colin kahl, deputy secretary of defense for the middle east. his own public service leave from georgetown. he was formerly a professor and senior fellow. he coordinated the obama campaign's iraq policy groups and spent 2005 and to a dozen 6 as a fellow at the dod working on counter-terrorism and security operations. in the center we have michael corbin, deputy assistant secretary of state for iraqi and middle eastern affairs. this prayer service includes time in baghdad, damascus, cairo, tkelaita. he is an arabic speaker and is uniquely positioned. the format today, first we will hear from mr. corrigan and then -- mr. corbin. how we appreciate if you identify yourselves by name and affiliation. keep it brief and please end it with a question mark. our plan is to wrap up by 2:30. thank you again. writer and the microphone over to michael corbin. >> thank you. it is an honor for me to talk about something extremely important to the state department. its designer for me to be here with my partner in abreu closely with in the last year and met in b

it is also a midpoint of this transition when colin kahl came, we talked about the fat said it is directed by the security agreement and by the obama policy that was laid out. we started off with almost 144,000 troops in iraq. we are on track to be down to 50,000 troops. the combat mission will end. this is a dividend for iraq just as the withdrawal last produce significant for iraq just as the withdrawal -- this is an advocate for iraq just as the withdrawal was. we are keeping the security agreement in the first place. we are keeping with our promise to build a partnership with the people of iraq as a drawdown our relationship. this is a key issue. it does not mean an end of our commitment it means we are building a civilian partnership built on tools and means of engagement read it then one that has been -- a rather than one that has been built on a security relationship. this partnership between the military and the civilians extends to all the agencies that have been involved and is led by the white house. the vice president takes enormous interest in everything that goes on in iraq.