WEBVTT

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well , Governor Bill Owens joins us

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from kuwait city where you just

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finished a whirlwind 12 hour trip to

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Iraq Governor . This was a trip really ,

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that was kept quiet until now . I

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presume that was for security reasons ,

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you know , and it was , I traveled in

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with the governor of Oklahoma gentleman

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named brad Henry and we didn't want to

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put the air crews in any danger by

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having two governors where the bad guys

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might try to try to go after our

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particular plane or helicopters . So we

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did keep it quiet until we left kuwait

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and that was until we left Iraq . And

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that was just a couple hours ago and

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you were invited by the Department of

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Defense and the State Department . I

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know other governors have gone over the

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last few months . Why did you feel the

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need to go particularly given the

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increase in civil unrest there now and

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one of the my responsibilities as

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governor is on Commander in chief of

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the colorado National Guard . While I

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have professionals that actually run

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the Guard on a daily basis , this was a

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chance for me to meet many of the

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coloradans who are serving our state

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and country in Iraq had breakfast with

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some of our troops , lunch with others ,

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was briefed throughout the day and had

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a chance to meet many of the young men

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and women who are serving our country .

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So it was a good opportunity to to see

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what they do and with my own eyes , get

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a better understanding of what our

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country is doing in Iraq still talk

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about the time in governor , you went

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about the same time or just after a

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holy shrine was bombed there , pushing

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that country closer to civil war . You

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know , it's a big concern and the

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feeling here is is that Al Qaeda bombed

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the shrine in order to help start that

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civil unrest . One of the top american

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general said , we've been defeating the

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terrorists day in and day out on the

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ground . This was an attempt to kind of

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try to change the dynamics to change

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what had been happening which was day

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in and day out . The defeat of the

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terrorist by starting sectarian

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violence will hope that they're not

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successful . But I think the next few

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days we're going to be a real key . Now ,

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I know you landed in kuwait on thursday ,

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then you went on to Iraq , tell me

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exactly what did you do there ? We left

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from Kuwait city from a camp outside of

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Kuwait City went by C 1 30 into Baghdad

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early in the morning , went from

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Baghdad by helicopter to Ramadi , which

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is a town to the west of Baghdad which

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is which is a tough area in terms of

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terrorist activity . Met with Colorado

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troops there . Look look at some of the

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accomplishments that they're working on

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it came back to Baghdad back into

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Baghdad International Airport . Um went

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a couple of visits in Baghdad and then

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came out of Baghdad this evening again

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by C 1 30 which is a military transport

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plane , certainly not an expert , but

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it was a chance to meet some young

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colorado's and see what they're doing

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for our country . And you had a chance

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to have breakfast with some airmen who

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call Colorado home . What was that like ?

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What was their moods ? Are moods , very

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optimistic . These are men and women

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who have been here in many cases for

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for almost a year . In other cases ,

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some of them were almost brand new here

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in country . But I had a chance to dine

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with probably 50 colorado service

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people and the mood is very upbeat . I

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mean they understand what it is they're

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doing here . They feel that that in

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many cases we don't get a good picture

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back in the United States in terms of

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the accomplishments , the terrorism

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obviously gets a significant amount of

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coverage for good reason , but the

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schools , the water systems , the

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security situation is better than

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sometimes . Uh they feel americans know

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about , I know President Bush in fact

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said that americans should expect more

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violence and more political wrangling

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in Iraq . Did you get that sense from

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these airmen ? Any heightened awareness

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about what's going on right now with

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the civil unrest , You know , the last

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couple of days I think have been

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difficult with the bombing of the

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mosque and with what we've been seeing

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on the ground . However , most of these

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colorado troops aren't directly

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involved with that . Many of them are

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in very tough combat arms assignments

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but day in and day out what they're

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doing in terms of chasing down the

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terrorists and clearing roads of of I E .

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D . S . That doesn't change based on

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the current sectarian violence . I

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didn't have any trooper that told me

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they were more concerned today than

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they were , say a week ago . I think

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it's a fairly ongoing situation and

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they feel they're making progress even

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though on a day to day basis some days

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are better than others . We have a

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picture of you giving Staff Sergeant

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Nathan has a coin at breakfast this

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morning . Talk about that exchange .

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Well I had a chance this morning to

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have breakfast with a lot of these

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these colorado troopers and uh , and I

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received some of their coins . There's

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a tradition within the military where

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they , some , some officers and others

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have coins and exchange them . I was

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able to give a lot of these troopers

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colorado key chains . I don't have a

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coin but I have some key chains from

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colorado . And again , I'm just very

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appreciative of what these men and

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women are doing for our country . Many

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significant sacrifice in terms of

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families and even income , but almost

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without exception , they believe in

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what they're doing . They're proud of

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their mission and they hope to be able

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to finish it and come on home safely .

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Another young man , you met with Master

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Sergeant James nestor and we're

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wondering if he gave you any message

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for his life back here in Colorado ?

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Well he did . He told me to tell her if

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I had a chance to tell her he misses

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her and loves her and hopes to be home

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soon . And I have a whole briefcase

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full of notes and addresses from

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from troopers I met here and I'm going

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to be trying to write to their

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relatives , call their relatives and uh

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and send on their best wishes . One of

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the good things about this particular

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um war is that they are able to stay in

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closer touch with their loved ones that

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they have been in earlier times through

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email through regular phone visits home .

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But it's still really tough on these ,

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these ladies and gentlemen . And uh and

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I do appreciate what they're doing for

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us all . What role do you think are

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Colorado troops will play in easing the

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tensions there in Iraq ? Well , it's

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they're playing a major role . We have

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engineering groups who are helping the

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infrastructure , helping build the

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barracks that will house Iraqi troops

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there , helping improve the roads and

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bridges . We have air troops , we've

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had our F sixteen's here occasionally

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help providing air cover . We have a

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lot of troops coming in and out of

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through Fort Carson . So they're

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playing a major role in virtually every

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arena of this conflict ? Governor

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romans . Were you ever at all concerned

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about your safety there ? You know when

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you're flying in and out of Baghdad

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International Airport , you feel a

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little vulnerable again ? The little

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bit of risk I went through is nothing

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compared to what these troopers go

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through on a day in and day out basis .

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But as you're coming in in a fairly

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slow cargo plane over over Baghdad and

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you realize that occasionally they

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shoot at these planes I could recognize

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even as a civilian , the difference in

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tactics , we would come in from a

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different angle and come in very

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steeply . So we weren't over Baghdad

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very long as we left this evening , we

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left without lights . Um The airport

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wasn't lit and neither was our plane

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and it's kind of an eerie experience to

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take off in a plane that is completely

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blackened . Um and then climb very

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sharply so that you're as high as

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possible before your over much of

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Baghdad . But I wasn't I wasn't overly

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concerned but I think anybody would

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have a feeling of caution flying in and

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out of Baghdad right now . And let me

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ask you this , who paid for the trip

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was paid by the Defense Department paid

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by the U . S . Government uh flew

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commercial over to Germany and then

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down to kuwait and then flew into

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Baghdad and into Iraq military

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transport along with about 25 troops

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going into Baghdad this morning and we

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have 43 coming out this evening on the

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C 1 30 that I was on . So very little

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was done for me specially . But it was

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still exciting and uh a very kind of a

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once in a lifetime experience . And do

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you consider this money well spent ?

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You know , I do because it gives a

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commander in chief and that's what I am

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of the colorado National Guard a chance

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to see in this case the troops that I

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command . I hope it was good for their

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morale . I had a chance to need a lot

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of them . I hope I was able to show

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them that colorado hasn't forgotten

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them and that we appreciate what

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they're doing for all of us . So I

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think it was money well spent . Any

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final thoughts ? Governor Owens about

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your trip . Any special messages ?

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Anything else you want to say about

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this visit ? I've said it before , but

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I'll just I'll just repeat it . I'm

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really proud of what these troopers do

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for all of us . We're a long way away

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in the United States and they're facing

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danger every day and I believe they're

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fighting for all of us and I'm very

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appreciative of what they're doing here

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in Iraq . All right , Governor Owens ,

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thank you so much for talking with us .

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You bet and thank you