The Job Of The Leader

If You Look At Casualties, You Find Countries That Had Much Higher Loss Rates Per Capita Than The Us. Denmark Comes To Mind, The United Kingdom, They Have Suffered Heavy Losses At Various Points, The Germans As Well.

The Progress In Iraq Is Still Fragile. And It Could Still Be Reversed. Iraq Still Faces Innumerable Challenges, And They Will Be Evident During What Will Likely Be A Difficult Process As The Newly Elected Council Of Representatives Selects The Next Prime Minister, President, And Speaker Of The Council.

We Obviously Don't Want To Cause Problems For The Afghan Government, President Hamid Karzai And The Afghan People. In Fact, We Want Them To Support Our Efforts On Their Behalf And Not See Us As Unwelcome Occupiers.

There [in Afghanistan] Is Also A Growing Insurgency Threat From Al-qaida, The Taliban And Other Extremist Elements, Some Of Which Comes From The Tribal Areas Of Pakistan, As Well As From The Northwest Frontier Province And Baluchistan.

I Did A Week-long Assessment In 2005 At (then Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld's Request. Following Our Return, I Told Him That Afghanistan Was Going To Be The Longest Campaign Of What We Then Termed "the Long War."