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

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

And so I think that if the person has the funds, the network, and the equipment to do this, and also the experience, which is the key factor, then they can be quite deadly.

But clearly the fact that we've gone from zero Iraqi security forces on duty in May to up to 200,000 today is an enormous accomplishment, but it's not enough.

Everybody needs to understand that I learned Arabic from the United States Army as a second language. I never spoke it at home.

I believe we've... we've worked very hard with the Iraqis to build a better place ever since the fall of Saddam's government.

We'll try to include Iraqi officers in our staffs. We will do everything we can to empower Iraqi security forces to stand up on their own and operate where they can alone.