Gen. Petraeus: We've 'Made Quite a Bit of Progress'

The general said this police force, along with the government, will play an integral part in securing and uniting the Iraqi nation.

"There's a local reconciliation," he said. "This area has Sunni as well as Shia.

"The police force is about a third Sunni and two thirds Shia ... and national leaders have to connect the top-down effort with what is an important bottom-up effort," he added.

The general said that despite an uptick in violence in the last few days, the number of attacks nationwide are down to the lowest level since March 2006. Now, Petraeus said, it's just a matter of continuing to make progress -- big and small -- to keep up the momentum of the surge and hope that the Iraqis can figure out how to make their country secure and fully functional again.

"We all would like to draw down forces as quickly as we can," Petraeus said, "but we want to do it in a way that doesn't surrender or jeopardize the gains we have fought and sacrificed so hard to achieve."