crisis. when the iraqis dead-locked on how to pick a new government, vice president biden flew to baghdad. he has been there six times since taking office. while back in d.c., he runs the administration's monthly meetings on iraq. when i spoke with vice president biden yesterday, he had just met with the president and with the former commander of the u.s. forces in iraq, general ray odierno. i know you're just out of a meeting with general odierno, the departing commander of the u.s. you've been in iraq a number of times, including quite recently. you told "the new york times" last week, the bottom line is there are a lot of bad ass 50,000 troops that are left. these guys can shoot straight. 50,000 troops in country is still a big, big contention. with 50,000 as you put it bad ass troops --