WEBVTT

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well , I'll tell you , it's just very

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impressive to be out here at Camp

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anaconda and see the americans from

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every corner of the country working

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together pulling together uh , to

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defend the freedom of the Iraqis and in

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the process defend american freedom .

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And it makes you very proud .

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Yes , I was here about 2.5

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years ago and it's interesting to see

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back then . It was very early in the

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process that you didn't know how things

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would settle down and uh it was

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probably the traveling outside of

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Baghdad seemed at that point probably a

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little more dangerous . But now , you

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know , in Baghdad itself , the

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conditions are very difficult , but in

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the rest of the country , you see a

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real sense of almost uh well while it's

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still clearly a war zone , there is a ,

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a settling that uh you didn't

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see back when I was here 2.5 years ago ,

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I think the american troops are more

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experienced , understand their mission

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better . Back then there was a lot of

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feeling our way around and there always

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will be some degree of that . But I

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think the mission is better understood

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now . And uh just it gives me cause for

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optimism that the Iraqis have gone

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through the process of having their

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free elections and creating a

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government as that government becomes

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more effective . The need for the

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american military to be in the league

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should diminish over time . And I think

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that's an important thing for first for

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our military , but also for the

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american people back home to see that

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happen . You know , the main reason to

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be here is to say hi to the troops ,

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particularly those from new york . We

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have some of our reservists and

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National Guard people who are true

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citizen soldiers who have ordinary

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lives in regular jobs , but give them

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up to when to answer our country's call .

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And I'm just very proud of them . I

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know our state's very proud of them ,

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and it's just been a privilege to be

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able to spend some time and thank them

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for their sacrifice .