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.

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

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.

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 the key shift in focus will be from counter-insurgency operations to more and more cooperation with Iraqi security forces and to building Iraqi security capacity.

As far as Zarqawi is concerned, there is a network of extremists; it's not just Zarqawi.

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