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From CPA briefing, 4/09, latest posted transcript --

GEN. KIMMITT: ... I would say it's a gross mischaracterization to suggest that the entire country is at war, that the entire country is now under the grips of combat. I think we can take a look at the map and see that currently there are some small, localized contact, such as here in al Kut, down here in An Nasiriyah, a little bit in Baghdad. But to suggest that somehow, that the 27 million people of the country of Iraq are currently in the midst of a war, that just isn't the case.

Is it spreading? I would ask those who want to attack the coalition or attack Iraqi government facilities or attack Iraqi police stations in any number to take a very close look at how quickly we were able to reposition a coalition force of over 1,000 soldiers, approximately two to three dozen combat vehicles and extensive air power in a very, very short period of time. That ought to be a very clear lesson that if, in fact, somebody has the idea -- perhaps in Arupa (ph) or over here at Samawa or up here at Tikrit -- that they want to start another set of violence, another set of engagements, that the coalition, with its 130,000-plus members, and the Iraqi security forces, with their 200,000-plus police, ICDC and Iraqi armed forces, has the flexibility, the capability to move anywhere in this country and put down that violence. So watch very carefully

Q (Through interpreter.) This is to General Kimmitt. You spoke about the 120,000 American or coalition forces here. Can you tell us exactly how many of the coalition forces are engaged in the areas of Fallujah and al-Mahdi militias? And there are reports, journalistic reports they say about the destruction of convoys and movements. You have not told us about the losses on the coalition side.

GEN. KIMMITT: With regards to how many of our forces are involved in Fallujah and some of these other operations, a very, very small percentage; probably -- oh, I'd estimate somewhere on the order of a brigade-and-a-half worth of forces are directly involved in combat operations at this time in terms of ground maneuver forces. And that's a very small percentage of what's available to be drawn upon here in Iraq should we need to move forces from one sector to another. Now I may be a little bit off on that estimation. It may be a little more, perhaps two-and-a-half brigades, but nonetheless whether it's one and a half or two and a half, that is a very, very small percentage of the available combat force here in the country.

.........GEN. KIMMITT: You're right, but the numbers are very, very small. We continue to lose small numbers of Humvees on a daily basis, partially damaged by IEDs and such, and I think we had today some fuel trailers that were blown up. But as a percentage of the total force -- I'm not certain that we have lost any tanks. I'm not certain that we have lost any Bradley Fighting Vehicles. I have no report that we've lost any light armored reconnaissance vehicles as part of any of these operations. I suspect that you may have been reading accounts from some of the more extremist websites, more extremist publications that would suggest somehow that there have been large losses, but those just don't square with the facts. I'll see what I can find out in terms of the actual numbers and get them to you tomorrow.

(Briefing slides not yet posted.)