Undoubtedly, there are members of the former regime that are cooperating in some fashion and then there are extremists that are within Iraq that are cooperating with them.

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

You know as well as I do that counterinsurgency is a very nuanced type of military operation.

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.

The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth and it just can't walk away from the Middle East and central Asia and the Horn of Africa.

And over time, I think, as Iraqi security capacity builds, you'll see American and coalition presence there decline.

You don't build a new power plant in the United States overnight. It takes years to build.