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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.

John Abizaid

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John Abizaid
Age: 73
Born: 1951
Born: April 1
Military Officer
Members
Cooperating
Military
Extremists
Fashion
Undoubtedly
Within
Extremist
Regime
Regimes
Former
Iraq

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And over time, I think, as Iraqi security capacity builds, you'll see American and coalition presence there decline.
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Everybody needs to understand that I learned Arabic from the United States Army as a second language. I never spoke it at home.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Well, the hardest thing to do, as we know from our own experience on 9/11 is protect everything all the time.
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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.
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So, these political activities will create friction in and of themselves, and in this environment of friction there'll be additional violence.
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Nobody's more mindful of the sacrifices of our troops than those of us that command them.
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The power to prevent violence is a power that no police force seems to have anywhere in the United States.
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