Rick Lynch Quotes (41 Quotes)

Our operations are focused on reestablishing Iraqi control of the border, ... We will continue this mission for as long as it takes... and leave a sizable and credible force to deter the terrorists.

The government of Iraq has decided that they won't accept militias on the street. The government of Iraq has decided that the Mahdi militia is out there, and shouldn't be out there.

We are seeing a confident Iraqi government using capable security forces to calm the storm.

We've got great intelligence which tells us where he's moving to and where he's trying to establish safe havens, ... We're using all assets under our control in conjunction with the Iraqi security forces to find him and kill him.

Now is not the time for the Iraqi government to take specific action against the militias. It's going to be worked over time.

approached at a high rate of speed and then conducted activity that in itself was suspicious. There were individuals hanging outside with what looked to be a weapon. It stopped and immediately put itself in reverse. Again suspicious activity. Our soldiers on the scene used established rules of engagement and all the training received ... (and they) decided that it was appropriate to engage that particular car. And as a result of that the driver was indeed killed and the passenger was hurt by shards of glass.

every planned operation, we take cultural sensitivity and things like holidays into consideration. For the momentum of the operations to continue, the decision was made to conduct the operation this morning, fully conscious of the fact that there was indeed a religious holiday, but knowing that it was important to continue the momentum.

There seems to be this basic idea that we attack a city, the insurgents run away and go somewhere else, and I've got to tell you, that's not happening,

The difference is that the Iraqi police mechanized brigade actively patrols Route Irish, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ... It transformed it from the highway of death to one of the most safe and secure routes in all of Iraq, again a tribute to the capabilities of these trained and ready police forces.

The terrorists and foreign fighters that he recruits, trains and equips carry out more than 90 percent of the insidious suicide attacks against the men, women and children of Iraq -- attacks that have killed or injured thousands of Iraqis in the last year alone.

That's what happened in Baghdad today and that's what happened in Amman yesterday.

It's hard sometimes to sort out who's killing who. But there's no doubt there's a significant Shiite impact on all this.

We're not seeing civil war ignited in Iraq. We're seeing a competent, capable Iraqi government using their security forces to calm the storm.

What was he doing that caused us to believe he was involved in suspicious activities And then we will continue to work through our process to determine whether he should remain in detention, be released or transferred into the court system.

You will see, over the next several weeks -- we're not specifying any time -- specific military operations to target the insurgency in Tal Afar,

It happened again today and it can happen again tomorrow, ... We are convinced that we are going to fight our way to the elections.

What we're seeing across Iraq is that the police forces are indeed gaining capability and gaining public confidence. They continue to grow in not just quantity, but in quality and capability.

The Iraqi government, at the point of crisis, decided to impose certain emergency measures. They relied on the Iraqi security forces to implement those measures.

There are indeed militias, and the Iraqi law wants to integrate those militias into the Iraqi security force or disband those militias. Some of them did that, some of them still have displaced loyalties that have joined the Iraqi security forces ... and they could conduct the same kind of thing that we saw in that particular event.

The absence of an effective national unity government is creating the conditions for the insurgency to do what it wants to do.

We have killed or captured 500 members of the insurgency in Tal Afar. Our intelligence estimates told us that the number of insurgents in that town probably was somewhere between 500 and 600. So if some got away, it wasn't very many.

have the ability to pick the time and place of their choosing ... They have used swarm tactics and conducted a complex attack against civilians and Iraqi police officers.

Our soldiers on the scene use an established rule of engagement ... In this case, our soldiers took the appropriate action,

The insurgents are still there, ... They still want to derail the democratic process. They still want to discredit the Iraqi government, so operations continue.

What we are seeing him do now is shift his target from the coalition forces to Iraqi civilians and Iraqi security forces. The enemy is trying to stop the formation of this national unity government he's trying to inflame sectarian violence.

The typical insurgent doesn't have the capability or the courage to take on coalition forces or Iraqi security forces in direct combat, ... So in the wee hours of darkness, his people move out and emplace these bombs. They go off the next day and kill coalition force members, Iraqi security force members or innocent Iraqis.

Those pictures were pictures of criminal acts that took place many years ago, rogue soldiers doing activity that wasn't supported by their chain of command.

We've got to applaud every day the courage and commitment of the Iraqi people. They're doing what they're doing for ... Iraq at great risk and great personal sacrifice.

We have indeed seen a reduction in the number of suicide attacks in Baghdad,

This was part of our normal procedures and not as a result of demands from terrorists or criminals. We do not negotiate with terrorists or criminals.

With authority, we can say they came from those countries,

So what I'm trying to show you is ... there is indeed areas of Iraq that are relatively safe and secure, and those people in those provinces are working their way towards a peaceful society as they work their way towards democracy, ... Sixty percent of the people of Iraq live in these provinces that are experiencing a much, much, much lower level of violence, to the point where they're averaging less than one attack per day.

In Tal Afar, coalition forces and members of the Iraqi security forces are preparing a possible military operation to rid that city of insurgents,

Again, thats blown out of proportion. Those young men and women were expressing their opinion. If you come over and talk to the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines we have on the ground her in Iraq today, they are very proud of what they're doing. They're protecting freedom and our way of life and they're proud of that fact and they will express their opinion when asked. Every visitor that comes over that talks to our soldiers leaves with a positive assessment. And those soldiers yesterday were giving their opinion.

These spikes of violence are predictable around certain critical events that highlight the progress of democracy, ... Remember, democracy equals failure for the insurgency. So there has to be heightened awareness now as we work our way toward the referend

We're not seeing civil war igniting in Iraq.

We wanted to take advantage of not only our ability to offer lower prices on our name brand products but also to harness the power of the internet which allows people easy online access to ordering 24 hours a day.

The policy doesn't need to change. The policy that's in effect is the one that will stay in effect.

What we've got to do is look at the individual that was indeed detained and what was he doing, regardless of what his profession is, ... That's a 'no'.

Right now, actively involved in operations in Tal Afar is the Third Iraqi Army Division, ... We now have sufficient assets available, between the coalition forces and Iraqi security forces, to leave behind a robust security presence so that the insurgents cannot return and that is indeed part of the plan.

In law enforcement, there's a time when you have to disassociate yourself from tragedy because if you can't, it'll destroy you, ... There's a point in an investigation where you're still working on it, but you have to keep things in perspective or you won't make it to retirement.