Nobody's more mindful of the sacrifices of our troops than those of us that command them.

So, these political activities will create friction in and of themselves, and in this environment of friction there'll be additional violence.

Nobody's more mindful of the sacrifices of our troops than those of us that command them.

Capturing any member of any terrorist cell or any insurgent cell that we may happen to come across is always very, very valuable, and the thing that interests me is that in most instances after a time people talk and they tell us what they know.

We've got to ensure that the quality and the capability of these forces will be good enough to withstand the challenges that the insurgents and the terrorists will present to the new Iraqi government.

I think you also understand that one of the key things that's got to be done in Iraq is to build a mentality of understanding that the military needs to be subordinate to civilian control and respectful of its own people.

Morale is good; troops are confident; leaders are capable.