"DOBBS: Fouad Ajami?
AJAMI: I like the term that Churchill once used about the Middle East when he described it as "those thankless deserts." These are very difficult lands, Lou. These are very difficult countries. And we don't have the language skills, we don't have the culture skills, we don't have the experience...
DOBBS: You're a kind, gentle and elegant professor.
AJAMI: I try...
DOBBS: But I want to say to you...
AJAMI: Yes?
DOBBS: All of us who something that is hard, we're expected to do it when we take the job. Do you have confidence in Secretary Rice, her department and the National Security Council?
AJAMI: Well, what's interesting about Secretary Rice and her department in terms of Iraq, they're no longer doing the Iraq. Secretary Rice has now abandoned Iraq to do the Israeli conflict. It's a very, very difficult assignment. We've drawn a very difficult assignment in a very difficult country.
DOBBS: You're a great grader of Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state.
AJAMI: I'm an easy grader. My students always say I'm one of the easiest graders in school." (thanks Nader)