We've got to ensure that the quality and the capability of these forces will be good enough to withstand the challenges that the insurgents and the terrorists will present to the new Iraqi government.

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

Certainly our goal is to leave Iraq, but we can't leave Iraq with our forces until we know that the Iraqi security forces are capable and efficient enough to defend the sovereignty of the nation.

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

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

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.

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