WEBVTT 00:00.140 --> 00:02.140 good . Tell me what you're doing in 00:02.140 --> 00:04.362 Iraq who you're with and what you're up 00:04.362 --> 00:06.970 to . Well , the Secretary of Defense 00:06.980 --> 00:09.640 arranged for an airplane to take us 00:09.640 --> 00:12.340 over here . Uh we spent the last 00:12.350 --> 00:15.560 probably 30 hours in uh in Iraq 00:15.570 --> 00:17.910 visiting various cities , Baghdad 00:17.920 --> 00:19.976 visited . Probably the highlight was 00:19.976 --> 00:22.180 visiting the Texas National Guard in 00:22.180 --> 00:24.650 Tikrit , uh the hometown of Saddam 00:24.650 --> 00:26.770 Hussein , also the town where he was 00:26.770 --> 00:29.070 captured . And when I'm taking away 00:29.070 --> 00:31.280 from this trip , it's really the 00:31.280 --> 00:33.760 positive , optimistic attitude of the 00:33.770 --> 00:35.960 troops . Uh they believe what they're 00:35.960 --> 00:38.500 doing is the right thing to do and they 00:38.500 --> 00:40.690 deserve our support . And one other 00:40.690 --> 00:42.890 thing I'd like to mention that I found 00:42.890 --> 00:46.850 him um very reassuring . It was 00:46.850 --> 00:48.906 when we were driving flying in Black 00:48.906 --> 00:51.840 Hawk helicopters between Baghdad and to 00:51.840 --> 00:55.260 treat we found him . So I've got many 00:55.260 --> 00:58.200 villagers out there with Children uh 00:58.210 --> 01:01.120 and adults and they're all plotting uh 01:01.130 --> 01:03.560 and waving at us with hospitality . 01:04.040 --> 01:07.150 This is not the what you guess would 01:07.150 --> 01:09.650 expect and some 100 in the paper . But 01:10.040 --> 01:11.929 again , I found it for them to be 01:11.929 --> 01:13.596 greeting us with that kind of 01:13.596 --> 01:15.429 hospitality as we're flying in a 01:15.429 --> 01:17.540 Blackhawk helicopter . I thought that 01:17.540 --> 01:20.920 was a great thing . Who are you there 01:20.920 --> 01:24.860 with jim marshall uh 01:24.870 --> 01:27.020 from Georgia and Cathy McMorris from 01:27.030 --> 01:30.140 Washington State . We have a member 01:30.140 --> 01:33.360 from the Majority Leader's office with 01:33.360 --> 01:37.160 us as well and several staff members . 01:37.170 --> 01:40.480 But this is a Start to finish military 01:40.480 --> 01:42.980 code L we've been on over the last 30 01:42.980 --> 01:45.340 hours . I haven't really slept And 01:45.340 --> 01:47.380 we've been on the C130s . Find the 01:47.390 --> 01:50.390 Baghdad and Black Hawk helicopters . Uh 01:50.400 --> 01:52.567 And we talked to a lot of the generals 01:52.567 --> 01:55.340 in Baghdad Saddam Hussein's Palace 01:55.350 --> 01:57.461 where they're currently located about 01:57.461 --> 01:59.700 this struggle . one thing I took away 01:59.700 --> 02:02.030 from that is that ultimately this 02:02.030 --> 02:05.520 conflict will be decided on whether 02:05.520 --> 02:07.576 they can form their own government , 02:07.840 --> 02:10.490 Shia and Sunni and and really go 02:10.490 --> 02:12.690 forward in a constructive way and if 02:12.690 --> 02:15.023 they can do that , I think will prevail . 02:15.023 --> 02:17.190 But ultimately this is up to the Iraqi 02:17.190 --> 02:19.301 people and I think they need to stand 02:19.301 --> 02:21.523 up to these insurgents and say enough . 02:22.540 --> 02:24.530 And when you say stand up to the 02:24.540 --> 02:26.707 insurgents , you're talking about just 02:26.707 --> 02:28.873 the average joe on the street . Or are 02:28.873 --> 02:30.929 you talking about the policeman that 02:30.929 --> 02:33.151 we've been training and who are not yet 02:33.151 --> 02:35.500 combat ready ? Well , you know , 02:35.500 --> 02:37.556 another great demonstration I got to 02:37.556 --> 02:39.860 see . It was the actual a demonstration 02:39.860 --> 02:42.280 by the Iraqi security police force 02:42.290 --> 02:44.790 which is modeled after our FBI hostage 02:44.790 --> 02:46.960 rescue team . And it was very 02:46.960 --> 02:49.430 impressive . Uh They , you know , shot 02:49.430 --> 02:52.160 at targets and they're very uh well 02:52.160 --> 02:54.770 equipped . I think they're standing up . 02:54.770 --> 02:56.992 They have about 300,000 members trained 02:56.992 --> 02:59.100 now . They have 30,000 people on the 02:59.110 --> 03:01.430 border . Uh so this is all I think 03:01.430 --> 03:03.652 we're encouraging news because as their 03:03.652 --> 03:05.652 numbers rise , our numbers can come 03:05.652 --> 03:07.708 down . But an example of what you're 03:07.708 --> 03:09.930 talking about is when I was in to treat 03:09.930 --> 03:12.180 the uh the forces there , the texas 03:12.180 --> 03:14.940 National Guard , many of whom were from 03:14.940 --> 03:17.107 the Houston area , by the way . It was 03:17.107 --> 03:19.700 good to see him . But they told me that 03:19.700 --> 03:22.580 they have received a lot of human 03:22.580 --> 03:25.170 intelligence from the local neighbors 03:25.170 --> 03:27.610 who are fed up with these outside 03:27.620 --> 03:30.240 insurgents coming into their area . And 03:30.240 --> 03:32.073 so what they're doing is they're 03:32.073 --> 03:34.900 communicating with our military about 03:34.900 --> 03:37.770 where these people are uh which led to 03:37.770 --> 03:40.740 this operation uh swarming which was 03:40.740 --> 03:42.962 conducted about three weeks ago , which 03:42.962 --> 03:45.018 is a very successful operation . I'd 03:45.018 --> 03:47.296 like to see more of that in the future . 03:47.296 --> 03:49.351 And I think given the fact we didn't 03:49.351 --> 03:51.462 have a lot of good human intelligence 03:51.462 --> 03:53.573 before the war , uh I can tell you on 03:53.573 --> 03:55.684 the ground now it looks like we've uh 03:55.684 --> 03:57.796 dramatically improved the situation . 03:57.796 --> 03:59.962 Well , there continues to be sectarian 03:59.962 --> 04:02.073 violence . You had mentioned that you 04:02.073 --> 04:02.020 were impressed by what you saw the 04:02.020 --> 04:05.010 local troops uh seem to be improving . 04:05.020 --> 04:07.076 When do you think will be at a point 04:07.076 --> 04:09.187 where they can start taking over some 04:09.187 --> 04:11.020 of the policing and we can start 04:11.020 --> 04:13.353 bringing the U . S . Troops home ? Well , 04:13.353 --> 04:15.630 I think I think the er er of course the 04:15.640 --> 04:18.740 day before we arrived , the Shiite 04:18.740 --> 04:22.120 mosque was bombed , suicide bomber , 79 04:22.120 --> 04:24.050 people dead . But I think it's 04:24.050 --> 04:26.690 important that they integrate these 04:26.700 --> 04:30.190 forces . Both Sunni and Shia . Uh the 04:30.200 --> 04:32.367 more they can do that and the more the 04:32.367 --> 04:34.589 government is Sunni and Shia uh then it 04:34.589 --> 04:36.910 will symbolize unity and stop these 04:36.920 --> 04:38.780 warring factions , the sectarian 04:38.790 --> 04:41.330 factions that we see today . But until 04:41.330 --> 04:43.980 that happens , it this is going to be a 04:43.990 --> 04:46.560 struggle . Uh this is not going to go 04:46.560 --> 04:48.393 away overnight . And I think the 04:48.393 --> 04:50.616 american people need to be prepared for 04:50.616 --> 04:52.616 that . That is gonna be a long term 04:52.616 --> 04:54.616 struggle . But I have seen dramatic 04:54.616 --> 04:56.449 improvement . I wanted to see it 04:56.449 --> 04:58.782 firsthand myself to see how we're doing . 04:58.940 --> 05:00.800 And I have to say I was I felt 05:00.800 --> 05:04.000 reassured by this this visit . And if 05:04.000 --> 05:05.944 you had to come away with like one 05:05.944 --> 05:07.833 point that really struck you your 05:07.833 --> 05:10.850 observation , what would that be ? Well , 05:10.850 --> 05:13.310 of course , the arrogance of Saddam 05:13.310 --> 05:16.270 Hussein's empire with these palaces was 05:16.280 --> 05:18.790 unbelievable . The amount of money he 05:18.790 --> 05:22.060 put into idolatry of himself . 05:22.640 --> 05:24.950 It's amazing . But I think the thing 05:24.950 --> 05:27.240 that the warmest thing I walked away 05:27.240 --> 05:30.690 with seeing these Children and 05:30.700 --> 05:34.280 adults waving at us as we're 05:34.280 --> 05:36.580 flying over in the helicopters , just 05:36.590 --> 05:40.240 shepherds , villagers , little Children 05:40.240 --> 05:42.296 looking up to us . We're flying over 05:42.296 --> 05:44.296 the treetops so we can see him very 05:44.296 --> 05:47.440 well , smiling and waving to us . 05:47.450 --> 05:50.470 They're glad we're there , they're very 05:50.470 --> 05:52.637 happy that we're there . We're glad we 05:52.637 --> 05:54.859 got rid of this dictator . What are you 05:54.859 --> 05:57.081 going to do with your observations ? Um 05:57.081 --> 06:00.060 Once you get back to Washington . Well , 06:00.060 --> 06:03.180 what I want to make sure that 06:03.190 --> 06:05.570 the probably talk to the Secretary of 06:05.570 --> 06:07.681 Defense after this trip and make sure 06:07.681 --> 06:09.737 that we're doing a lot of the things 06:09.737 --> 06:11.626 I've outlined with Respect to the 06:11.626 --> 06:14.450 integration of the government uh of the 06:14.450 --> 06:16.506 security forces . I think that's all 06:16.506 --> 06:18.617 very important . And I also think the 06:18.617 --> 06:20.760 $80 billion dollars we appropriate 06:20.760 --> 06:23.560 recently needs to go into rebuilding 06:23.560 --> 06:25.850 the infrastructure in Iraq to get the 06:25.850 --> 06:28.410 economy going because without jobs 06:28.410 --> 06:30.577 you're going to have a training ground 06:30.577 --> 06:32.688 for for terrorism . So I think that's 06:32.688 --> 06:34.632 very important . But you know , in 06:34.632 --> 06:36.577 addition they have a great natural 06:36.577 --> 06:38.910 resource that they have yet to tap into . 06:38.910 --> 06:40.966 That . We were told was going to pay 06:40.966 --> 06:43.077 for a lot of this . And I have walked 06:43.077 --> 06:45.243 away with some ideas on that as well . 06:45.243 --> 06:47.188 And what are some of those ideas ? 06:47.188 --> 06:49.188 Because uh billions of dollars that 06:49.188 --> 06:51.410 were earmarked for rebuilding Iraq have 06:51.410 --> 06:53.077 been diverted to fighting the 06:53.077 --> 06:55.090 insurgency . So where's that money 06:55.090 --> 06:57.460 going to come from ? To rebuild Iraq ? 06:58.530 --> 07:00.660 I think the dividends would pay 07:01.340 --> 07:03.284 astronomically if we could get the 07:03.284 --> 07:05.760 infrastructure in place to to refine 07:05.770 --> 07:07.714 the natural resources , the energy 07:07.714 --> 07:10.180 resource that they have , which would 07:10.190 --> 07:12.190 again pay off dividends if we could 07:12.190 --> 07:14.301 just get that up and running , you've 07:14.301 --> 07:16.400 got a lot of corruption in Iraq with 07:16.400 --> 07:18.480 regard to that . But you just don't 07:18.480 --> 07:21.580 have the adequate infrastructure to uh 07:21.590 --> 07:23.770 to get that out of the ground . And 07:23.780 --> 07:26.290 again , they could make an enormous 07:26.290 --> 07:28.512 amount of money off that they would pay 07:28.512 --> 07:30.790 for a lot of a lot of these operations . 07:30.940 --> 07:33.107 All right . When are you coming home ? 07:34.140 --> 07:37.000 Well , I think I'm gonna get some sleep 07:37.010 --> 07:39.380 and then we're going to fly to Germany 07:39.380 --> 07:41.602 and visit one of the hospitals there uh 07:41.602 --> 07:43.769 and visit the wounded . Um And then we 07:43.769 --> 07:46.160 fly back tomorrow night . All right . 07:46.160 --> 07:48.438 Anything else you'd like to add ? Yeah , 07:48.940 --> 07:51.470 That's just great to see all my all 07:51.470 --> 07:53.526 those Texans in Iraq . They're doing 07:53.526 --> 07:55.581 great and they're looking forward to 07:55.581 --> 07:57.748 coming home . And uh many of them were 07:57.748 --> 07:59.748 in the Houston area . Yeah . Do you 07:59.748 --> 08:01.970 have any numbers on the number of texas 08:01.970 --> 08:03.970 national guards that are there ? Or 08:03.970 --> 08:07.770 texas troops ? I don't I don't but I 08:07.780 --> 08:10.460 visited was probably about 200 . 08:11.140 --> 08:13.500 Yeah , but I can certainly get that 08:13.500 --> 08:15.667 number two . Yeah . That's alright . I 08:15.667 --> 08:17.833 can find it too . All right . Listen , 08:17.833 --> 08:17.790 thank you so much . I appreciate I 08:17.800 --> 08:19.856 appreciate your time with us today . 08:20.440 --> 08:22.607 That's great start . All right . Thank 08:22.607 --> 08:24.350 you . Congress . Okay . Bye . Bye .