Early today I joined Bill Roggio on a conference call with Lt. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the Commander of Multi-National Security Transition Command in Iraq. For the last two years Gen. Dempsey has been in charge of recruiting, training, and equipping the Iraqi Security Forces. You can listen to the entire 20 minute interview with Gen. Dempsey here.

I started the interview by asking General Dempsey to comment to the much-publicized New York Times article earlier this week in which members of the 82nd Airborne went on the record with reporter Michael Kamber lamenting the
"abysmal performance of Iraqi security forces" and questioning whether the divided loyalties still present among some in the ISF are undermining the mission.

Dempsey acknowledged there is a certain level of frustration among US soldiers (especially those on their second and third tours) with the progress of the ISF but also said the NYT article featured an experience that was more of an exception than the rule.

Toward the end of the interview I asked Gen. Dempsey to try and put his experience in Iraq into a broader perspective and to discuss what lessons have been learned and what progress has been made. Here's part of Gen. Dempsey's response:

Getting them [Iraqis], especially at the ministry level, to see themselves as accountable to the soldier in the field has been a very tough, long fight. A different kind of fight than a fight in the street - but a fight.

But we're almost there. We're almost to the point where the ministry sees itself responsible for the well being of the soldiers. And we're almost to the point where the soldiers believe that the ministry is loyal to them.

And I think when you ask me, where is the tipping point? I think that's the tipping point - in my line of work. It's when do the field forces believe that the ministry is acting on their behalf and providing the resources they need and when is the ministry feeling that - when does someone in the ministry wake up in the morning and feel themselves responsible for making sure every Iraqi soldier is fed.

It's been very long, and it's been uneven progress, but we're about there, I think. And I think by the end of the year we will be there.

Gen. Dempsey closed by saying, "What I'd leave you with is the Iraqis haven't given up on themselves, and I hope we don't give up on them."

All in all it was a very informative discussion. If you're at all interested in hearing directly from one of our top commanders in the field it is well worth the 20 minutes of your time.