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(CBS)  "Someone said that since the Americans have been here, the only thing that's gotten better is they have more cell phones and more television channels. They expected the Americans to fix things," Stahl told Odierno.

"This is not about us fixing things. This is about us helping the Iraqis to fix things. Let's take a look back here: if you were back in 2006 and '07 you wouldn't see thousands and thousands of cars on the street. You wouldn't see thousands and thousands of new businesses. You kind of make fun of - there's more cell phones. Well there are more cell phones. They weren't even allowed to have cell phones before. They weren't allowed to have satellite dishes. So let's really take a look at what's changed here," the general replied.

"We interviewed an Iraqi university professor. And he says, 'What we need is a military strongman.' And I wonder if you sense that there is beginning to be a yearning, I hate to say the word, for a dictatorship?" Stahl asked.

"I don't think so," Odierno replied. "I think these people struggled significantly for 30 years now. And I don't think they're ready to go back to a dictatorship."

That university professor is Safa Bayati who supported the U.S. invasion, but now sees a dark future for his country.

"I think now America should bring a very strong military man to rule Iraq before they leave," Safa told Stahl.

"I can't believe you're saying that. Saddam Hussein was a military man," Stahl said.

"Yes," Safa replied. "Now Saddam is the very worst one. But now what we have from the politics, those politics now: they are ruling, they are much, much worser than Saddam."

You won't hear that sentiment in the northern part of the country, in Kurdistan. There they tremble at the thought of another Saddam.

Barham Salih is the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan. "We fear that dictatorship will re-emerge. And we have had such terrible history of genocide and ethnic cleansing," he told Stahl.

Asked if that's the biggest fear, the prime minister said, "Of course. Halabja happened in 1988: in one single day 5,000 civilians were gassed to death by Saddam Hussein. People cannot forget that and should not forget it."

With that history, the Kurds want as much independence from the central government as possible. They've been able to establish what looks like a separate country: Kurdistan has its own flag, its own army, its own parliament and president, and its own much more thriving economy. The question is, do they want to be a part of Iraq or an independent state?

"Every Kurd, including myself, deep down in my heart, I want to see an independent Kurdistan. But it is not about what you want. It's about what is possible. We have made a deliberate judgment. We have chosen to be part of a democratic, federal Iraq," Prime Minister Salih said.

"So you're committed to staying within Iraq?" Stahl asked.

"A democratic Iraq," Salih replied. "A dictatorial Iraq, I cannot give that…commitment."

But staying in Iraq doesn't mean there aren't border disputes with the rest of Iraq, as if they were a separate country. General Odierno flew with Stahl over one of the most volatile pieces of unfinished business, what they call the "disputed areas."



Produced by Richard Bonin
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