WEBVTT

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this is the Persian BBC Persian service .

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So our audience is mainly version

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speaking people . And okay ,

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so I basically have some questions

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about Iraq and to the extent that

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connected related to Iran . So first of

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all , how long have you been in Iraq ?

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They're So our brigade has been on the

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east side of Baghdad for over two

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months now . Um

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and um do you believe that the security

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situation is getting better since the

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election ? Oh yes , it's getting better

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uh very calm today and uh the Iraqi

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government has made decisions in the

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last week and the security forces have

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reacted are on full alert and uh the

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presence is out there and the citizens

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know that the Iraqi security forces are

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there for them . Um Do you think that

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what we see in Iraq for the past few

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weeks is a low level civil war ?

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Uh I think the terrorists would like it

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to be called a civil war . They've got

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a very selfish agenda trying to break

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things up that are going well for the

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Iraqi government . But from my vantage

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point , East Baghdad , I don't see a

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civil war . So you don't believe that

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the civil war in Iraq is inevitable .

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So uh right now it's

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calm in the past . There were some

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allegations about Iran's possible

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involvement in some of the insurgencies .

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Have you seen any evidence that would

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suggest such a collaboration ?

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We deal with

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the threat every day and there are all

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sorts of reports ? Uh I don't have any

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linkages at my level that show up

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cleared from one country to the other ,

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but we know there may be outside

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influences other , any reports about

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Iran specifically . Have you heard

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anything , all the

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reports , we get our tactical reports

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down at the ground level , uh and we

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deal with those as we get them . How

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do you believe that Iran can make life

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harder or easier for the american

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troops in Iraq ?

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I'm at the brigade level and those are

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probably strategic questions or someone

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else . I'm sure that having all of the

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Middle Eastern countries recognize

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Iraqis vote actually three votes last

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year and the fact that they are making

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decisions and their security forces are

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protecting their citizens . I think

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every country in the world ought to

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recognize that given the sovereignty ,

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that they need to press on . Do you

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think that the political process can in

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the end ? Um and the violence in

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Iraq ? Well , it certainly

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worked this week . How

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the Iraqi government made decisions

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communicated down the Minister of

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Defense and other ministers and the

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reaction of the Iraqi people is that

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they are calm because they have Iraqi

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security forces protecting them right

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now . Um do you need more troops ? Do

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you think more troops would bring down

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the violence ? Uh how ,

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I don't know if we need more troops

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overall ? I think that when we have to

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surge like we did this week to increase

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patrols uh in our sector , we have

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enough troops to partner with the Iraqi

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army and to train with the Iraqi army

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and we hand off battle space missions

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and tasks all the time . So , it's from

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my perspective in East Baghdad , it's

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working real well . How is the

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situation in terms of everyday life for

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the Iraqis ? Do they have electricity ?

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Water running water ? Do they

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do they have electricity and running

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water ? Uh Electricity runs differently

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depending on what district you're in ,

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what area in . And we've got a lot of

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infrastructure projects right now .

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They're helping them look at how to

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better get electricity down to the

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citizens of Iraq . But at this point

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right now , they don't have electricity

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24 hours a day . Do you think that

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today ? I don't believe they have

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electricity 24 hours a day . Do you

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know how many hours they have ? Like an

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average uh It varies so much in

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different parts of East Baghdad . It's

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a very diverse area . And

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so in some areas , they may be limited

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to 567 hours in other , in other areas .

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That may be significantly more just

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depends on the substation power station .

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And we're helping in all those areas

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right now . What about running water ?

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Do they all have running water ? Clean

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water ? They they've got water in

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most areas and we have helped them to

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ensure that they've got clean water in

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all areas . There may be some areas

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where they have to uh use bottled water

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two times . But there's running water

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in most areas in Eastern Baghdad .

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Thank you very much . I really , really

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appreciate that . And I hope your state

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and Youtube all of you . Thank you ,

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sir . Thank you . All right .