The power to prevent violence is a power that no police force seems to have anywhere in the United States.

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

It's clear to me now that we've got to reach out to the Arab Sunni community in particular in an effort to cause some moderate political activity to take place so they join the future of Iraq.

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

Well, the hardest thing to do, as we know from our own experience on 9/11 is protect everything all the time.

But the truth of the matter is that there is there is an opportunity for them to participate in the economic and political future of the country and certainly in the security life of the country.

Oh, the transition concerns me because as we move towards an important political event, it's clear to me that the terrorists and insurgents will move as hard as they can to disrupt this process.