the same way that ahmad chalabi, ahmad chalabi we treat like a mississippi riverboat gambler. i just think it would be fascinating to see the day if he ever becomes prime minister. he will be a pro-iranian prime minister, to see the look of the face of others that day. >> will come down to the front here and take some on the side. >> here's a microphone. >> my name is ruthless phillips, and i have a question about how we train local forces. and i wonder if we have done any fundamental thinking about what we tell them, in addition to how to fire a rifle, in other words, what is, what are we doing to involve the local folk in giving a rationale to the average trainee, what is his duty to the iraqi people or the afghani people? in other words, are we trying to get across or trying to get the local folks, to get across, a notion that he owes his allegiance to an idea, and not just to whoever happens to be his commander, in terms of how he deals with his own people? and i think this is absolutely critical. i go back, of course, to vietnam and the fact that we're able to turn the vi

can you talk about the present and future influence of ahmad chalabi, if there is any? the plan has nine lives. i think it has been in i lot of the papers, so i -- in a lot of the papers, so i won't repeat the details of that. again, diplomatic intervention was required before those 500 people were perjuried -- purged from the electoral rolls. it is important that you get full reputation across the iraqi spectrum so you can have multisectarian political building that is neeted for the end game. it is a parliamentary system, and this is absolutely critical. so i am very concerned, a, that it happened, and b, that we were not more on top of it and did more to walk the cat back. and i think that we really do -- this is one thing. behind-the-scenes, petraeus and crocker worked intensively with malaki. the general is an able general, but he doesn't have that political intuition and maeuverability. he's not as ad event in that world of maneuvering. i think we have suffered at a critical time. ultimately, it is the iraqis who have to come around to brokering these deals, and m