WEBVTT

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Good morning , Major Gentlemen any ?

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Yes , this is a Hendrix , a brandy , a

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cam G H T . V . In Denver , How are you ?

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Good morning , Hendrick ? How are you

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this morning ? I am doing well , I

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guess this afternoon where you are ?

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It's actually evening . But

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tell me , tell me where you're located .

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If you could . Uh we're at Doha

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Qatar . Okay , So you're at U . S .

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Central Command in Qatar , is that

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correct ? The forward headquarters in

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Qatar ? That's correct . Ok . Um

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just uh we're gonna do a short

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interview with you here is you've been

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doing already , I guess today . Um give

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us a little sense of what your uh kind

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of what you're focusing on today in

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your chats with with other press people .

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What are you uh is there a message you

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want to get out ? Well , the the

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uh probably the common

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thread has been the progress that we've

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been making uh in the last five years ,

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both in Afghanistan and Iraq , uh

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countering some of the press reports ,

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countering some of the announcements

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made by other uh important people

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around the world uh

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and and most importantly , the progress

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that we're making in Iraq , not only

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with us and coalition forces , but also

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with the Iraqi security forces focusing

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first on Iraq . Is there one particular

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thing or one area that you think has

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been most overlooked in the coverage

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back in the U . S . Um uh there's

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obviously been a good deal of bad news

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coming out of there over the past

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couple of months . Uh I think I think

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the good news that is being missed . Uh

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is the , is all the good things that

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the soldiers see soldiers , sailors ,

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airmen , marines see themselves doing

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in working with Iraq . The Iraqi

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populist , uh when you look at the

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schools that have been worked on the

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clinics that have been built or

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refurbished the literally thousands and

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thousands of packages of school

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supplies that the great people of the

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United States sent forward to their

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soldiers , sailors , airmen , marines

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and they put together school packets

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for kids . Uh , it's really

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heartwarming to see that support for

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our troops coming from all of the

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people in the United States . And yet

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there was a story on abc news last

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night that spoke of uh the tremendous

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number of Iraqis that are leaving the

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country that are that are getting visas

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or uh boarding buses , hundreds of

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thousands of Iraqis just can't take the

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A level of violence and the lack of

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security anymore . How do you explain

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that ? I'm not sure I can characterize

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the numbers that high . Um , I know

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that there have been a few thousands

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that have that have left Baghdad and

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some of the other cities . I can't

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characterize it at the same numbers

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that you did , but you don't deny that

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there are a number of Iraqis that are ,

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are very worried about the uh the level

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of security and the level of violence

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there and are leaving the country . I I

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think that that the government is

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taking time to establish itself to

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establish the control that needs to be

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able to exercise to be able to

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uh provide to the people the kind of

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security , the kind of economic

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incentives , uh jobs , uh sewer

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running water , electricity etcetera ,

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to be able to show the people of the

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progress And security will come

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especially with the great uh support of

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the Iraqi Security Forces . That number

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nearly 300,000 . Now , there was a

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report that came out over the weekend ,

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an intelligence assessment , I guess ,

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that spoke of the uh the

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problems that Iraq is having in

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uh in terms of security , particularly

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in Anbar province , the uh the lack of

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manpower to really keep the level of

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violence down . Uh Do you think reports

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such as those are are wrong ? Are they

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off the mark ? I think um that

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commanders always looked for an honest

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assessment , uh I don't know the

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colonel that wrote the report , but I

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understand and listening to his

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division commander and listening to the

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corps commander that the report was

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pretty accurate from the intelligence

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point of view . And I think that also

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was brought to attention that the

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economic part , the governance part of

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the of Iraqis central

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government needs to be following what

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the military does because this is not

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totally a military operation by itself .

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How close candidly is Iraq to a civil

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war at this point ? Uh I think um

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as as our boss said , General Abizaid

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said when he testified in in the

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beginning of august this year . Uh it's

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it's is bad a situation is he's seen

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since he spent time here in the Middle

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East , which is a number of years . Uh

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I think two key indicators uh that that

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I look at and our command looks at is

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uh does does the security force still

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respond to orders from the central

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government ? And the answer is a

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resounding yes , they do . And is the

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central government holding together and

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making progress on a daily basis ? And

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the answer to that question is yes . So

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I don't think we've we can categorize

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this or characterize this as a civil

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war yet , but still given the , you

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know , the level of violence over the

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summer the last couple of months ,

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especially uh there are poll numbers in

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the US which I'm sure you're not privy

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to every day that show that a majority

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of americans believe we made a mistake

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and going into Iraq . Uh there's a lot

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of skepticism locally , especially as

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we head into the election season about

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how things are being conducted in Iraq ,

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whether we're really on the right

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course there uh personally , I think we

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are on the right course . Uh I think

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that that um the only way that

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we can lose this war , uh this global

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war on terror is by losing the will of

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the people . And there's an awful lot

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of political rhetoric that's going back

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and forth because of the upcoming

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elections that you mentioned and our

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forces combined with our coalition

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forces In Iraq . That numbers about

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23,000 , The near 300,000 forces that

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we have uh that are Iraqi security

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forces . I think we're making uh daily

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progress in the right direction . And

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you have to look at what really incited

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the sectarian violence back in February

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when they bombed the mosque in Samara .

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That was al Qaeda and its associated

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movements planned event to incite

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sectarian violence . But do you see the

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level of sectarian violence trending in

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a positive direction ? It seems like

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things have been getting worse in the

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last few months . Uh actually , uh from

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the figures that I've seen ? Uh it

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peaked in july august is somewhat less

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so far in september were about equal

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with august's um trend

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now . Today , the president is speaking

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at the United Nations in new york .

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He's talking about the importance of

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furthering democracy , especially in

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the Middle East . Um What do you tell

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folks in our viewing area here in

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colorado ? Uh why should they be

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encouraged based on what has happened

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so far in Iraq , and also in

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Afghanistan , where there's been some

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real challenges over the last six

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months . How should colorado's feel

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better about our efforts to promote

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democracy uh when things are still so

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difficult over there . Well , I think

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that democracy , as you see it

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throughout the world won't necessarily

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replicate what we see here in the

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United States . A dictator is gone in

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in Iraq very , very overbearing ,

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controlling government run by the

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taliban is gone and no longer in

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control of the people in Afghanistan .

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That's progress . We look at the

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elections , the two elections in Iraq ,

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the constitutional referendum in Iraq .

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You look at conditions in which those

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people voted where there were no

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vehicles . They walked two poles , they

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walked under threat of death to polls

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to vote . Uh This is something new ,

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they're growing into it and it's not

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something that's going to happen

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overnight . What would you lastly like

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to see happen ? What would be an

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indicator to the folks back in the

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United States uh in the next couple of

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months . That would tell us that things

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are on the right track uh and are

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really trending in a positive direction ,

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particularly in Iraq . I think that the

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positive things that we'll see in Iraq

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are what we refer to as the pick

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process or the provincial Iraqi control

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process . Uh so far , only two of

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the 18 provinces , One McDonogh has

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been turned over to Iraqi control . The

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second one is supposed to be turned

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over tomorrow . There are 16

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others . I think that as we see that

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turnover process occur , we'll see very

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positive results uh in relationship to

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security also happening in the country .

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Do you think ? Americans should be more

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patient ? I think we have to be patient .

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The global war on terror is something

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that we've never faced an enemy like

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this in the past , you know , it's , it

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flies no flag , it defends no border ,

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it represents no people and because it

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operates in literally thousands of

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cells around the world and are masters

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of the internet , this is going to be a

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generational uh enemy to defeat

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their extremist ideology . And yet ,

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do you think the global war on

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terrorism has anything to do with the

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sectarian conflict that's going on

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right now in Iraq ? I think that that

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the global war on terror , as I said

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earlier , was was the sectarian

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violence was spiked . Uh

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really big in february when Al Qaeda

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and its associated movements bombed the

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mosque in Samara that was done to

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incite sectarian violence and I think

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it was pretty successful as we can see

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what has happened uh , since that

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february bombing . The good thing is ,

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is that that since july the

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sectarian killings have reduced some

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uh and hopefully we will continue to

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reduce sectarian violence , especially

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in Baghdad . Where about 1/5 of the

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Iraqi population lives . Major general ,

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thank you so much for your time today .

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I really appreciate it . Thanks

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Hendrick . Glad to be with you