An abrupt end to the U.S. military presence would probably lead to an upsurge of violence among Iraqis and offer new opportunities for terrorists, but this does not excuse the absence of a new strategy for orderly disengagement.

Certainly the violence in Iraq has been much lower than it might have been, because there's been a fair deal of restraint among Shiite leaders. And that might end now - they may feel the need to really go after the Sunni Arabs as a diversion.

You can tell the Iraqis who are scared because we're here and those who are scared because they're bad.

Overwhelmingly, there's probably not a lot of presence, or not as much as we'd like.

I don't want unnecessary violence, sergeant," said Blouse.
"Right you are, sir!" said the sergeant. "Carborundum! First man comes through that door runnin', I want him nailed to the wall!" He caught the lieutenant's eye, and added: "But not too hard!

When you lose a player like Brian, you lose a defensive rebounding presence. So from the standpoint of personnel, we'll have to play differently. We'll play quicker at times and sometimes Brandon (Cole) and Will (Caudle) will have to step in.