It is absolutely imperative that they seize this opportunity.

I hope we can, at the completion of the testimony today, move quickly forward to the vote on General Petraeus' nomination.

Again, we would like a realistic assessment of the situation.

The worst of all worlds be a small, short surge of U.S. forces. We have tried small surges in the past, and they have been ineffective, because our commanders lacked the forces necessary to hold territory after it was cleared.

the ISG report is a recipe for defeat in Iraq.

We are not winning the war in Iraq; is that correct?

We needed more troops. We needed it very badly.

Therefore, the status quo is not acceptable?

the status quo is not acceptable.

The dirty little secret is that we don't have enough troops. We need to enlarge the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.

I have always said we needed more troops in Iraq.

Senator John McCain has said that the Iraqi government needs to break the back of the Mehdi army and bring down Sadr.

I've always said we needed more troops in Iraq and obviously most people agree with that now in retrospect.

We needed more troops. We need it very badly.

I respect you enormously. I appreciate your service. I regret deeply that you seem to think that the status quo and the rate of progress we are making is acceptable. I think most Americans do not.

The dirty little secret is that we don't have enough troops. We need to enlarge the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.

We'd love to see more troops there.

Can we still win? Yes, I believe we can.