discussed with general mckeon, that's a false issue. maliki brought that up when he knew the proposal on the table by the administration was not a serious proposal in terribles of troops. the outgoing on-scene commander general alston recommended 23,000 troops. the envoy for the president of the united states put 10,000 on the table and was willing to negotiate even less than that. maliki knew he didn't have a serious proposal. he wanted cover. he threw that out there to provide cover. huge mistake in not providing the forces. >> what do you think, general, the implications of doing nothing are? we just heard buck mckeon say the president is golfing today. you know, we've got a lack of engagement. what happens in your view in terms of implications that the american people should be thinking about whether it's on the economy, on perception, on sentiment, if the u.s. actually does nothing? >> well, there's two major issues here. iraq collapses economic impact