MS. PERINO: He said that there is a large-scale uprising in Iraq. I don't have the exact language here, but certainly across-the-board, we are on the offense against al Qaeda not just in Iraq, but in other places where they are popping up. And the competing visions is something that the President has said for a long time. It's not just a military fight -- and everyone else says that, people on Capitol Hill say that, that it's a political and economic fight. And it's an ideological struggle, and one that we are intent on winning. It's going to take a long, long time.

Part of it was -- the first step was to regain control of not just Anbar, but the areas where al Qaeda had infiltrated, which we have largely done in Iraq. Now they're fighting mostly up in the Mosul area. But we have to keep fighting, and part of fighting is joining with the Iraqis. And they've done a lot and they're fighting alongside with us, and they're taking a lot of casualties -- not just through their police or their military, but through the attacks on their innocent civilians.

seen at 14:09, 19 March in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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