Negroponte was evasive as ever as he deflected questions from Tim Russert.
When asked how many troops were trained; Negroponte said they had such and such battalions operating. Russert asked for numbers and he replied in battalions. Does anyone know how many troops make up a battalion? I know I could look it up, but do you think Tim could have asked that question? It's not a brain teaser to actually have an idea of the amount of trained Iraqi's.
Also on the insurgents:
MR. RUSSERT: How large is the insurgency?
AMB. NEGROPONTE: Well, I can say I don't think anybody knows with absolute certainty how large it is. But I can say that since I have been here over the past six months, I think the level of military activity and the level of incidents instigated by the insurgency has remained roughly the same.
What does their activity have to do with their size? By the way, it seems to most Americans, journalists, Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush that attacks have escalated in an attempt to try and intimidate voters as the election nears.
