troops in iraq. more than 4,000 soldiers have been killed since the start of the war. it is a region that's still unstable and there's a lot of concern that if all of the u.s. soldiers leave, it will only become more unstable. president obama hits the road for a three-day bus tour. he'll be focused on his domestic agenda. beginning of the week but they will field a number of questions about the reports as we try to determine exactly how that withdraw process will be carried out. alex? >> chris ten before you go, there are a number of people filing out of the white house. that's not typical for when we're speaking with correspondents in the morning. are those people that are going to the mlk dedication or i also heard that they've opened up the white house for tours today in a way they don't usually do? >> reporter: i haven't had a chance to speak to those people, alex. but it's quite possible that a number of them are headed to the mlk dedication. as mike viqueira just talked