gen. odierno is comfortable with this transition. by the time the changes command at the end of this month he will give been in iraq 55 months. no one is in a better place to judge the prospects for stability despite the drawdown. he feels comfortable about it. the drawdown in itself -- i came into the administration in the first week of february. i was one of the first staff- level people among the political folks to come in and. brought me in. one of the things we did was to try not to impose a linear reduction in forces. instead, we put a date on the calendar that seemed reasonable for a change of mission and production to a substantial reduction in forces. and living in a to the general to shape the drawdown by that date. that has allowed the general to have a modest drawdown in 2009, freeze during the elections and for the first 60 days after the elections, and then to accelerate the drawdown. i think gen. odierno feels that despite the political turbulence, the conditions are such spent they continue to permit the responsible d