PRESS CONFERENCE: Training Update: Lt. Gen. Dohy, Brig. Gen. Torrens-Spence, March 16, 2008
Multi-National Force-Iraq
Staff Lt. Gen. Hussien Dohy, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army for training and doctrine, and Brig. Gen. Johnny Torrens-Spence, Deputy Commanding General of MNSTC-I, discuss the readiness and training of the Iraqi Army.
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Press Interview with Lt. Gen. Dohy and Brigadier Johnny Torrens-Spence, Deputy Commanding General of MNSCT-I
DATE: March 16, 2008
TRANSCRIBED BY: SOS INTERNATIONAL LTD.
PARTICIPANTS:
Lt. Gen. Dohy
Brigadier Torrens-Spence
Speaking in Arabic
LT. GEN. DOHY: As-Salāmu `Alaykum, everyone. "At the beginning" -- This is a verse from the Koran. I'd like to welcome everyone here today, all the media and the journalists, those who convey the truth and those who are deployed all around the country. And I wish from those people from the media to cover all the events that have been happening in the country in a transparent and in an authentic way because this will show the -- the true essence of the Iraqi people. Our briefing today is about the training in the armed forces. Everyone knows that training is the only method to increase the combat capabilities of the troops, because without training, we cannot create a professional army in the field.
Ever since the Iraqi Army was established and formed, our efforts were dedicated to training. Despite the challenges -- and that is despite the challenges and the fighting. We know that the operations in the field influence the training -- the training, and in some cases, the training -- or makes the training fast. At the beginning of the formation of the Iraqi Army, the main focus was on the essential training that will promote and enhance the battalions with good fighters to control the field.
The University of Training is one of the universities -- four universities in the army. We have the one for training and one for support, and we have one for management. The training university is under supervision from the Chief of Staff and with also directions from the Minister of Defense and also from the Prime Minister who is the commander in chief.
Our job is to supervise this institute and its work in a way that could guarantee a good training for all the units and troops. Our training, or our job, is to train the units in the Iraqi Army and increasing their combat abilities so that they could conduct the missions and the assignments that are assigned to it, and also to enhance the role of the armed forces in fighting terrorism.
While conducting operations, we focus that the operation, the effective -- and also takes into consideration the human rights and the operations should be also highly professional, and to make sure all the engagement rules are be -- are taken into consideration.
In the institutes -- In the training institutes we also focus on those things so that we can guarantee that the Iraqi soldier is a professional one and he has an effective role in the field and he could conduct his own mission in a good way. And through conducting his own mission, he could win the love of the Iraqis. And the Iraqi Army is an authority by the government and by the people, is responsible in front of the parliament.
We are a professional army and we seek to prevail democracy and spread the democracy and work in a very professional way. We are not a tool against the Iraqi people. We are here to enforce the law and fight all the outlaws or those who threaten the Iraqi people.
Next slide, please.
This slide is the structure of the training institutes. The first one, as you see, is the University of National Defense. And also we have, as you see, the institutes that are under the command of this directory. We have the National Defense University. We have the Joint University -- University of Joint Staff. We have four military universities. We have two in another area, and one of the central area, and we have one university or college in the southern area in Iraq. Those armed forces and the security situation made us to establish those number of universities. But of course, in the future, there will be plans and other plans, and we may only need one university. But that is upon the circumstances. And we have the Defense Language Institute, and also we have the Strategic Defense Institute, and also we have the Institute of Principles.
One of the recent institutes that we have is the Institute of Principles. This one -- or this institute -- seeks to develop the professional behavior of the armed forces. And it seeks to establish the standards of the professional behavior inside -- or in the field. And there's a good cooperation between the Iraqi Army and the multinational forces and the NATO to develop this institute and to make it like other institutes because the Iraqi, or combatant, when he fights, needs standards and a good morals so that he could believe in and some good principles in his own mind. And hopefully this institute is on its way to be develop more and more.
We have the tactical training institute, which has a major role in the field. We have three battalions for training -- And when I say a training battalion, that is -- that has a capacity more than the other institutes. We have seven training institutes, so in total we have seven training institutes. We have six colleges for branches and services like the military engineering; like the armored college or university, fighting terrorism for instance; communication; intelligence. Also we have the Services and Support Institute, which has courses in -- in medical care and maintenance.
All those institutes is under the command of the General Directorate. And this directorate is responsible for running all those institutes and centers. And this directorate has a coordination with all the directorates so that they could develop the courses and also plan for the future so that we can make the training tactics very effective, and we can also integrate good combatants into the Iraqi units.We have also the military training institutes or directorate, has to do with training, and it works with supervision from the main General Directory, and the all the plans are being studied in this directorate.
Training outside Iraq -- Or as for training outside Iraq, that has been also dealt with. We have a cooperation in training with the multinational forces in general, and we have also a cooperation with the NATO, and there is also a training course. And also we have a bilateral training with several countries when it comes to training, like Germany, Australia, Britain -- which is -- and that is done through the multinational forces. And also we have direct cooperation. So we have training outside Iraq during the past few years, and this had a role in integrating good combatants, good trained people -- soldiers to the Iraqi armed forces.
Everyone knows that the Iraqi Army, that there is a gap in training in the Iraqi Army. Since 1991 until 2003, we didn't have a time to train the soldiers outside Iraq. Now we need to fill this gap through training and to gain experience from other armies and countries. And we want to learn -- We wanted to learn how to learn the new technology and to make use and utilize the experiences -- and not copy them -- and this is an important point: We viewed our experiences like in the United States or Australia, but we choose what suits us. The Iraqi Army has a long history of 80 years and has experience and has potentials; however, we should also seek the experience of others and also we contact with them so that we can support the training system for the Iraqi Army.
Also this directorate deals with the higher education because the armed forces need pharmacists, doctors, engineers, dentals (sic). All those majors and specialties, we need to bring them from the civilian institutes so that they come and volunteer and work for the armed forces.
We have a department in which our officers go to and work on getting their higher educations, whether inside or outside of Iraq, so that we can work on the -- or have good professional soldiers in our army.
We have also a department that works on the military doctrine.
And also the courses and the booklets that we -- and the rules of engagement -- all these things are being taught through these courses. The standards of the training, this directorate and this department makes studies and researchers and also issues booklets to support the training system so that it will be in a good way.
We have also a department here which supports the training, because training without finance is not good. We need financial support to the training as well. And the coordination is ongoing so that we can get the recent and the modern equipment and -- and spread them on the all the units so that the units will be effective in the field.
And we have detailed plans for that in the ministry recently, and we have a plan that will start from 2008 until 2020, and it has been divided into stages. And each stage -- on each stage, each -- leadership and each command like the Navy, the Air Force, all those presented their demands for each stage.
The first stage starts from 2008 to 2011. We need to set up our demands in training and support. And this is being done, and hopefully there will be enough budget to support this.
We have also the Directorate of Print or printing. When a booklet is issued and approved, this goes to the printing and -- so that those books could be printed out. And we are also planning to import some new machines so that we can print the book -- the books and the booklets so that they should be used in training.
The other training is the ministerial development and training. In the Ministry of Defense, we have the cooperation between the civilians and the military in running the Ministry of Defense. We have so many civilians in the Ministry of Defense, and those civilians need training. This center has been established so that it will train and develop all the abilities of the civilians. There are training courses and -- in contracts and development and supplies, searching, for instance, courses in legal issues -- budgets, let's say -- and this center is responsible for planning for those -- or in charge for planning for those courses.
We have set a system for the -- for the employees. Everyone who has a bachelor's degree needs several years and needs several courses so that he will be promoted, and this is one of the things that we pay attention to.
The last directorate is the engineering directory, and it has a really effective role, and it supervises training all the engineering battalions and also those of the armed -- of the explosive ordnance team.
We have a plan so that every division has a battalion, an engineering battalion and -- we will also have -- or there will be also a team to fight the explosives.
This is just a summary of the -- what we have in the Iraqi Army right now.
This slide shows the capabilities in our institutes. And as you can see, we have the national defense. It has the potentials that it can receive, like employees or 20 (sic), it could raise (sic).
We could also give them some courses so that they could be, in the future, leaders. We have the Chief of Staff University. We have a course for the newly -- officers -- 60 officers, and the total is now 100. Now we have a project to develop the Chief of Staff University so that it will include 150 students. And also we have -- there's a plan to -- to establish or form the war college or school. The military colleges, their current capacity is like 2,000. We have one in Rustamiyah, and one in Nasiryah that has 300, and in the northern area, in Sulaymaniya and Zaho, each contains 50 members or students.
And we have 2,000 students right now, because the Iraqi Army needs new soldiers and young soldiers that believe in the Constitution, that believe in the Iraqi Army, that believe in the new Iraq, and that believe in all the new standards, and the Iraqi standards and the high professional standards for the military. So bringing all those youth will also develop the abilities of the Iraqi army.
The Defense Language Institute, it has a capacity of 55, and it's planned to be increased to 350, because the English language in the units is not really good. What I'm not saying that for the officers, and also for the non commissioned officers, we seek to develop their abilities in the English language because the English is a -- because English is an international language and used for communication. And there is a -- a project and a plan by the multinational forces that gave nine billion dollars to establish a -- an institute for languages. And our ministry is also supporting it through supplying with furniture so that we can teach the English language for all the soldiers. And it will not be only for the Ministry of Defense, but also there will be people from the Ministry of Interior as well in these courses.
The things that I've explained are actually now ten the training. We have three under reconstruction -- the training centers, that is. We have 8,250, and we are planning to increase them to 27,000. And if you ask why -- why this large numbers and why this increase in capacity -- when -- when there is a good -- when security is established, we will also start training again the Iraqi Army so that we can increase the abilities of the Iraqi Army and also we can include the new technology that will promote the Iraqi Army.
There is also talk that contracts have been signed to arm the Iraqi -- or supply the Iraqi Army with new technology and new weapons.
The universities or branches, and we have six, and it has 1,050. The services and -- 1,000 will be reached or will be increased to 1,500. The tactical training is four hundred -- or 4,000, it will be increased to 5,000. That's the capacity will be increased. And it will be supplied with all the technology that -- so that we can train two brigades within this institute -- an entire brigade with all its battalions and companies. And we have graduated the second -- or the 11th division graduated, and a fourth brigade from the -- also graduated.
So this institute has all the equipments so that the units can come and also train in those institutes.
Next slide, please.
This slide -- and I've talked about that -- and I said that the Iraqi army is an independent one and is a professional one, and we're planning so that the Iraqi Army applies the exact rules of engagement.
So what are these standards that we are trying to implant in the Iraqi Army? Those standards that I will mention, we focus on them every day in the training centers, the institutes that I talked about, which is about the principles -- the military principles, focus on those points that I will mention during the courses.
Those principles, as you can see, and I will mention them: Loyalty, or integrity to the unit -- to the army, that is -- to the country, to the people. Integrity to the people. When you're loyal to the people, to the country, you will perform a -- in a good way.
Honor. One of the good features and important features for the soldier. When a soldier is honorable, he will work in a good, proficient way and he will respect the human rights. And a soldier, if he's -- well, impeccable, will also depict a good picture by the Iraqi soldier.
Courage. Courage to accept all kind of danger. And this is the feature of every fighter. Self denial. To be ready to sacrifice yourself for the sake of your country and for the sake of your people.
The Iraqi people respects the Iraqi Army. And it's impossible to achieve security and stability without the armed forces. The armed forces, the Ministry of Interior, with those of the interior and the defense, all those are armed forces. Our mission now is to achieve security and stability in this country and to fight terrorism courageously so that we can guarantee the security of those people, because the Iraqi people sacrificed a lot and -- but hopefully with the efforts of all those in the Iraqi armed forces and the people, whether in the Interior, Defense -- with support from the Iraqi people, with support from the parliament, with support from the elected government, we will be the tool, the decisive tool, because this country has all the potentials of development. We have two rivers, we have oil, we have good people. So when everything is established -- when security is established, Iraq will be a role model.
We have all the resources and the potentials, but the security situation is a critical one, but hopefully, your sons in the armed forces will be ready to sacrifice themselves and to give the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of securing the country and its citizens.
Loyalty to the country, also one of the important features, and I've talked about an independent Iraqi Army. There's no difference between -- or any distinguish among the soldiers, whether in religion or nationality. We all work for Iraq.
Yesterday I was listening to Prime Minister Maliki, and he talked about this as well, and he gave instructions. And the Minister of Defense and all the commanders also gave instructions regarding this point. We want the Iraqi soldier -- because several times I've went to places let's make -- and I said, "Let's make the Iraqi Army an example for the unity of Iraq. Together all, as soldiers, we can guarantee the security of the country."
The other one is conducting the missions with high professionality, and we've talked about this, respecting the rules and regulations, and this is an important thing. And the -- There's a law that if any person breaks the martial law will be prosecuted. So everyone who breaks those laws will be punished. We have the previous law, and there are also -- Now we have a military law that was approved by the parliament, and it was passed in July of 2007.
I'd like to thank you for listening, and I'm sorry for taking this long time in my briefing. But I think my presentation gave you a good picture about the Iraqi Army and the efforts in building this army.
And I hope all of you, journalists and media, could convey a good picture of the Iraqi Army, because every country needs an army. You cannot protect the sovereignty of any country without an army. We have heard so many things since the Iraqi Army was formed. All the armed forces are the sons and the -- they belong to the former Iraqi Army, and I'm one of them. We rebuilt and reformed the Iraqi Army -- the new one -- based on the capabilities of the former Iraqi Army. And we added new potentials and capabilities.
And we hope from all of you to depict a bright picture about the Iraqi Army. Because if the media didn't do that, our work will do.
Thank you.
Asking Question in Arabic
UNKNOWN SPEAKER: I have two questions to General Dohy. When do you think the Iraqi Army will be ready to assume security responsibility in all Iraq? The second question to General Torrens-Spence: There are some reports saying that the multinational forces set a timetable to -- or let's say a number for the Iraqi Army not to exceed 100,000; is that true? And have you set a limitation for the number of the Iraqi army in the future?
BRIG. TORRENS-SPENCE: Sir, do you want to start?
Speaking in Arabic
LT. GEN. DOHY: As far as the readiness of the Iraqi Army. Since 2003, the armed forces are working day and night to rebuild the Iraqi Army and re-equip it. And all the efforts by the Iraqi forces, by the multinational forces, the NATO, all those efforts are working to training and equip the Iraqi Army.
The process of the readiness of the Iraqi Army is not an easy one; however, we have plans and we have exact plans to develop those army. But the -- giving responsibility to the Iraqi security forces so that -- this is out of our specialty. We work to achieve a good training for the armed forces.
Now our units are deployed everywhere, and you know the impact of the operations on the performance of the units. This lessens the chances of training. We need to be trained. And we need to train the platoon; we need to train the company, the battalion, the brigade. Now, currently, we are just training the companies, that is, just bring in a company and train it. And the units that we've trained, that include the brigade that I've talked about, were just about training for the equipment, the supply. We need a long time to train the Iraqi Army and also to increase its potentials and capabilities. Yes, we do have some brave soldiers and officers; however, the training is really an essential part and we're planning for this in the future.
BRIG. TORRENS-SPENCE: Before I do, I should just start by introducing myself. I'm Brigadier Johnny Torrens-Spence. I'm the deputy commanding general of MNSCT-I. And our job -- principal job here is to support the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, in the generation and development of the armed forces. And I've worked very closely with General (inaudible) Dohy here on that.
And I would like to start by saying -- by congratulating him and his staff in what they have done to develop the Iraqi Army in the last year or year and a half. I think we're all aware the speed at which the Iraqi Army is growing, and it's very, very impressive. But there's more to this than just growth in numbers. There has been substantial growth in quality as well. And that is basically down to training. And a very large measure of that, the credit for that, goes to General Hussein and his staff.
So sir, I'd just like to congratulate you on your work.
On the particular question of the numbers, the Iraqi Army, as you know, is already more than 100,000, and it continues to grow. There is no specific number, as far as the coalition is concerned. The size of the Iraqi Army is a decision for the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, and we will support whatever judgment they make on that.
LT GEN DOHY Yes please, Ladies first.
MS. CHON: Gina Chon, "Wall Street Journal." I was just wondering if you had an estimate of how many of the Sons of Iraq or local security groups are actually in some of these training colleges or institutes and what the reception of these groups has been. And then also with the speed of the growth of the armed forces, what your status is in terms of equipment, in terms of shortages where you see them -- if it's vehicles, if it's weapons, ammunition -- where you see the biggest deficiencies there?
LT. GEN. DOHY: First of all, all people who join the Iraqi Army is Iraqis. At the beginning of 2003 until now, many Iraqi people contact the recruiting center and they are working in different units and division. You can go now to 2nd Division in the north and you can see people from Basra. So the young Iraqi people, even soldier or officer, they have the will to join the Iraqi Army and to serve their nation and to work very hard, and they are ready to sacrifice by themselves to secure their nation.
Also for the equipment, we have many equipment, many armored vehicles, different equipment. But we are planning for the future to purchase very high-technology equipment. Even for soldiers as individuals, I mean rifles and so on. Now we import M-4, M-16, and we change the Kalashnikov rifle. And many units have the training in different training centers on the new rifles and they use them in the field.
Last Thursday we received the first group of 45 Humvee, and the multinational force provided us about 1,500 vehicles as a gift. But also our ministry have many contracts for new Humvees and many equipment to increase the capability and readiness for our army. Is that okay? Okay.
MS. CHON: You don't know the exact number (inaudible) security vehicles (inaudible) according to actual training?
LT. GEN. DOHY: What's your number, please?
MS. CHON: Of some of these local security volunteers moving into training for the Iraqi Army, the numbers that are in the schools or training institutes?
LT. GEN. DOHY: For each circle of training, plenty of Iraqi people go to the recruiting center, and some of them don't get the chance to join the Iraqi Army, and they are more than the current capacity of our training. So Iraqi people have the will to joint the Iraqi Army. And I mentioned in my representation the capacity for those training centers. In each circle of training, we have the full capacity. Now we have about 11,000 soldiers enter the training, and they will finish training in a few weeks. And they will finish -- maybe next circle will join the training.
Asking Question in Arabic
UNKNOWN SPEAKER: A question to general Dohy -- How much time do you think the Iraqi Army -- How much time do you think the Iraqi Army needs so that it could reach a good development? And will you also supply them with new technology to pursue terrorism?
Speaking in Arabic
LT. GEN. DOHY: Of course, the -- when a soldier is -- or goes to the recruiting center, goes to the training after presenting all the official documents. At the training, we have a limited time, or a specified time that does not exceed 45 days, that takes the essential training.
And some of them goes through other specialized training and joins the units. And those units will start a -- also a simplified training because most of the units are preoccupied with operations.
Most of those who come to the Iraqi Army now have some training experience. We only retrain them and rehabilitate them. And this is because of all the soldiers and the youth have experience in the military field. But if you ask me do we plan to keep those numbers for – on long-term? No. The budget of the government should be directed to develop Iraq. It should be directed to develop the country and its people. But the current need now is to provide enough number to establish stability in Iraq. But after the mission is accomplished, of course, all the capabilities and the youth will also head to other units and sectors, and we will limit ourselves with certain divisions that have a good technology so that we can fill the gap, because the new armies are not measured with its number, but with its quality -- and its equipping quality, that is -- and hopefully this Iraqi -- elected government, the parliament, and the commanders in the army, they all seek to equip the Iraqi Army with new armed -- arms and new technology so that it can compete with other armies in the world.
Asking Question in Arabic
UNKNOWN SPEAKER: You've mentioned four universities, one in the central and one in the south and two in the north. There's a suggestion why don't you start working again with the reserve officers again -- of the University of the Reserve Officers, because they have a good educational background and they are much more ready -- and I'm one of the reserve officers. I have trained courses starting from 28 and above. And I was a captain at that time.
Speaking in Arabic
LT. GEN. DOHY: As for the University of Reserve Officers, which was in the Ar-Rashid area near the Iraqi air force. Now, the Iraqi Army needs capabilities and good educated members. And we are also working on a system to train the officers. You don't really have really good information and details about the Iraqi Army, so I hope that you are patient with me so that I can share with you all those information.
This system of the officers includes those who are graduated from the high school and those who are graduated from the colleges. We plan (inaudible) those two enter the training, and they are graduated as a lieutenant. But the current security situation, it is -- or the person who has graduated from the college has a six-month's training, and he graduates as a lieutenant, as has happened in the past.
Those who graduate from college and apply for the army, and of course according to our own standards can go to the military academy, could present his official documents and he will be approved. Those will be in a separate company, let's say, and they will be trained for six months. And when they graduate, they will be lieutenants. This plan -- or this system -- because we know that -- and what are the essential courses that he should take, and we've talked about this. And where those courses will take place, and what are the courses that they will take, and who will teach those courses? All those things and all those questions will be studied and will be solved soon so that each officer will know each course and what is taught in those courses, starting from a lieutenant and above, that is.
And this is a new thing that we've never had this before, which is the system of the -- because we're working with the NATO and the multinational forces so that we can take the recent experiments to develop the staff sergeants in the Iraqi Army, and the sergeant majors, because you, as a commander, you could also authorize the sergeant major to conduct operations or missions. And as you can see, as in the multinational forces, how the sergeant major handles the issues of the soldiers. And we also made a system how to train a soldier starting from a private, a corporal, et cetera. And there will be a new course about this on May 1st, and we have also a complete system and a comprehensive one for this training. As in the future, there will probably -- there will be a special college for the reserves. But all those universities received the college graduates. But of course there are engineers who also applied for the Iraqi Army and there are people who had -- they all wanted to volunteer in the Iraqi Army. Thank you.
One Iraqi and one Japanese.
MR. KIMURA: My name is Kimura from Kyodo News. Question to General: Okay? I understand that former members of Iraq Islamic Army in the 1920 brigades, some of the former members have been integrated into the new Iraq security forces. Roughly, how many of them have joined the new security forces? And what is the vetting procedure -- I mean, how do you guarantee their loyalty to the new security forces?
Speaking in Arabic
LT. GEN. DOHY: That was called awakening. The Iraqi Army is an independent one and is a professional one. Anyone who volunteers in the Iraqi army should set aside his party or his sectarian. There's no objection to the volunteer of any person to the Iraqi Army. The only standard that we follow is that he believe in the professionalism of the Iraqi Army and he should be fully independent. He should not belong to any party. He should leave all his sectarian connections so that he will give a bright picture of the Iraqi Army while conducting his mission in the field so that the Iraqi Army will respect him.
I don't have any objection -- and this is coming from the Minister of Defense -- all those who, of course, have some hysterical, criminal background against the Iraqi people will not be admitted in the army.
There are committees that were formed to investigate all the information about those who volunteer in the Iraqi Army. And when this army is convinced -- or this committee is convinced that he's good for the Iraqi armed forces, he will be admitted and approved. And we don't have any reservation or any objection against anyone. When he comes to the armed forces, he will have to leave everything behind and he should be loyal to the Iraqi people and his country.
Asking Question in Arabic UNKNOWN SPEAKER There are several former officers that did not join or were not successful to join the Iraqi Army and the Ministry of Defense, despite that they were referred to the recruiting centers, but they were not successful in joining the Iraqi Army.
Speaking in Arabic
LT. GEN. DOHY: The recruiters that went through the former reserve -- Are they reservists? We have someone who graduated from the military academy, and those who are reservists were recruits, because he -- those who like graduated from a civilian university then joined the army. We have no objection against those people.
Asking Question in Arabic
UNKNOWN SPEAKER: They are referred to the recruiting centers now, and they told him that you don't -- apply -- and you don't fit these -- new standards of the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi defense ministry.
Speaking in Arabic
LT. GEN. DOHY: Of course, every Iraqi officer, you have statistics and you have everything, and you have an idea. So even -- especially those are -- like sergeant or -- and army needs those people. I can't promise you, but I can go back to the Ministry of Defense and this subject will be checked with some officials in the ministry, and I will coordinate with certain officials there, and we will talk about this.
THE MODERATOR: We have time for two questions.
Asking Question in Arabic
UNKNOWN SPEAKER: I have two questions. First, how would you guarantee the -- First question is, how would you guarantee these standards and principles that you built and implant inside those soldiers, because he might have some loyalty to a certain party or militia? And the other question is about the human rights -- The second question is regarding the human rights. How would you guarantee that the human rights will be applied by -- and they will be taken into consideration by the Iraqi Army, especially in the checkpoints, because some of the Iraqi soldiers abused -- the Iraqi Army -- and we have some complaints from the lawmakers in the parliament who complained from certain behaviors of the Iraqi Army. So how would you analyze and describe this?
Speaking in Arabic
LT. GEN. DOHY: Those words and points that I've talked about are moral things that you cannot touch them by hand. They should be implanted inside a person and they should be reflected during his work. And it's being said when you believe in something, when you have faith in something, it will show it in your work. Which means the Iraqi officer, when he has faith in those principles, he will apply those principles in the field.
The Iraqi military -- or the soldiers working alone, he has a commander in the platoon and he has a commander in the company, and those certain people have a duty to control the performance of the Iraqi soldier in the field. The commander cannot perform and watch all the soldiers. There's one thing: A soldier should also keep an eye and watch himself. And as a general principle, when we talk about an independent, professional soldier that takes -- take care of the Iraqi people and also takes into consideration the human sources. So all those things should be implemented by the Iraqi soldiers. But could you guarantee that all the soldiers that perform and implement this? No. And this happens in all the countries. So when there is a violation, so those commanders that I've mentioned are charged and responsible for -- for reforming such behavior. And if this behavior violated the regulations -- so there should be an investigating committee and he will be presented to martial court.
So controlling the units is non central -- or decentralized. When I guarantee -- I should guarantee the work of each and every platoon.
But if there's any mistake, I will be in contact with all the commanders in the platoons. So when we train our soldiers -- and the best thing we can do is that we train our soldiers to monitor this behavior. And if we are able to do that, we will be a good professional army. Yes, we know that there are some mistakes.
There could be some violations on the regulations, but this doesn't mean that we should be frustrated.
We have an important mission in front of us, and we have to remove all the obstacles. You talked about some of the soldiers, that there were some complaints from the parliament -- Yes, I've heard through some reports in the media about this, and this is an individual behavior. And of course an individual behavior, if it's wrong, it should be punished. I personally -- I'm one of the people -- I don't allow for those who are near me or any soldiers to abuse anyone or misbehave. So if you're in the field -- I always say this regarding your behavior and in working in the field: When you go inside a house and search, one of the duties in searching, you have to enter the house in a very cautious way. You have to respect the family. You shouldn't mess with the furniture. So that when you leave the house, you have leave a positive picture of the Iraqi Army. And this is the duty of every soldier and the duty of every officer.
And we have to be patient and look forward to the day when we can see the Iraqi Army has all the capabilities and the skills so that it will also compete with all the armies and the countries. And this is not something impossible for the Iraqi armed forces.
I'd like to thank you for coming today. And I hope what we've talked about today and the message that we gave today reached all the viewers, the Iraqi people so that they could have a good picture about the training of the Iraqi Army and what is being planned for this army. And hopefully -- And we promise you -- we will be good soldiers to carry out the responsibility that we have and also to achieve our goals in fighting terrorism in Iraq. Thank you.
BRIG. TORRENS-SPENCE: Thank you very much.
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