nor do we expect more afghan troops to be assigned in helman next year. according to prime minister brown, there will be 10,000 more afghan troops deployed to helman in the coming year and to be divided equally for partnering. first, secretary gates, are my numbers correct? >> let me defer to admiral mullin. >> sir, i believe that your number is for the afghan forces in the south. >> and we we determine for the troop sfs>> yes, sir, it sound right. >> ok, i thought i heard the president at the meeting yesterday in the old executive office building, say that we would not have our troops clear an area unless they could turn the cleared area over to afghans. now secretary gates, did i hear him correctly? and if so, how is that possible given the number of afghan forces? >> let me start. first of all, clearly as i have indicated accelerating the growth of the afghan national army and police is vitally important. but we also looking as we suggested in my remarks as local forces partnering with local security forces. so there is more than just the afghan nation

even the massive offensive currently under way in helman province is one small bite of a very big applese extra troop which is will bring the american presence to roughly 100,000, that's not enough to defeat the taliban. you have no hope of beating them on their home soil. what you want to do is put enough pressure on them to bring about a political solution. and to do that, you're also going to need afghan allies in the government and in the villages, the tribes and among the warlords. i thought the speeches with a bit hollow to be honest. >> larry: all right. nic robertson, 36,000 plus injured and/or killed in iraq and afghanistan since all of this started. is it going to get worse before it gets better? >> if you put more troops into afghanistan which is exactly what's happening, then more are going to get injured and killed. one of the saving graces, if you will, in iraq was this golden hour whereby any troops that were injured you could get them to a proper medical facility within an hour. and that meant most people who were brought in there alive could be saved. in afghanistan it'

in helman one year ago might be excused for believing that the government dropped the bomb on her neighborhoodthat has a bit of evil in its. especially since she at age seven will live the rest of her life with only one hour. rather than get on our high scores, we might try to apply a single standard of human right. host: let me read to you what "the weekly standard" has this morning. "peace is generally good in itself but never the highest good unless it comes as the handmade of righteousness. and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice." those are the words of teddy roosevelt as he expected the nobel peace prize on. guest: he helped concoct rationale for the invasion of iraq. this is standard boilerplate stuff. you can flash that more than four decades in washington. we heard the same kind of rhetoric from those trying to justify the escalation of war in vietnam. when you hear the lyndon johnson tapes on the phones such as those aired on bill moyer's show a couple weeks ago you hear leaders on the hill saying privately, even pleading with the president not si

in helman one year ago might be excused for believing that the government dropped the bomb on her neighborhoodit of evil in its. especially since she at age seven will live the rest of her life with only one hour. rather than get on our high scores, we might try to apply a single standard of human right. host: let me read to you what "the weekly standard" has this morning. "peace is generally good in itself but never the highest good unless it comes as the handmade of righteousness. and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice." those are the words of teddy roosevelt as he expected the nobel peace prize on. guest: he helped concoct rationale for the invasion of iraq. this is standard boilerplate stuff. you can flash that more than four decades in washington. we heard the same kind of rhetoric from those trying to justify the escalation of war in vietnam. when you hear the lyndon johnson tapes on the phones such as those aired on bill moyer's show a couple weeks ago you hear leaders on the hill saying privately, even pleading with the president not simply to get