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Obviously, to emphasize the safety of the americans who are over here fighting for our freedom. we came on july 4th, but thank our soldiers here for what they're doing on independence day to fight for our freedom against islamist extremists terrorists who are threatening it today, and also if i may through you, major, thank the families of our troops back home for all the support they give in this cause. >> major: senator, what is the timeline for general petraeus' decision on reviewing the rules of engagement? speaking of timelines, where are we on the timeline for troop withdrawals next year...

Graham and we encouraged him to do that and obviously emphasize the safety of the americans who are over here, fighting for our freedom, we came on july 4th to thank for you soldiers for what they are doing on independence day, to fight for our freedom against islamist extremists, terrorists who are threatening it today and also, if i may, through you, major, thank the families of our troops, back home, for all of the support they give in this cause. >> senator, what is the timeline for general pet's decisiraeus's for the rules of engagement and where are we on the timeline for troop withdrawa...

Improvement in that very important element of the security forces. with respect, i think the build phases are coming along well, but that is something we are largely doing with our s.e.r.p. and comrades and others. but the question there is to get to something that is sustainable, enduring, self-sustaining over the long term. and then there is really a fourth phase to the clear hold and build. there is a transition phase. and that's the phase when we begin to thin out, we begin to hand off tasks. and, of course, you don't merely need to do this so that ultimately we can reduce our forces in th...

Command. general petraeus deserves a lot of praise for doing that, taking on a tough assignment. but president obama not only appointed petraeus, he made pretty clear that he understood there was a huge problem on the civilian side. i think he's going to move to correct that and also he moved away from the july 2011 date for the beginning of the withdrawal. in his speech wednesday, when he announced petraeus, he never said the word, deadline, timetable, or july 2011. when asked about it thursday, we saw that on the clip, he now calls it a transition phase. i think he's basically going to move ...

>> behind us, we said as we begin a transition phase in which the afghan government is taking on more and more responsibility. >> chris: president obama saying his july 2011 time line for starting to pull troops from afghanistan won't mean a rush for the exits. it's time for our sunday group, bill crystal of the weekly standard. mora of national public radio, former state department official liz cheney, and juan williams also from national public radio. liz, before we begin, as i think most people know, your dad is in the hospital this weekend. there are reports he had an irregular heartbeat, ...