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Media Stakeout by Secretary of Defense Robert M.
Gates and General Peter Pace Following a Briefing of Senate Members on Iraq.
Location: The Capitol, Washington, D.C. SEC.
GATES: About half of the Senate was at the briefing.
We offered to do these briefings once a month.
We laid out the commitments the Iraqis made and that our government has made and progress against those goals or commitments and benchmarks, if you will.
We got a lot of good questions and it was a good session.
Q: The commander was relieved of his duties, but his replacement might have been to blame as well?
SEC.
GATES: We've had our independent group reviewing this.
I've made it clear all along that these problems ...
that action wasn't going to be limited to junior officers and NCOs and enlisted.
I think the commanders have to be held accountable.
My understanding at least from the Army's press release that the stand in is temporary.
So I think we need somebody to deal with this.
But I think certainly that everybody in the Army and certainly everybody at the Department of Defense understands accountability and that I don't have very much patience for people that don't step up to the plate in terms of addressing problems that are under their responsibillity.
And that I would hold true going forward and in other venues as well.
Q: Does the 45-day commitment hold?
SEC.
GATES: Yes.
We affirmed the 45-day commitment.
They are all on board and ready to go to work.
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-- News Transcripts:
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/ |