Ron Johnson: “Our generals were asking for somewhere between 20 and 24,000…”

“And, well, as I've talked to people who were involved in those negotiations or know people who were, what I've been told actually happened is, you know, Our generals were asking for somewhere between 20 and 24,000 troops as a stabilizing force, which was acceptable to Maliki. Again, he wanted a stabilizing force, protect himself against people he didn't trust, the Sunnis.” (03:01–03:09)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.