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Paul Brinkley, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Business Transformation and director of the Task Force to Improve Business and Stabilty Operations in Iraq, talks about the economic status of Iraq’s businesses Photo by Spc. Jeffrey Hunnewell Combined Press Information Center. BAGHDAD -- A Defense Department official Monday discussed the ongoing work to improve Iraq’s business and economic stability during at press conference at the Combined Press Information Center here.Paul Brinkley, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Business Transformation and director of the Task Force to Improve Business and Stability Operations in Iraq, spoke about the progress that has been made and...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2007 – When additional troops arrive in Iraq's Anbar Province, they will be welcomed and put to work, said the commander of a regimental combat team responsible for more than 30,000 square miles in the area. “I don’t think there’s a commander in any conflict in American history that wouldn’t say he’d take more forces,” Marine Col. William Crowe, commander of Regimental Combat Team 7, told reporters today during a video teleconference from Asad, Iraq. “When we do get additional forces … my commanding general knows where they need to go. And when they come here,...

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2006 – The U.S. general in charge of training Iraqi security forces told reporters here yesterday that effort has made significant progress and remains on track. Army Lt. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said defense establishment systems are in place and the Iraqis are learning how to work within them. "There is a pay system, there is a promotion system, there is a personnel accountability system, there is a contracting system -- and I could go on and on. In any ministry-level endeavor, there's probably 18 or so processes that have to be functioning in order for the...

SINGAPORE, June 2, 2006 – The world should not be surprised at the pace in which democracy is progressing in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld takes questions from reporters at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore June 2. Rumsfeld is in Singapore for the 5th International Institute for Security Studies Asia Security Summit. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Rumsfeld is in Singapore to attend a conference of Asian and Pacific defense ministers. The new Iraqi government has come under...