For the next election (in December), it wouldn't surprise me to see it go right back up to 160,000 again.

General Casey could determine after the elections that, I want more, for whatever reason, ... and then he'll get more.

The soldiers were advised as to the issues they should expect to discuss, and decided among themselves who would speak to each issue as it may arise.

There's a lot of people who know that that's an obvious question.

On behalf of these fine young men and women, we certainly regret any perception that they were told what to say. It is not the case.

We're getting more intelligence that's allowing us to stop more of these things, find more of them. So we're learning from them (the insurgents) and the enemy is learning from us, and it's going to be that way for as long as there is an insurgency.

That's not a good way to determine how good or bad things are going - by (counting) how many things are exploding.

That's the kind of exchange you want to have with a country that has not been that transparent.

They're obviously quite capable of killing large numbers of noncombatants indiscriminately, and we're seeing a lot of that, too.