Carter F. Hamis a retired United States General who served as the second commander of U.S. Africa Command. As commander of Africa Command, he led Operation Odyssey Dawn, the initial U.S. role in the 2011 military intervention in Libya... (wikipedia)
There are some isolated instances of insurgent contact, but relatively light,
Since about April, May, that had been going down, just every month, until last month, ... And then in September of '05, it started to come back up again.
I can tell you that they were a unit that was moving in an amphibious assault vehicle ... their normal vehicle to move in, ... It is an armored vehicle that they use in the conduct of their normal operations.
Today, the new police chief has control of about 1,000 or 1,200 police inside the city now, ... And we think they'll probably -- they'll grow a little bit between now and the election, maybe about 1,500 or so.
we'll do everything we can to help them.
There's still a bit more coming and some that will leave, but that's a pretty good number, I think, for where we'll be through the referendum,
They are dangerous and they certainly have a capability, ... But whether or not they have an ability to freely operate in that area, I think not.
It's fairly well understood that coalition forces are making a concerted effort to protect personnel and vehicles throughout the country as they are moving, and the enemy is seeking ways to counter that increased protected effort,
This is a very lethal, and unfortunately, adaptive enemy that we are faced with inside Iraq,
Clearly, an AAV (Amtrac) does not offer the same protection a tank does,