WEBVTT

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Good afternoon Miss Salaam Alaikum .

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It's my privilege again to be here

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today with you on behalf of the men and

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women of the multinational force Iraq .

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Uh today I've got my good friend uh

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pretty internal market organise Marcus ,

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the Ground force commander for the

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multinational force , West Forces

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operating Al Anbar province and Mark ,

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thanks for joining us here today .

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Thank you sir . The main enemy facing

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Iraqi people in Al Anbar is Al Qaeda .

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We all know that there are vicious ,

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ruthless enemy dedicated to killing

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hope and stopping progress . They don't

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want to win elections or get appointed

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to head ministries . They want to kill

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enough innocent men , women and

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Children that chaos and fear will

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dominate . They want to torture and

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assassinate those assisting the people

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and create a climate of despair that

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kills confidence in the security forces

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and in their government . Al Qaeda

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could not win an election . They offer

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discredited and hateful ideologies that

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have been rejected by the people in

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Saudi Arabia and Egypt and in

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Afghanistan . They are engaged in

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campaigns of murder and intimidation to

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try and advance their agendas . They

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want to commit horrific mass murders to

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try and spark sectarian violence . They

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need for the people of Iraq to feel

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unsafe . Said , even their way of life

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seems preferable . They offer by two

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choices . Death or submission . We

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have a different mission in Iraq . We

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are here to secure it progress and

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provide hope . We are here to help the

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Iraqis build institutions that will

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offer their Children a better life and

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a brighter tomorrow . We want to help

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the Iraqi people develop a secure ,

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stable and self determination that they

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can be proud of . We want to help the

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Iraqi people build loyal and

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professional security forces so that

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people can believe that true security

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does not lie with gangs and outlaw

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malicious . We want to help Iraqis

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build capable police and courts so that

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the people can believe in the rule of

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law instead of fearing the law of the

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gun . This is a very complex and

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challenging fight . That doesn't mean

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we should desert the Iraqi people to

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their enemies When Iraqi allies are

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faced with people who will drive bombs

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in the markets , the massacre . Woman

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shopping for groceries and Children

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carrying their books to schools . We

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have to ask ourselves , can we just

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walk away . Mark will tell you about

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the ways the Iraqi people are rejecting

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al Qaeda in the west and the ways that

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they're helping them in their fight . I

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can tell you about some progress here .

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The Iraqi people are making against Al

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Qaida in Baghdad today . An Iraqi

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facility staffed by Iraqi police ,

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Iraqi judges , Iraqi attorneys and

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Iraqi court personnel . The alleged

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terrorist known as Abu sure will begin

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to face the Iraqi justice and the Iraqi

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legal system . He could throw up the

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first chart please whom

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are waddle Edad , also known by the

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criminal aliases of a boom . You're and

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the spider will face charges today of

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murder as well as other charges under

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Article four , section one of Iraq's

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anti terrorism law , he is accused of

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being Al Qaeda's emir of Baghdad

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responsible for coordinating terror

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activities in this area . He's accused

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of leading a car bombs and roadside bob

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network that is said to have been

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responsible for murdering hundreds of

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innocent civilians . Some of his

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network qualms also have mixed

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chemicals with explosives to try and

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create even more panic and hopelessness .

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He has admitted to having a role In

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between 800 to 900 car and roadside

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bomb attacks . He is accused of

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overseeing sectarian murders and

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executions . He is also accused of

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being involved in several attacks on

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bridges and other infrastructure vital

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to the Iraqi people . He has admitted

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to playing a part in the horrific binds

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and the slaughter city neighborhood of

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Baghdad on November 23 of last year

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And he has also made it to his

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responsibility and the kidnapping and

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murder of four Russian diplomats In

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June of 2006 . According to

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charges being prepared against them .

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Have you know , personally beheaded two

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of these men and videotaped savagery

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that played across the world . Abu Omar

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was apprehended in the vicinity of the

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main market of podgy on December 19

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This of 2006 coalition forces noticed

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the man in a vehicle behaving in a

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highly suspicious manner and performed

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a vehicle , stopped to question the

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suspected individuals . I turned into a

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firefight with one of the men in a car

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detonated a suicide vest that he was

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wearing , but our soldiers were able to

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arrest at the nerve . Since he was

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detained , we have carefully begin

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ascertained his precise identity and

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working with our Iraqi counterparts as

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they had begun to build a legal case

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against him . Well , he has been

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accustomed , we have learned more about

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the aims and methods of his terror

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organization . Abu Nazir has claimed

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that Al Qaeda targets everybody . He

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claims there aren't any innocent people .

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Through his capture , we have gained

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information showing that his network

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deliberately targeted mass gatherings

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of innocent men , women and Children

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for savage bombings . His beliefs are

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absolutely disgusting and that is one

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of the reasons we're seeing al Qaeda

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being increasingly rejected by the

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Iraqis , particularly out west in Al

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Anbar province . They are choosing to

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try civil governance instead of trying

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to live under violent anarchy . How

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Anbar's Provincial Council met this

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week for the second time in two weeks .

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Hopefully the start of a new way for

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the people there to resolve their

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differences with words rather than

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bombs . Since

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january this year , attacks and murders

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against civilians and Iraqis and

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coalition security forces in Ramadi has

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decreased significantly From a high of

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108 and the week beginning of February

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23 to just seven in the week

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ending May 11 , I think you can see

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that as you look up there on the chart

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on the far right hand side and here to

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explain what the Iraqi people and his

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forces are doing to produce his results .

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This trade general marker gayness .

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Again , the ground force commander for

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the multinational force west out in the

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L Anbar province . He all may not

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realize that Mark is on his second tour

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here , having served in 2000 and five

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as a regimental combat team commander

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out of the West and the Fallujah area .

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Yeah , thank you sir . And uh

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so I'm gonna let them and good

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afternoon ladies and gentlemen , uh I

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don't have much of a prepared statement .

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I've got , I've got a short one here .

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Uh but I'm more interested in getting

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to your questions and trying to answer

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what you're interested in hearing about .

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But uh let me just share a few things

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with you uh kind of to set this up . Um

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this charge just one of many ways that

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we can that we're seeing improvement

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throughout the L Anbar province . Um

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but we would not tell you for a minute

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that uh that that Al Anbar still is not

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a dangerous place . It is still a

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dangerous place . Uh And and so we're

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not trying to tell you that that

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everything is is perfect there yet ,

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but we do see significant signs of

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things getting better and we're seeing

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it on a on a daily basis . Um

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We're seeing the attack numbers

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continuing to drop . Uh that's and

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that's that's a very good indicator

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that the security system is getting

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better . Um I can , I can talk for days

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about the increase in the , in the

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security forces and the Iraqi security

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forces and the roles that they stepped

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up and and are playing now . Uh Just as

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kind of a side note , I was in Fallujah

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in 2005 and and happened to sit on them ,

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a small panel of about four people that

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hired the very first police chief in

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Fallujah uh today through and and that

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was the very first police in in

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Fallujah . And uh today we have

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about 16 little over 16,000 police in

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the aisle Ambar province . And we have

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uh we've grown from the two brigades we

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had in 2000 and five to somewhere in

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the neighborhood of about 17,000

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trained soldiers in the Iraqi Army

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making up making up two divisions . Uh

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um We have about 70 100 more police now

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than we had in december and that

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shorter period of time , these are

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police that have been trained . Uh

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these are police that have been to the ,

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to the Iraqi Police academies and some

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of them have been trained some of the ,

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and we , we can talk more about the

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emergency response units . We can talk

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more about the provincial security

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forces , which is what we call the

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Emergency Response units , should you

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desire to , who are also being trained

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initially by the , initially by the

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coalition forces and ultimately will

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all be trained uh at the Iraqi police

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academies . We can also talk about many

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more things that have happened out

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there . Uh We have now , hey , I say we

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uh you'll hear me use we a lot today

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because everything we do in the Al

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Anbar province right now is a

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partnership . It's a partnership with

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coalition forces , it's a partnership .

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Uh And that partnership includes the

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Iraqi Army , it includes the Iraqi

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Police , it includes these provincial

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security forces , it includes the

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tribal shapes , it includes municipal

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governments and also the provincial

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governance . And we're working as full

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partners now and more and more . We're

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seeing , seeing the Iraqis take the

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lead uh as we move forward in the Al

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Anbar province . So with with kind of

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that as a background , I think I'll

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just stop right there sir and jump into

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the questions . Right . Mhm .

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Yes , sir . Mhm .

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I from what

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I have two questions to the original

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Cardwell . Uh do you

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have any information or any extra

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information about three american

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soldiers keeping uh in Iraq or General

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Mark ? Uh Obviously how

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do you see the Iraqi security forces in

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Anbar province ? Uh

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you go first . Okay . Uh

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the question was , how do I see the

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Iraqi security forces in uh in Al Anbar

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Getting stronger every day ? Uh we have

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uh as I told you before , we have

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somewhere around 17,000 soldiers in in

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the in two divisions in in our land bar .

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Uh and we have about 17,000 police . We

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have police now in every major

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population center in our land bar , uh ,

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from Fallujah , all the way up , all

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the way up the Euphrates River Valley

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and even including uh including Ruta at

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west , uh next to next to the Jordanian

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border . Um a

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large number of these have completed

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the Iraqi Police Academy , uh , the

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eight week program . Um , and

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eventually they will all go there . A

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matter of fact , we have , we have such

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a demand and I'll get kind of into the

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success of what I think this has been a

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success story . Uh , We will be opening

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our own Iraqi Police academy in Habana .

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Um , I think the opening ceremony is

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scheduled for four June with the first

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class starting about 10 June of this

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year , completing the work on that

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academy . Now , uh , that , that the

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first class will be about 550 Iraqi

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police officers . And after we get

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through the first class where we just ,

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where we try to get things running

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smoothly . Each class after that will

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produce about 750 fully trained Iraqi

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police . Um , a year ago , you couldn't ,

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you couldn't get anybody from the Al

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Anbar province hardly to step up and

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join the Iraqi army or step up and uh ,

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and joined the police at that point in

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town . Um , and you all have you all

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far more read into the the beginnings

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of the awakening than I am since we

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just started here in february . But

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I've got to tell you what the uh with

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the shapes and the tribal leaders uh

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having decided that that Al Qaeda does

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not offer them an ideology that they're

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willing to follow . Uh they have really

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stepped up to the plate to show their

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support uh to show their support for

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their own country of Iraq . And they're

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doing that in many ways , but one of

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the predominant ways is that they're

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offering , they're offering their sons

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uh to be part of the Iraqi police , to

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be part of the Iraqi Army . So that's

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that's their stepping forward and

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saying , you know , we'll take control

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over our own over our own future . And

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uh and we've had tremendous success

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that was started by the by the unit

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that was here before us , set the

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conditions very well . We walked in and

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just been able to kind of pick up where

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they left off without missing a step

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with it . But we , oh , we , oh , the

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success in in in the building of the

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Iraqi security forces to the people of

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Al Anbar , particularly their tribal

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leaders . Did that answer your question ,

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sir ,