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

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.

Clearly the Secretary of Defense, my boss, would like nothing better than to get Osama bin Laden and to get... to ensure the complete defeat of al-Qaida, because we know that al-Qaida is planning operations against the United States even as we speak here.

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.

But as we move from this period of what many Iraqis regard as perceived occupation, we need to move towards one of partnership.

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

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