drawdown, we turn to brian katulis, who worked for president clinton's national security council and advised the obama presidential campaign on iraq. he's now a senior fellow at the center for american progress. and michael rubin, an adviser to the u.s.-led occupation authority in iraq under president george w. bush. he's now a resident scholar at the american enterprise institute. >> welcome to you both, gentlemen. when the president says to today brian katulis that we are moving from the combat mission to the diplomatic mission, what does that really mean? >> well, president obama is trying to send a message that what he promised as a candidate, that we will implement a phased with drawal of troops but we will commit to enduring support, diplomatic, economic, political support for iraq, this is what he is explaining to the american public. we are in this transition phase and that the combat phase has ended. we're going to fade to the background and offer support to the iraqi government and the iraqi people over the long hall. >> michael rubin, are you hearing fade to the background

and brian katulis, a senior fellow at the center for american progress. he was on the staff of the national security council during the clinton administration. his lieutenant colonel nagel we've had back-to-back days of heavy casualtys in afghanistan. is that rise in casualties similar to the one we experienced in iraq during the surge? >> i think there are some similaritys in that we have forces moving into places they haven't about in before. we have more forces on the ground than we've ever had before. but i think it's important to point out that grievous as these losses were over the weekend, the total casualties, u.s. casualties for afghanistan in august to date are 49. we lost 66 last month in july. so this has been a particularly bad weekend but not a particularly bad month in what is shaping up to be a very difficult year as u.s. forces ramp up. >> suarez: is this similar to the way we were told, brian katulis, during the iraq surge that things would get worse before they get beter? >> i think it is. and i think the people that the u.s. forces are

. >> suarez: is this similar to the way we were told, brian katulis, during the iraq surge that things would get worse before they get beter? >> i think it is. and i think the people that the u.s. forces are facing over there are an insurgency. and they don't like foreign troops. and unfortunately what we are seeing in afghanistan is that a large number of afghans don't support the presence of foreign troops and i think we will see more of this as more troops actually position themselves in the neighborhoods and communities inside of afghanistan. >> is it tempting but should we step back from comparing iraq to afghanistan at this stage in the game? >> i think it's really a false comparison. it's not even apples and oranges it is like apples and bicycles. one is largely urban, another is largely rural. afghanistan is very decentralized. lacks a lot of coheeseive structures that the iraqi government did have under saddam hussein. so i think the challenges are fundamentally different. and i would add to it, in afghanistan, we have an area in pakistan, neighboring afghanistan where insurge