- So we want to first off,
apologize for the technical problems.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances in Baghdad
are unable to bring you video today.
We're going to be doing this by phone
but we're still doing it here in the briefing room
because we wanted to afford
those on the out stations who might
be watching the live stream of this
the ability to continue to watch it.
And before we get started,
General Martin, just want to make sure you can hear us
and we can hear you.
- [General Martin] I can hear you loud and clear, Adrian.
- Great Sir.
Before we
get to your introduction I just wanted to pass on
another piece of information for all of you.
Secretary of Defense Mattis will embark
on his first trip as Secretary of Defense
on February 1st to meet with his counterparts
from two critical U.S. Allies,
Japan and the Republic of Korea.
This four day trip will include stops in both
Seoul and Tokyo.
Departing on February 1st,
Secretary Mattis will begin his trip
in the Republic of Korea
where he will meet with Minister of National Defense
Han Min-goo, excuse me,
and other senior Korean officials.
And then on February 3rd,
Secretary Mattis travels to Tokyo
for meetings with Minister of Defense, Tomomi Inada,
and other senior Japanese officials.
The trip will underscore the commitment
of the United States to our enduring alliances
with Japan and the Republic of Korea
and further strengthen
U.S., Japan,
Republic of Korea security cooperation.
Now this morning,
it's my pleasure to introduce Major General Joe Martin.
He's the ...
The CJFLCC,
which is the Commanding General
of the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command
for operation Inherent Resolve.
He's also the commander of the 1st Infantry Division
in Fort Riley, Kansas,
better known to many of you as The Big Red One.
General Martin took this position in Iraq
in November, 2016 ...
and as Commander of Coalition Joint Forces
Land Component Command,
General Martin leads the multi-national force,
comprised of land, air,
Naval, Marine, and Special Operations personnel,
charged with carrying out operations
under operation Inherent Resolve umbrella,
to include the advice, assist, and enabling mission
provided to Iraqi security forces
working to liberate Mosul.
And just for your understanding
and please as you talk to him,
keep in mind his responsibilities are limited
to operations in Iraq.
He's not the person
who can speak best to Syria issues.
And with that, General Martin,
I'll pause to turn it over to you
for your intro remarks.
I'm going to depart the stage
and turn it over to Major Rankine-Galloway,
who will moderate this event from here forward.
Thank you General.
- [General Martin] Well good morning everybody
and thanks for listening today.
I'm Joe Martin, the commander of the
Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command,
which includes all the coalition ground forces in Iraq.
I also command the 1st Infantry Division,
The Big Red One out of Fort Riley, Kansas.
Last night after more than 100 days of tough, urban combat,
the government in Iraq,
and the Iraqi Security Forces
announced the liberation of Eastern Mosul.
While clearance operations will continue,
the Iraqi Security Forces control all areas
inside of the city
east of the Tigris river.
This is a monumental achievement
for the Iraqi Security Forces,
and one that would have been a difficult task
for any army in the world.
There's still a difficult fight ahead in Western Mosul,
but the ISF has proven that they are both
a professional and formidable fighting force.
I want to take a moment to update you on the contributions,
on our contributions to the success and momentum
that the Iraqi Security Forces are having in Iraq.
The Iraqi Security Forces
has sustained success in Eastern Mosul
liberating hundreds of thousands of civilians from DAESH.
DAESH fighters have had their pay reduced,
they've seen fewer VBIEDs,
much less sophisticated I would add
that are being used at any point in the ISF's effort
to liberate Mosul.
DAESH is increasingly unable to respond
to the Iraqi Security Force's
pressure from multiple directions.
I know most of you are interested in how long
it's gonna take to liberate the rest of Mosul.
The truth is we don't know.
What I do know is that the Iraqis
have made significant progress in retaking a city
about the size of Philadelphia
in a fight that would be difficult for any army to execute.
Mosul's about 145 square kilometers.
It's got a population of 1.2 million people.
It has over 200,000 structures
and almost 3,000 kilometers of road to clear.
The Mosul offensive is some of the
hardest door to door fighting
the world has seen in recent history.
While I'm not gonna go into specifics
or predict how the Iraqis will take on Western Mosul,
what I'll tell you is that it will be challenging.
DAESH has had over two years
to fortify its defensive positions
and prepare its supplies for that defense.
Under these conditions,
the government of Iraq and the Iraqi Security Forces
are taking exceptionally great care
to protect the lives of the thousands of civilians
who remain in Mosul.
Their safety is a primary consideration
in the ISF's ongoing effort to defeat DAESH
and liberate Mosul.
An unfortunate fact is that DAESH
doesn't value human life.
They continue to occupy protected civilian infrastructures
such as hospitals, schools, and mosques.
We know they've done this on the east side.
And we can reasonably expect more of the same
on the west side.
As we talk about sustained success,
it's important to understand the success
that the Iraqi Security Forces has had
over the past two plus years.
Think about it.
Since September, 2014,
when the enemy was essentially at the gates of Baghdad,
they've liberated over 2.4 million people,
regained tens of thousands of square kilometers of ground
and liberated hundreds of towns and villages.
The Iraqi Security Forces
have also secured vital resources,
including the Mosul Dam,
the Qayyarah Oil fields,
and the Baiji Refinery.
And, at the same time,
the coalition has trained 11 brigades,
more than 40 battalions,
with just about 60,000 fighters during the same time frame.
It's for the coalition mission,
we advise, assist, and enable the Iraqi Security Forces
with the goal of liberating Mosul
and defeating DAESH in Iraq.
We also build partner capacity
by training and equipping them.
When our leaders talk about dealing ISIL a lasting defeat,
it is this training that will enable it.
We partner with the Iraqi Security Forces to build
and maintain momentum against
a determined and entrenched enemy
and will go wherever the Iraqi forces go
in order to do that.
We also provide lethal strikes
that are coordinated and, of course,
approved by the Iraqi government.
Force protection is my number one priority.
It needs to be understood that
there's always risks to coalition forces,
no matter the distance from the close fight.
That's just the nature of combat.
We advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces
down to the Brigade level.
This aspect of our mission is important
to synchronize the actions of our partner forces
and the actions of the coalition.
This helps us to exploit DAESH's vulnerabilities
which continue to grow each and every day.
With that in mind,
coalition forces are not here to fight for the Iraqis,
but rather enable their success.
We are, however, prepared to defend ourselves if necessary.
Through our operations,
the coalition has degraded DAESH's fighters
on the front lines.
We've disrupted their command and control apparatus
and imposed an incredible strain on their leaders,
industrial base,
financial system,
communications networks,
and the system that they use to bring in foreign fighters
to fill their rapidly depleting ranks, here in Iraq.
DAESH continues to be a parasite,
relentlessly exploiting the people and infrastructure,
like hospitals, schools, and mosques,
despite the international laws protecting those sites.
The important thing to remember is that
the Iraqi Security Forces,
and every nation in this coalition
are united with the goal to liberate Mosul
and defeat DAESH in Iraq.
And with that, I'd be happy to take your questions.
- Couple of questions.
Have you been given any additional or new direction
to speed up the campaign,
either land or air in Iraq
or Syria if that's part of your role?
And do you see room for a bigger U.S. role in Iraq
on the ground or in the air,
in terms of either larger numbers of U.S. forces
or U.S. forces operating
further forward
in Iraq?
- [General Martin] I'm sorry, I didn't get your name,
but what I'd tell you is that
we have seen an increase in the tempo
and it began on the 29th of December
when the Iraqi Security Forces began conducting operations
after they did, in essence,
a refit and a reorganization
after 60 days of tough fighting.
The combination of their ground maneuver
created a condition where the enemy had to react
to contact from multiple directions
and in doing so revealed vulnerabilities
that enabled us to target the enemy forces
at a significantly higher rate
than we had done before.
Our mission has not changed
and I can't speculate on what may come forward in the future
but currently, our mission has not changed.
But that is the increase in the tempo
that you may have been observing
since the 29th of December.
- General, this is Bob Burns from AP.
Just a follow up question.
So you were saying you haven't been given
any new direction from Washington
on the U.S. role there in Iraq.
But do you, as the commander,
do you see ways that would be fruitfully exploited
in which U.S. forces could
operate further forward or take a bigger role
on the ground or in the air?
- [General Martin] Bob, our role is exactly
where it needs to be right now.
And that's beside the Iraqis,
advising, assisting,
and enabling and training them.
And it has worked very well ...
since the 29th of December.
And we continue to plan on supporting them
until they defeat DAESH.
- [Bob] Thank you,
- Next we'll go to Tara Copp, Stars and Stripes.
- Thank you General.
I wanted to know, did the Turks have a role
in the fall of East Mosul?
The last time we were there,
there were Turkish forces kind of
to, I guess, the north and east of Mosul
and it was unclear what their role would be
and then I have a followup.
- [General Martin] The Turk, I'm sorry,
could you say the question again?
- Did Turkish forces have a role in the fall of East Mosul?
In the late fall there
were around 2,000 or so Turkish forces
and it was unclear what their role would be
in the advance on Mosul.
- [General Martin] What you saw
was the result of Iraqi Security Forces
conducting operations in a simultaneous fashion
against DAESH in Eastern Mosul.
The Turkish did not have a role in that.
- So did those Turkish forces withdraw from Iraq?
Their presence had been a point of contention.
- [General Martin] Well what I would tell you
is anybody who operates
within the country of Iraq
should coordinate with
and receive the approval of the government of Iraq
to operate within the country of Iraq.
So I would ask the government of Iraq that question.
But I can't answer that question.
- Okay, and then specifically with the U.S. advisors.
Their role in the fall of East Mosul.
How far into the city were advisors?
Did they accompany their units all the way up
to the river?
Or could you give us a sense of what they're doing now?
- [General Martin] I'm gonna tell you a story
to help give you a sense of exactly what they're doing.
Principally, they're with Brigade
and Division level commanders.
And so imagine a coalition force ...
advisor
and his equipment and his team
in the same vicinity of an Iraqi Brigade Commander
or Division Commander.
And they're together,
they're fusing and sharing intelligence.
They're together and they're fusing and sharing
a common operating picture,
understanding exactly where the Iraqis are.
And together, with the Iraqis approval,
they're striking targets in a much more
effective and
quick fashion
in executing those targets.
And so they're side by side,
they're building relationships,
they're getting to know each other better every day,
and that has created an incredible synergy
in terms of enabling the Iraqis ground maneuver
to achieve unprecedented success and speed.
- The most recent success in East Mosul,
were those brigades in the city?
Did the advisors go into the city with them?
- [General Martin] I'm sorry, I didn't answer your question.
If that Brigade Commander at his command post
is moving into the city,
the advisors absolutely would be right beside
that Brigade Commander in the city.
They'll go where that Brigade Commander goes.
- Next we'll go to Laurie Mylroie, from Kurdistan 24.
- General, I have two questions.
The first concerns the role of the Shia Militias.
News reports have them operating,
that they're gonna be part of the
liberation of Western Mosul
and that they're operating now
to clear up the roads
to Tikrit and Mosul.
And given earlier reports that they were abusive
towards the Sunnis.
The Sunnis were afraid of them.
Do you have any concerns about
the participation of the Shia Militias in these operations?
- [General Martin] The Shia Militia
are to the west of Mosul
and they're exactly where the Governor of Iraq
has asked them to be,
providing some security to the west of the city.
I'm not aware of them being inside of the city.
And they're doing exactly what the government of Iraq
has asked them to do.
- So they're operating under Iraqi command and control?
- [General Martin] They're operating
under the command and control of the government of Iraq.
- And my second question concerns East Mosul.
Now that it's liberated,
I'm sure the coalition is learning a lot more
about what DAESH was in East Mosul
and how it was operating.
Was there any particular role that the Chechens had?
Were they significant or marginal
in DAESH in East Mosul?
- [General Martin] I can't specifically comment
as to the activities specifically of the Chechens,
but there are foreign fighters
that have fought in Eastern Mosul
and there's other foreign fighters
that are in other places in Iraq.
But I can't specifically comment on the Chechens.
- Could you say from where did most
of the foreign fighters come?
Is there some area that stands out mostly?
- [General Martin] No, there's no area that sticks out.
They're from several countries.
- Next to Kasem with Anadolu.
- Thanks General for doing this.
My question will be again about the hold force.
Has the hold force started to move in
to the Eastern Mosul to establish security over there?
- [General Martin] So my partner that I work with
each and every day
has placed a premium on the hold force.
And they're in the process of transitioning
from clearance operations into hold force.
And so, just to give you a picture of this,
you know, they've cleared the East Side.
A little over a hundred thousand buildings.
If you think six rooms in each building,
that's a herculean task
and so what they're doing now
is they're going back through
and they're ensuring that everything is clear
and turning it over to hold forces.
And it's a process that'll take a little bit of time.
But ...
transitioning to that hold force
is a very high priority for my security partner
and the Iraqi Security Forces.
- Are you aware whether the Turkish trained,
Sunni Tribal Fighters are going to be included
in those hold forces for the East Mosul?
- [General Martin] I don't have the answer to that question.
- There is a presence of PKK terrorist group in Sinjar.
And it has been a point of discussion between
the Iraqi government, Turkey,
and also the Iraqi, Kurdish and regional government.
Are you aware whether they have
withdrawn from the Sinjar or not?
- [General Martin] I can't answer that question either.
- [Kasem] Thank you.
- Alright, next we'll move to Michael Gordon
from The New York Times.
- Yes sir I have just three quick questions.
One's a clarification on the previous question.
For the Popular Mobilization Forces in Tal Afar,
is the coalition providing
any air support whatsoever for them?
Or are they more or less on their own?
Are there any Iraqi forces
collocated with them?
That's my first question,
and then I just have two quick followups.
- [General Martin] Okay, so your first question,
no we're not providing air support to the PMFs
that's out to the west.
- My second question is,
Hawija was bypassed in the push to Mosul
and then the counter attack was launched
out of there into Kirkuk.
How were you dealing with Hawija as a potential problem
at this stage?
Is it isolated
or how are you dealing with that ISIS controlled area?
- [General Martin] I don't want to comment
exactly on how the Iraqis are dealing
with that particular problem set.
But we're executing what would essentially,
is the government of Iraq's plan
to defeat DAESH in Iraq.
And so, we're currently in Mosul
and we've had significant success on the east side of Mosul,
looking to go to hold on that side
and then we're gonna move over to the west side of Mosul
based on current plan.
The Iraqi Security Forces is mindful of, aware of,
and addressing the threats that are emanating
out of Hawija?
But what's really important for you to understand is
what's emanating out of Hawija
And the different areas in the country
is the actions of an adversary
who's desperate to draw the attention
of the Government of Iraq
away from their focus in Mosul.
And the Government of Iraq is staying galvanized
and focused on their goal.
- Last is just a clarification
to the previous question.
What is the hold force for Eastern Mosul?
Since you've told us it's been liberated,
presumably the hold force has been identified,
so what is this hold force?
Who is it?
- [General Martin] I can't give you,
I don't have in front of me specifically
the brigades involved.
But it's a multiple brigade and multiple battalion,
multiple cohort force,
that the Iraqi Security Force Commander has picked himself
to go in there.
And it'll be under the control
of one of the Division Commanders,
the 16th Division Commander.
And the 16th Division Commander will command and control
the east side of the river with that hold force in place
once it has been transitioned from the clearing forces
over to the hold force.
- Paul Shinkman with U.S. News and World Report.
- [Paul] Sir, just a couple clarifying questions.
Are there any Kurdish forces currently operating
in East Mosul?
As I understood,
the plan was for them to advance from the east
but then to hold and let the ISF do clearing.
Is that still the case?
Are there Kurdish forces there?
- [General Martin] The Kurdish forces executed
their operations before my time began here in Iraq
but they did a magnificent job setting conditions
for the Iraqi Security Forces
to continue the attack into Mosul.
And they remain at that limit of advance
that you spoke of in your question.
- Great, thank you.
And can you give us an estimate?
Do you have any estimates on the number of ISIS fighters
remaining in East Mosul
and then perhaps the number of fighters remaining
in Mosul at large?
- [General Martin] At this time, I can't.
What I can tell you is,
their numbers are getting less every day.
The Iraqi Security Forces have ousted them
from East Mosul to West Mosul.
What we've seen over the past couple of days
is the enemy withdrawing across the Tigris river in boats
which we've struck multiple times.
We see the enemy's capacity continue to wane.
The sophistication of its weaponry continues
to become lower and lower.
These are all indicators
of an enemy that's on the run.
And with that,
we take every opportunity we can
to relentlessly pursue them with air strikes
to continue to shape conditions
while the Iraqi Security Forces conduct their transition
from one side of the city to the other.
- And then lastly sir,
do you expect that the fighting in West Mosul
is going to be any different than what you've seen so far?
Can you anticipate whether there are any unique challenges
that are present on that side of the city?
And is crossing the river, for example,
going to be a specific challenge?
- [General Martin] What I can't do is tell you exactly
what it's gonna be like
other than it's gonna be challenging.
And the reason it's gonna be challenging
is because what remains is a city
about half the size of Philadelphia.
And so about a hundred thousand buildings
with an enemy that's had over two and a half years
to prepare this defense.
And this defense,
they'll be much more desperate
than they were on the east side.
Their confidence will be down
but I think that they'll continue to demonstrate
that there's no limitation to their despicability
as they use the population as human shields.
I can tell you they are
occupying schools and hospitals right now.
And we are ...
We are, where we can,
striking them exactly where we need to
to further degrade their capability
as they continue to prepare this defense.
I would also add that
what you typically see in a withering enemy,
you start to see the leadership start to fall apart
and you start to see people questioning whether or not
they want to continue with this cause.
And we're seeing indicators of that as well.
And so these are all good indicators that the enemy
is losing capacity
and understands that the outcome of the fight in West Mosul
is predictable.
It's their defeat and Iraqi victory.
- Thank you and then we'll move to Carlo Muñoz
from The Washington Times.
- Hey sir, thanks for doing this.
I wanted to follow up on your comments about
the upcoming siege of West Mosul.
Looking at what had happened.
I guess, can you give me your assessment of
what the threat is of civilian casualties in West Mosul
compared to what you saw in the advance
through the eastern part of the city?
- [General Martin] Well, what I gotta tell you is ...
One of the many things that's impressed me
about the Iraqi Security Forces
and our strikes as we've done them is ...
how much care they take in
protecting the civilian population.
They've taken great effort to do that
and so, I haven't heard about
a lot of stories about ...
that being a problem as the Iraqi Security Forces
were conducting operations.
Now it makes it much harder on the Iraqi Security Forces
because they've got to discriminate between the enemy
and the civilians of the population
and, oh by the way, with an enemy that has no problem
using the population to shield and cover their moves.
I've got many examples of that.
And you contrast that
with what DAESH has done.
You know, they're still taxing people
on the west side of the city
and any other area that they're occupying in the country.
I don't know if you know it,
but they're enlisting adolescents and handicapped people
to do their bidding
with suicide vehicle born IEDs
and even arming adolescents
and having them
stay and remain in the vicinity of indirect fire
from firing platforms.
I've even had one report of one,
a child being chained to an artillery piece.
And then of course,
to make sure that they maintain control,
they're still conducting public executions
and other methods to control the population.
And so when you think about
what the Iraqi Security Forces have done
to be very mindful of protecting the civilian population
in this very tough conflict
and what DAESH has done,
I think the Iraqi Security Forces have done an amazing job.
- Understood sir, but I guess my question is,
if the threat of civilian casualties in West Mosul
is the same as it was in the push
through the east part of the city
considering how dug in DAESH is in West Mosul?
Is there any consideration at all,
as the fight progresses,
on changing or loosening the rules of engagement
for coalition air strikes in support of the offensive?
- [General Martin] We will conduct the fight
the same way we conducted the fight from the beginning.
And that will be by assisting the Iraqis
in any way that we can
to ensure that they're successful in their mission.
- So rules of changing or loosening the ROEs for air strikes
is something that could be considered?
I mean is it off the table?
Or is it just something that you'll sort of keep
on your list of options as the offensive progresses?
- [General Martin] I'm not gonna be able to speculate
on what the future will hold.
What I'll tell you right now
is that we're gonna continue this mission
and our focus is the defeat of DAESH.
- Now to Corey Dickstein with Stars and Stripes.
- Thanks General,
I wanted to see,
you talked about indicators of the enemy
kind of falling apart.
Are you seeing then in that case
mass desertions or, you know, people giving up
and turning themselves in?
Or can you expand on that at all?
- [General Martin] We are seeing indicators of desertions
and other activities that would indicate
that the structure
and the cohesive organization of DAESH
starting to crumble.
- And then just real quick.
Is Western Mosul now, is it isolated,
specifically on the west side of it from Syria?
Is there any freedom of movement for ISIL?
- [General Martin] Well as I stated before,
that the government of Iraq has asked the PMF
to be out in the west
and that's where they are
and that's who's out there securing the west side of Mosul
at this time.
- Now to Carla Babb with Voice of America.
- Thanks General, a few quick questions.
First you mentioned that some of the,
they were losing some of the leaders?
What types of leaders are left in West Mosul?
Can you talk about that?
IS leaders.
- [General Martin] Well, they're leaders that are facing
a very formidable opponent in the Iraqi Security Forces.
They're leaders that are less capable than the leaders
that started out with the defense of Mosul as a whole
because we're targeting their supply resources,
we're targeting their mission command structures,
we're targeting every resource that they reveal to us,
maintaining continuous pressure on them
in preparation for the future offensive
that the Iraqis will execute on the west side.
And so those leaders have
a significant, significantly less
amount of resources available to them that ...
their counterparts had in the east
in terms of command and control structure,
you know, good subordinate leaders,
full ranks below them.
These leaders are leading formations
that are less in number,
less in capability,
and with that, clearly, given human nature,
probably less confident.
And so the Iraqi Security Forces
will continue to prepare for offensive operations
and while they're doing that,
we'll continue to shape those ...
enemy resources
on the west side of the river to support that.
- Thanks General,
but are we talking about Islamic state
that are kind of part of the council?
I mean, how low down the totem pole are these leaders
that are still left in Mosul?
Are there any high value targets still left in Mosul?
- [General Martin] I couldn't tell you
which high value targets, as you would say,
are in Western Mosul,
but there's leaders leading military formations
and we're looking for each and every one of them
and we'll strike them when we find them.
- And I also wanted to ask about the training.
Is the coalition training complete for Iraqi forces
and hold forces and Kurdish forces?
- [General Martin] No, absolutely not.
That's a great question.
The training continues.
In fact, this week, we're almost at capacity
in all of our training centers.
Training (beeping).
Training thousands
of Iraqis
in collective and individual skills
to continue to build upon their proficiency,
either build upon, or excuse me,
or sustain proficiency.
- [Carla] When do you expect training to be complete?
Do you have an estimate?
- [General Martin] I don't.
But as a professional with about three decades of service,
I'll tell ya that we place a premium
on training at all times.
So training, I think, is an enduring mission for Iraq.
- And final question.
Since we're going into West Mosul,
I know you've explained very thoroughly
some of the capabilities lost by Islamic State.
What have they done well?
And what's the biggest challenge
that you guys will have to face,
that the Iraqis will have to face going into West Mosul?
- [General Martin] Well considering all the things
that I talked to you about.
You know, you can't place a premium
on their acts of despicability.
The fact that they want to dominate the population.
I find it hard ...
to say they've done this well.
That being said,
they're innovative but so are we.
And they're tenacious but the Iraqis are more tenacious.
Two years they were on the gates of Baghdad
and the Iraqi Security Forces have fought back
over the course of that time.
2.4 million people liberated,
A hundred, or excuse me,
32,000 square kilometers of liberated terrain.
It's admirable and the results are undeniable.
And so, despite the fact that DAESH
has some ability to adapt to the environment,
they can't do it quick enough.
And the Iraqi Security Forces are going to prevail.
- [Carla] Thank you General.
- Kristina Wong with Breitbart.
- Still with The Hill, thank you (laughing).
Thanks for doing this General.
Two questions.
You mentioned that ISIS is getting increasingly desperate
as they're pushed into Western Mosul.
How do you expect that will manifest itself?
Would they possibly deploy chemical weapons?
Begin destroying buildings?
Increasingly use civilians,
or target civilians?
- [General Martin] I can't comment
on the chemical weapons.
But I can tell you,
the east side of the river tells us
that they'll burn and destroy infrastructure
as they leave it.
The fact that they blew up the bridges
as they completed their operation on the,
or they had to withdraw from the east side,
the fact that they're occupying
what we would consider to be sacred,
municipal infrastructure right now,
indicates that they will become more desperate
and they'll do the same.
You know, I referred to them as a parasite.
If you think about what locusts does
when it comes into a crop and strips it,
strips it of everything that's worth anything
on that crop.
That's what they're doing to the infrastructure in Mosul.
And so, the Iraqis want to get into Western Mosul
and they want to wrest control from DAESH,
and stop this oppression and tyranny
that's been there for the past two years.
- Just to follow up on that,
as they target sacred ...
sorry, infrastructure, will we change our tactics as well?
- [General Martin] If they defend from a school
we will strike them where they defend.
- And then just another question.
Can you describe what the current policy is
in regards to ISIS fighters captured on the battlefield?
- [General Martin] Well, this is a sovereign nation
and the government of Iraq can best describe that to you.
They're the ones that detain them
and they have detained ...
some ISIL fighters
but they've done that.
That's, you know, as a sovereign nation,
that's their call and that's their prerogative.
- And then, sorry, just to go back.
I'd be remiss if I didn't follow up.
If we strike a school that ISIS is using,
how do we ensure that there are no civilians
also being targeted?
- [General Martin] I'm sorry, you broke up with a beep.
Can you say that again, please?
- Yes, if we begin striking targets like schools,
how do we ensure that we won't,
the U.S. will not,
the colation will not target civilians as well?
- [General Martin] 'Cause we use a process
that's really deliberate in targeting
to validate targets,
so that we can protect civilian life.
What I can tell ya, based on my experience,
is the infrastructure that I've seen them use
as a command and control structure,
Absalom hospital comes to mind.
several mosques that they've used.
They've kicked out
the people or the ....
the service that was in that particular structure out.
In other words, it was formerly known as a school,
formerly known as a hospital
but no longer is functioning as such
and they've turned that into a facility that they conduct
supply operations,
command and control operations.
And so, we have a very deliberate and thorough process
using several different forms of intelligence
to make these determinations.
And of course each and every one of these strikes that we do
is at the request of the government of Iraq.
But that's how we arrive at the conclusion that
we are not impacting the civilian populace.
And in the after effects of some of these strikes
as we've been able to go into Mosul University
and look at the library
and see that
there was, that building had not been a library
for two years.
It had been a DAESH repository of records
and other artifacts that they chose to keep there.
- Now to Ryan Browne with CNN.
- Yes, thank you General for doing this.
I had a couple of follow ups
on some of the statements you made earlier.
One you said that the training was almost at capacity
for the Iraqi coalition efforts to train the Iraqi military.
What is the constraint on the capacity?
Is that the number of coalition trainers
or kind of the size of the facilities?
- [General Martin] It's a function of facilities.
It's a function of trainers available.
When I say at capacity, it's just at any given time.
I mean, some weeks we've got more,
some weeks we got less,
but we understand the capacity of our sites
and we can expand that capacity if we need to
but when I say we're at capacity,
we're almost at capacity,
it's based on our prediction of
what we can fill with the people we have
and the sites we have.
- Okay, and you talked a little bit about
some of the challenges going into Western Mosul,
the hundred thousand buildings.
Have the Iraqis requested any additional support
or capabilities to kind of enable
this more challenging objective?
- [General Martin] Well I didn't characterize it as
more challenging.
I just said it would be challenging.
But what I would tell ya,
is they've asked for us to be by their side
as they continue on.
In fact I got a note about that this morning.
And of course we're gonna be there,
right beside their side,
advising, enabling, and assisting them
as they conduct operations.
- Okay, and finally,
I know we have, you said we're primarily
at the brigade level advisory,
but we've gone down to the battalion level
on a case by case basis in the past.
I think one of that was a bridging operation
to assist the Iraqis do that.
Obviously all the bridges have either been
destroyed or disabled.
So I imagine,
do the Iraqis have the ability
to conduct bridging operations independent
of coalition advisors?
- [General Martin] That was all before my time,
but I've talked to enough folks to tell you
they absolutely can do that on their own now.
And that's one of many great examples of where,
in the past they needed a little bit of assistance,
a little bit of advisory skills,
a little bit of help,
and the coalition was there to provide
that advisory capacity.
But their most recent bridge that they laid
a month and a half, two months ago,
they did all by themselves.
The engineering regiment did it all by themselves.
And so, they have the capacity and the capability
to do that all by themselves now.
- [Ryan] Okay, thank you.
- Next to Luis Martinez with ABC.
- Hi sir.
In your opening statement you talked about
how this is some of the most intense urban fighting
in recent memory.
Can you give us a sense of the level of casualties
that the Iraqi forces suffered during that fighting?
Also do you have a sense for the,
an estimate of how many ISIS fighters
may have been killed in the fighting?
- [General Martin] I can't give you,
for two different reasons,
I can't give you
the exact number of casualties.
It's a matter of policy.
We don't talk about any of our friendly casualties.
But as far as enemy casualties goes,
it would be impossible for me to give you
exactly what the number is.
- And if I could follow up,
there've been reports this week that
some schools have reopened in East Mosul.
Is there like a fluctuating security
environment in East Mosul?
Is that what that indicates?
I mean, where some areas are hotter than others?
- [General Martin] Well,
in a challenging fight like this,
it's going to be ...
a security environment that's gonna change with each day.
But what I can tell you is,
post-liberation, the Iraqis are
doing everything they can to ensure that
they didn't miss anything in their clearance
and the hold forces take over areas that are secure.
You know, that's a foundation.
That's a foundation of every measure of stability
beyond that.
You gotta have that foundation of security.
The Iraqis are mindful of that
and they're doing everything they can
to ensure that they maintain that foundation of security
which leads to stability.
And, you know, they're very mindful of the fact
that those essential services need to (beeping).
Security that leads to stability.
'Cause those essential services follow stability
and the opening of schools
is a good indicator
of number one,
their attention and mindfulness of
normalizing what has been two years
of tyranny and oppression
in Eastern Mosul as quickly as possible
but doing it in a way that's safe
so that the children are protected when they go into schools
and their neighborhoods,
that they've absolutely gone back through
and cleared and ensured that there's no other
remnants of war
or enemy forces.
- Now to Tony Capaccio with Bloomberg.
- Hi sir, I have a couple of tactical questions.
To what extent is the A-10 and the AC-130 gunships
being used in urban areas in Mosul?
I have a follow up.
- [General Martin] So, we're using both of those.
And that's with a suite of highly sophisticated,
incredible coalition aircraft that we have available
to strike DAESH at any time and place of our choosing.
But we'll also compliment those aircraft
with some surface to surface capability
that is also equally sophisticated
allowing us to do precision strikes
at a time and place of our choosing against DAESH
to keep 'em on the run
and continue to
erode away his capacity.
- There's a lot of interest in Washington, as you know,
about the A-10.
Can you give a couple examples of a-ha-witz being able to
surgically strike urban sections of Mosul?
- [General Martin] I can't.
I'm not an Air Force pilot.
I'm just a CJFLCC Commander
but what I can tell you is that the
coalition air capacity that we have
and capability we have is incredible.
You know, 19 countries,
are several countries
committed to the same cause, eliminating DAESH
from the country of Iraq.
- To what extent is offensive cyber been used
in this operation to disrupt
DAESH command and control?
- [General Martin] I can't comment on tactics,
techniques and procedures that we use
to degrade the enemy's mission command systems
or degrade its capability.
- General, though,
Secretary Carter has talked about
the use of offensive cyber, I mean,
but this is a good example.
You might be able to give us a good,
at least a broad overview of how it's being used
in this tactical situation.
- [General Martin] I can't talk about the tactics,
techniques, and procedures that we use
against the enemy here.
- [Tony] Thanks.
- It's to Lucas Tomlinson with Fox News.
- [Lucas] General Martin, is the U.S. military
still operating under the authorities
from the prior administration?
- [General Martin] Our mission has not changed
and we're operating under the exact same
set of authorities.
- And just to be very direct here.
So since President Trump took office,
there's not been any change of orders or ...
orders to ramp up air strikes against ISIS?
- [General Martin] Our orders here have not changed
since the 20th of January.
- And finally,
the Prime Minister of Iraq has initiated investigation
into some of these Shia militias
accused of some retribution
of Sunnis outside Mosul and then around the city.
Has the U.S. military seen any evidence
of this retribution?
- [General Martin] I can't recall any evidence
of this retribution.
But what I can tell you is,
you know, the PM has a zero tolerance policy
and it's because any retribution from anybody
is unacceptable behavior
and it is not conducive to further stabilizing the country
beyond this conflict and the tyranny of DAESH.
And so, as you heard,
the Iraqis will make an investigation.
They'll do their investigation and I'm sure we'll hear
from them after they
complete their investigation.
- [Lucas] Thank you.
- Carla Babb with Voice of America.
- Thank you General for indulging me
on one last hurrah question.
There've been reports out of Syria
that there's infighting among the jihadist groups there
as more and more strikes have been occurring
and as territory is being lost by Islamic State.
Have you seen anything similar in Iraq?
- [General Martin] So we have.
I can't get into detail exactly
to how I've arrived at that conclusion
but I would assert to you that there has been infighting
amongst the ranks
and amongst the different cohorts of DAESH
and this is, these are typical indicators
of an enemy that's becoming desperate
and whose structure and his capability is
crumbling below him.
And so you'll see some of this infighting.
It's something that is
somewhat expected.
- Have you seen Al Qaeda or other groups
try to move in on DAESH territory?
- [General Martin] I have not.
- [Carla] Thank you sir.
- Sir, could you give your name and affiliation?
(man murmuring)
Today, my question is that,
now that we have a new administration and new president,
what do you think the future will be
instead of going after all these terrorists
and how much at all or what all
do you think India can or is playing?
Thank you sir.
- [General Martin] I'm sorry sir,
I could not understand you.
- The question was now with the new administration,
what do you see for the future of operations
against terrorist groups
and what role do you see India playing
in those operations, over.
- [General Martin] I can't speculate on
what the future's gonna hold.
What I can tell you is that
we're gonna stay here with this 19 country coalition
and the CJFLCC in Iraq
and we're gonna stay right beside the Iraqis
and continue to the finish line
and defeating DAESH in Iraq.
- Sir go ahead.
- [Man] I have a follow-up.
- Oh, one follow up.
- One more.
Since 19 coalition countries are here
and there are 67 countries fighting in Syria,
do you have any connection with these two,
with 67 countries fighting in Syria and other places?
- [General Martin] As the commander of Iraq,
I really can't answer any questions
authoritatively on Syria.
- [Man] Thank you sir.
- Sir could I get your name and affiliation please?
- Jeremy Herb with Politico.
General, just a quick follow up.
Have you been asked?
You said you haven't had any new authorities,
but have you been asked for any recommendations
or have you offered any on changes
to say rules of engagement or the tempo?
- [General Martin] No.
And look, you know, I know some folks
come in the room a little bit later.
But just let me reiterate this point
because I think it's a good one to drive home.
So ...
around the end of one administration,
beginning of the new one,
you saw that there was a change in operations here
but it was a function of the Iraqis
taking an operational opportunity
to reflect on what had happened in the first 60 days.
They changed a couple things up,
the moved a couple units around
and they synchronized their actions.
And so, you've seen an increased tempo
as a result of unadulterated Iraqi decision making
on the way they want to conduct operations
and we, as a result of that, with our advisory capacity,
have been able to help them
with our strikes
because of the activities that they,
they've forced the enemy to do
while attacking and the way they're attacking.
And so that's really the reason
that there's been an increased tempo
and you can go back statistically
to the 29th of December
and that was the day,
that was the day that that began
and maybe not statistically but ...
That's when the tempo really increased
and it was a result of those operations.
- And I think we have time for one more question.
Going once, going twice.
Thank you very much.
General, do you have any closing words for us?
- [General Martin] I just want to thank you all
for being there
and, as I started off, with listening to me.
Please tell our story.
Tell the story of what's going on
over here in Iraq (beeping).
This country has done an incredible job
fighting a very resilient
and adaptive foe
but Iraq is committed
and as we are in the coalition
to defeating DAESH here.
That's all I've got.
- Sir, thank you very much.
Thank you to you, ladies and gentlemen thank you very much.
Goodbye.
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