chris lawrence. he's been on the scene all day. chris lawrence, cnn pentagon correspondent, putting some clarity on this moment in history. let's go to the governor of new york, david paterson. what's your position on this proposed islamic community center and mosque? it's going to be two blocks, if built, prom ground zero. what do you think? >> well, larry, i think that there is no local, state or federal statute or any clause of the constitution that would prohibit the mosque from being there. and so, therefore, anybody that thinks otherwise clearly is not realizing what has really been the bedrock core of the principles of our liberty. but i think the issue -- >> larry: how about -- i'm sorry, go ahead. >> well, no, larry, i'm waiting for you. >> larry: all right. what about the emotional aspects? legally, of course, you may be completely correct. people have a right to build. how about the emotional aspects, over 3,000 killed? >> well, that, larry, is exactly the point. you know, the presept of greek tragedies is that the right

let's go right to cnn's chris lawrence at the pentagon. in a couple of moments we'll talk with governor paterson. help me, chris. i thought the last date is august 31st. and aren't they still 6,000 troops there of combat level? >> yeah, larry, you're exactly right. let's try to put this in some perspective. the last combat convoy is now pushing its way out of iraq, into kuwait. but this is the 4th stryker brigade. there's still a couple hundred members of this brigade, combat members of this brigade, who stayed behind in iraq to finish up some logistical duties. they're not going to fly out of iraq until later thursday. there's also another 56,000 u.s. troops still in iraq. now, 50,000 of them will stay beyond next month. they'll stay to the end of 2011. but you've still got the matter of those 6,000 troops that are still there. now, they're not designated necessarily combat troops. but a pentagon spokesman said, look, they can still perform a combat function. and our combat mission doesn't end until the end of the month. he says, in fact,

. >> "met immediately with steve hand, robert white, transocean, lawrence, who i believe was transocean, and coastguard, chris martin. we also have present then -- jose and frank. jose santos had -- was there from petrobras assisting us. and frank gillander was in a similar way in giving whatever assistance chevron could. and we met immediately, because -- and i do recall it was a significant event. there's a lot of commotion in the room at that time. we have come a long way. to find something like this was quite emotional. so we met, and i spoke frankly about the seriousness of this. and i was frankly astonished that this could happen. >> is that what you noted in your notes? spoke frankly about the seriousness -- >> yes. it says i spoke frankly about the seriousness of this issue, and quite frankly was astonished that this could have happened. i told transocean to get photographs. to get with their subsea engineers and to understand what has gone wrong. when i heard this news, i lost all faith in the bop. billy stringfellow, clearly emotional at that point, told me, this is plumbed wrong. >> and to be clear

. >> "met immediately with steve hand, robert white, transocean, lawrence, who i believe was transocean, and coastguard, chris martin. we also have present then -- jose and frank. jose santos had -- was there from petrobras assisting us. and frank gillander was in a similar way in giving whatever assistance chevron could. and we met immediately, because -- and i do recall it was a significant event. there's a lot of commotion in the room at that time. we have come a long way. to find something like this was quite emotional. so we met, and i spoke frankly about the seriousness of this. and i was frankly astonished that this could happen. >> is that what you noted in your notes? spoke frankly about the seriousness -- >> yes. it says i spoke frankly about the seriousness of this issue, and quite frankly was astonished that this could have happened. i told transocean to get photographs. to get with their subsea engineers and to understand what has gone wrong. when i heard this news, i lost all faith in the bop. billy stringfellow, clearly emotional at that point, told me, this is plumbed wrong. >> and to be clear

. >> "met immediately with steve hand, robert white, transocean, lawrence, who i believe was transocean, and coastguard, chris martin. we also have present then -- jose and frank. jose santos had -- was there from petrobras assisting us. and frank gillander was in a similar way in giving whatever assistance chevron could. and we met immediately, because -- and i do recall it was a significant event. there's a lot of commotion in the room at that time. we have come a long way. to find something likehis was quite emotional. so we met, and i spoke frankly about the seriousness of this. and i was frankly astonished that this could happen. >> is that what you noted in your notes? spoke frankly about the seriousness -- >> yes. it says i spoke frankly about the seriousne of this issue, and quite frankly was astonished that this could have happened. i told transocean to get photographs. to get with their subsea engineers and to understand what has gone wrong. when i heard this news, i lost all faith in the bop. billy stringfellow, clearly emotional at that point, told me, this is plumbed wrong. >> and to be clear, wh