I'll be interested in what Mr. Gates has to say about that. I'll be more interested in that than I will controversies of a generation ago.

The important thing with Mr. Gates is whether or not he is independent, whether or not he is going to speak truth to power.

I'm not going to vote no because I voted no 15 years ago.

The Prime Minister confirms the commitment of his government to advance efforts towards national reconciliation and the need for all Iraqis, and political forces in Iraq, to work against armed elements responsible for violence and…

Well, I think the truth is we're all talking about withdrawal. The question is, whether that withdrawal will be based upon security considerations or based upon domestic politics here in the United States.

It ignores the realities on the ground to say that absolutely we are winning in Iraq, everybody's losing in Iraq at the moment and until there's a political settlement, they're going to continue to lose in Iraq.

We want a FEMA that is smart. That works. That stretches taxpayer dollars and uses them wisely. And unfortunately, we don't have that kind of FEMA in America today.

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.

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.

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.

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

A third of our brigades in the United States are reporting non-deployable because of personnel and equipment shortages.

For only through this phased redeployment can we send a clear message to the Iraqi factions that the United States is not going to hold together this country indefinitely. That it will be up to them to form a viable government that can…

This is not a precipitous proposal. It's something which would allow for planning. And so it is not an accurate description.

I'd like the president to tell the Iraqi leaders that we are going to begin a phased redeployment of our troops from Iraq in four to six months.

The president cannot any longer get away with the status quo and stay the course, stay the course, stay the course.