces that are no longer needed in iraq that are needed in afghanistan and they move quickly. that is completely coordinated through central command with general petraeus and his team as we move back and forth. so absolutely we identified the critical pieces of equipment that are needed. we have moved some engineer and aviation and equipment out well from iraq to afghanistan as the need for it has reduced.

and we will continue to do this as we move forward. >> i am particularly interested in uav and i hope each one that could be moved will be moved. it gives such protection to our troops and allies. general, i understand the relationship between the iraqi security forces is more positive than the media portrays in fact on our tour we went where my son served for a year and visited with your personnel and iraqi security personnel in the same room working together it was just startling to me. then we had the opportunity to see the new iraqi special forces and they have the latest most modern equipment. i also notice the have m to 49 weapons made by f m n my constituents. they are proud to make and iraqi

allies. what is your assessment of the relationship and what measures can be taken to further improve communication and cooperation? >> first, you know, i will say over the last three years specifically following the surge of forces the partnerships that have been developed and relationships developed have been extremely strong with iraqi security forces from private up to the minister of defense minister of interior. in every operational command and every provincial joint award nations, the ones that collect all the information we have, joint commands operating in every one of those. there are always some anecdotal stories we will tell you that maybe there's not good relationships but i will tell you the strength of the relationships between our leaders and their leaders continue today as we continue to support them as they move forward and the large majority

of iraqi leaders are appreciative of the support that we continue to give the house we move forward here and as they take more and more responsibility for@@@@@ @ @ @ @ "@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ d

seeing the training of the iraqi police he was in the middle and i thought it was dangerous. they were all practicing english. it is just a great experience. thank you. i appreciate your testimony. >> if i could add to the last comment. we are in the process of free developing between the u.s. embassy and multinational force focused entirely on transitioning responsibilities to the embassy as well as government of iraq as we withdraw forces in 2010 and 2011 and we plan on publishing this sometime around the first of the year that will identify the deliverable and specifically what we transition to the u.s. embassy, who has responsibility and what transitions to the government of iraq because this is important for the continued success post.

>> i thank the gentleman. the gentleman is sanchez. -- before gentleman once again, secretary, general, for being before us and for the work you do for the country. you are right the troops are doing a great job. i get a lot of e-mails and information and calls about what is going on on the ground and i know general you and i usually have disagreement what is happening out there and iraq and i keep usually i am closer to what is the way they and you, let me put for the record i do believe we are getting out. we are getting out of dodge and we are going to get it done sooner rather than and that means we really are looking at our state department and other departments to get the other worked on as we withdraw our troops. general and mr. secretary, i would like both of you to answer this question. general, at the end of july, you and secretary gates visited with kurdish leaders and you were

widely quoted as saying that the arab curtis pensions over disputed internal boundaries and national petroleum policy were the biggest problem facing iraq, in fact you said arab, kurd tensions are the number one driver of insecurity. it this morning when you began and talked about the drivers you didn't mention this. so my questions are to reduce still believe that the number one driver is in security or do you still think it's up there and what measures have been taken to manage and reduce the tensions going on, and of course article 140 of the constitution of iraq provides a process of normalization, census and referendum to determine the final boundaries of the kurdish region within a space process. but some have said to me that they think the u.s. has to be more active in getting this one for the article issue down, this

process donner. in fact when i asked secretary gates in front of this committee, he said the u.s. supports article 140 so my question is how involved are we in that? what are we doing to push the slides to get to a resolution under the constitution and if in fact we are going to have a response will withdraw, don't you think that getting the article 140 process don is almost a precondition to be able to move troops and make sure these ethnic issues are taken care of? and why is 140 stalled and what are we doing to move in the right direction? >> thank you, congresswoman. i still believe arab per detention as the number one

stability in iraq. i might not have mentioned it was number one. and this is long standing problems over land and resources and the distribution of those in these key areas that have been going on for hundreds of years between the kurds and arab populations. the article 140 process back in december of 07 actually didn't get finished by december of 07 bridges to date in the constitution supposed to be finished and what happened is we formed a human, the u.n. took over trying to renegotiate and get the sides together so we have a u.n. commission now that is working very hard between the government of iraq and kurdistan of regional government to try to come to some agreement with these difficult issues regarding disputed areas in terms of boundaries as well as sharing of hydrocarbon and resources.

so what we are doing is we are fully in support of that effort. we support the u.n. and engage with the government of iraq and krg on these issues to make sure they continue to participate in this process and this process ultimately will hopefully follow and cause the implementation of the 140, article 140 and resolution of these issues. in addition we are attempting to work with the government of iraqi kurdistan government to release tension in the area. over the last year or so on several cases it is the u.s. forces who have helped reduce tensions between the groups. we now have been in discussion and they are trying to come up with anwe architecture, securiy architecture that will reduce tension between the arabs and kurds so we will be at such a level everybody understands that they will solve this problem through the political process these of the u.n.. this is something iraq talks to

solve. this is a problem the iraqi scud assault. we have to be engaged at all levels and will continue to be. >> i thank the gentlelady. mr. franks? >> thank you, mr. chairman and general odierno thank you. mr. secretary, you know, general, i remember not so long ago fleeing across iraq and pitch darkness in a black hawk helicopter about 150 feet off the ground and my memory is clear i was much more disconcerted about that than you were and i just appreciate soldier of freedom you are. i am convinced when the day comes and we get out of college the streets will be safer because you passed that way and no one knows the future. no one knows what will happen in iraq. i suppose there are two people that predict the future, those who don't know and those who don't know they don't know.

that said i think that you have given iraq a chance to live in freedom and may have bought a beach head of the freedom to the middle east that could help all of humanity turn in a better direction and what ever happens beyond doubt i certainly salute you for your noble service. i suppose my first question is to some degree of long chairman skelton's question, but it has to do with power vacuums. i know it's been said u.s. presence, if it disappears, that there will be powered wrecking that could occur. mahmoud ahmadinejad has been quoted as saying, quote, the political power of the occupiers as collapsing rapidly. soon we will see a power vacuum in the region. of course we are prepared to fill the gap with help of our neighbors and regional since like saudi arabia and with the help of the iraqi nation, and of quote. i know that iran has been

implicated very clearly making the explosive formed penetrator is one of the great dangers to the troops, and i guess taking into account the potential regional influence that iran may have, how close relationship do you envision iraq and iran have been and what great concern should that be when we are discussing the type of u.s. forces that should remain in iraq for on going stability? >> first i think we must realize iran and iraq are neighbors and are going to have a relationship. the one thing over time i have learned is iraqis are nationalists. they don't want anyone interfering in their politics and they want iraq to be for iraq, and i think it is important to remember that as we move forward. again, i think the important part is about the term the

president used in his strategy responsible drawdown and that is why it is important to do it slowly, deliberately so we are able to drill down such a way iraqi security forces continue to grow all the other civil capacity builders continue to grow and that allows iraq to stand up as a country who can resist some of these outside forces who might have attempted to have on do influence. that is also why it is important to have a long-term relationship with iraq so those are the keys as we move forward. >> i suppose it is the obvious follow up. you said closing in your testimony we must leave iraq with security force capable of defending the iraqi people and protecting the government of iraqi institutions. obviously that is long-term goal we all want a very cogent remarks. what in the final analysis is your biggest concern achieving

this goal, what can we make sure that happens? i think that you have carried congress on your back this will times i want to make sure you can give -- >> i would say it is about strategic patience and even after we leave in 2011 we can't just say okay, iraq is finished. we need additional support between now and 2011 to build capacities. we will identify what we need to you. we will also need to continue to support them in some way beyond 2011 not by having troops in iraq but helping them continue to develop their institutions. we can have an influence on that. we have to make sure we allow them to do that and keep that in mind and ultimately i believe that will contribute to our own security and stability in the region. >> thank you. mai tais done by thank you for your commitment to human freedom. my two babies i think well of a

better place in life because of people like you and i appreciate that. >> the gentle lady from california, ms. davis. >> thank you, mr. chairman, general, mr. secretary, for being here and you're outstanding work and i know, general, you are being credited for helping turn the situation around and we appreciate that. i want to ask about "the wall street journal" report yesterday that the iraqi is are having difficulty with their budget crunch and oil prices decreasing and purchasing equipment they had already requested from the u.s. government, and there are a number of issues combined with that. how difficult and how high of a priority is it for us to get this straight, and are their policies in fact we should be looking at right now that would allow them to purchase more of those in advance? >> i think it's very important we have been working this for quite some time. first the iraqi budget because

the price of oil the budget has decreased quite significantly. their combined budget is about $10 billion a year about 85% of that is fixed, nondiscretionary and has to do with salaries and other things so that leaves a very small piece left to invest in modernization. they've already purchased several things such as petrol boats and many other army and air force equipment that they have to still pay so almost all of their even discretionary income is taking up. what i want to be able to do is assist them by using stay behind equipment a potentially leaving for them as well as improving their ability to not have to pay all costs up front for foreign military sales when they can spread it over a longer time period. >> as understand, they don't need a number of the criteria we

have. >> that is exactly right. the imf bank house to certify them and of course they are trying to get through the certification by having enough reserves so they get certified. it is a very complex problem and we have things competing against each other. so we are trying to come up with different ways to help them get the equipment we think is necessary for them to have a foundational capability by 2011. part of that might be as we have to what we believe is there is about and fiscal year 2010 and 20 less than we have about $3.5 billion we need to help them finish getting the foundational capacity that they need in order to be able to have security by 2011. then we have to continue some sort of f. emineth program through the state department after 2011 and if we are able to do that with that will allow them to build up and have the

security and capability necessary to protect themselves. >> thank you. i appreciate that. one of the things that must be frustrating is violence@@@@@@@@ the iraqi security forces, like our forces, understand what their duty at mission ase. and they are very dedicated to

providing security to their people, and i have seen many acts of bravery by leaders, iraqi leaders and soldiers and in a lot of ways they are no different from our soldiers when it comes to that city see that as their mission and are trying to root out these last remnants of al qaeda insurgents in these difficult areas. the last part, congresswoman, we continue to see these attacks against innocent civilians mean nothing to the outcome and all it does is kill innocent people and it is frustrating to us and frustrating to the iraqis and that is what we are trying to stop the inside of iraq now. these bombings that occur although much less frequently they still occur and kill many innocent people and those are the kind we are trying to stop. >> are civilians able to move freely, go and have a cup of tea and a beach in a formal fashion

at this point? >> they can, but -- they can in order to meet with iraqi officials i would say you can but it's still a little bit difficult because they are targets is part of the problem. >> the gentleman from texas, mr. conaway. >> general, thank you for being here this morning and secretary, thank you. general, the touchmarks on your right sleeve indicate deployment away from family and comfort of this country. i can't count them from here. but as a representative of the men and women sitting behind you earned those stripes and their families have in the word during those deployments. thank you very much. we appreciate your service to the country. please pass that on. following up on what susan asked the defense asked for $750 million of legislative authority to get equipment to

the iraqi spirit much of that will be excess of equipment. this may be a better question for the secretary. much of it will be more on excess equipment, equipment we might need and a judge we need in other places. how do we reimburse the services that give that equipment? how do they replace it? is it going to be supplemental? where we find the money to replace the equipment that would otherwise be needed for our armed forces? >> i will let the secretary answer. >> he has been very quiet -- >> we defined in several groups. there is excess equipment that is truly access to all requirements that's not required but there is some equipment that might not be accessed what we determined as it cost more money to send it back than what to leave it there so that is the decision process we go through on this equipment. in terms of the authority and reimbursing i will leave that to the secretary.

>> our j4 logistics director is leading the process right now looking at this issue with the service is about as general odierno said, what the amount of inventory is excess that we could leave in iraq, would cost too much to bring back, how we reimburse the services but also what we would shift elsewhere, for example of their needs, and that process is still underway -- >> i understand, but how do we get the services reimbursed for the equipment -- i have great confidence in your ability to decide which is which and figure out it cost more to ship it home, but how do you read pay -- would be supplemental, additional budget request? where did you guys come up with the money out of services? >> i think that is being worked into the budget process is my understanding, and it will be resolved before then. but i am sorry i don't have a better answer for you right now. >> if you wouldn't like getting back to us on the record.

>> i will, sir. >> general, as you live in the agreement now for several months, are there anything about those agreements that need to be adjusted or tweaked that you need help with a legislative standpoint? is there in terms of filling out the rest of these two or three years that would make it easier for better from your perspective? >> well, i think i will be honest with frankly it has turned out to the and i probably originally thought it would as we walked into this. and it is because again, i go back to the relationships. relationship we have built with government of iraq allowed us to execute this in a fair and appropriate manner. i think we have the authorities that we need inside of the security agreement to execute what we need -- important lipitor iraqis out front of a we are still conducting combat operations we do everything -- that is where we want to be today. because we want to slowly give them more and more

responsibility so i feel comfortable so far with the agreement as it is written. >> one last question as it relates to the risks in january other than them not putting in election laws what other risks do you see that those elections won't come off appropriately? >> as i looked today if we get the election past i believe unless there is some unforeseen event that would happen, and i have trouble getting my arms around with that might be i believe they will occur on time. unless there is something that causes a large amount of sectarian violence to break out between now and then. but i don't see it because the iraqi people don't want to go there. they are tired of that and want to move forward. >> again, thank you for your service and please, can say to the folks how much we appreciate but especially their families because i think a lot of times families do not get dragged on

and off what they do to allow you and your team to do what it does. thank you. i yield back. >> the gentleman from rhode island. >> thank you. general, will come and mr. secretary, welcome to you too. general, your great leadership in iraq i hope you also pass on deep appreciation for all of those you lead of how grateful we are for the sacrifice and service. it general, when you and i had the opportunity to meet when i was there to visit in iraq over the memorial day recess prior to the beginning of the drawdown of troops and in the particular area and you had concern about was an losel. the presence of al qaeda and iraq. can you talk about, giving an update on the current situation

there and the strength of insurgent forces and what you have seen as we have started to withdraw? and also on a broader sense, as we get closer to 2011 and once we have completed the withdrawal of all of our forces can you give assessment but the intelligence sources suggest your assessment conclude is the strength of the -- those that might be waiting for us to leave and their ability to carry out attacks to undo everything we have achieved at this point? >> thank you, congressman. first, with losel mosul. probably the most difficult area in the province because mosul is part of the province it is still the most difficult area however, we are making progress.

what we have been able to do as with iraqi security forces is bonds ability inside the cities that has allowed us to move out slide in the belts of around mosul and also move towards the border with syria which is made it more difficult for foreign fighters and other groups so i think because of that we are starting to see a reduction in the capacity of there. the current concern goes back to their attempt to exploit some of the political fissures where you have some groups such as al qaeda trying to at it might conflict and potentially some shia minority groups and kurdish minority groups. >> is al qaeda the main problem still? >> it is. it is -- again, it's capabilities or degraded but

they are still resilient and able to conduct operations. we've been able to cut into their finance network a bit. but they are like a mafia organization. the export money from small businesses in order to fund their operations. we realize that and we are going after that working with iraqi. we believe if we can go over the funding it will significantly limit what they are able to do. >> of the broad question of those waiting for us to leave and the assessment of their strength and ability. >> the important part is if we can get iraqi security forces as i stated earlier to a level -- they are on the right track. if we continue to progress the next two and a half years and found some of the things they need i believe they will be ready and able to handle the group's remaining. the development of iraqi special operations forces and ability to

do counterterrorism operations operations are getting better. police primacy is probably the one area we will probably need continued support following 2011 and we will have police prominence in many parts of iraq but not all. brigades you develop can you give a little more clarity of the troops level? linwood is 35,000 overall, but if you could break down on that and again i understand the role of those that will continue to train and equip and support the iraqi security forces what specifically what they accomplished that are not being done already today? >> first of all what we have done is we used to have -- there's about 4,000 people in the advise and assist brigades. what they can do that they have

not done before, we had external advisory teams we took from it and put them into iraq and they were independent entities. what we've done now is in bed all of these in these brigades so a gives unity of command and effort. fees' brigades control of the training and assist and will be to develop all levels so it will be much more organized, controlled and i believe we will get better results. in addition they will continue to provide security were for the of provincial reconstruction teams and other ngos and you and individuals who want to still work building iraqi civil capacity. so that will be what they do and also always provide protection for the forces, but that will be what they do so we have done is organized them to do that mission. we do some of that today but we organize more combat operations and not training and assist so what we have done is we still

have the ability to defend ourselves but they are better organized to do this type of mission. >> thank you. >> mr. coffman for five minutes. >> general odierno, on a wallace and iraq in 2005, to fill some six with united states marine corps working with sunni arab and civil affairs capacity and one thing i notice from the population they repeatedly expressed concern to me that, the iraqi army at that time working in the area was predominately shia with very few sunnis and the iraqi army and they saw that as an occupation and not force of their own. is there a better integration and the military today? >> the army and police force itself is representative of the population. so, i believe there has been more done to integrate sunni and

shia. you don't hear that much anymore. the sons of iraq and to treating them and security forces out of anbar specifically which we did and early 2007 helped specifically out in anbar and other areas. but we have sunni leaders, shia leaders, kurdish leaders. so i think the army for the most part reflects a good cross section. i still think there's some iraqis will tell you they are concerned about that leaders have not yet been approved by the council of representatives and are selected by the press minister so we have to work our way through that. that is one issue that continues to raise its head as we move forward and continue to work that with them. it's about the representatives enforcing there will based on the constitution. >> thank you, general. another question, when we look at the insurgency today, again when i