WEBVTT

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right . Sure .

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Very costly .

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I

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have two questions . First , regarding

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the basra and the fighting in basra ,

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that the government against the outlaws ,

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We as we know that the uh the

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multinational forces also take part in

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the fighting in basra , or did it only

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gave logistic support ? Did you

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actually participate in the combat

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operations ? Second , regarding the

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awakening members ? Uh the

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awakening members , as we know , it

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received the support from the

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multinational forces and the Iraqi

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government

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do not give so much support .

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And the most of the support comes from

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the multinational forces . Do you think

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the the awakenings could turn over you

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in case you stop supporting them ?

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Thank you . Well , the first question

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about the role that our forces played

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and and continue to play in Bosnia , as

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you know , uh Again , we uh we

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helped to provide uh combat enablers

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such as close air support . And uh we

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do provide help with some logistical

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efforts . Uh We do provide uh liaison

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officers and some uh some other types

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of capability . Uh This has been an

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Iraqi conceived an Iraqi plan and an

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Iraqi uh conducted operation

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from from start to present . Uh We have

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elements of coalition forces that are

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embedded with the Iraqi security forces

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that helped to provide them access to

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our capabilities in terms of air

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support and medical support and that in

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those types of things . And and so

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uh that's been the same way that it's

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always been for for the past several

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years uh as a matter of fact , when

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some of the units deployed from places

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like Anbar , uh they brought with them ,

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those uh coalition uh military training

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teams that they're typically embedded

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in in their ranks and uh and those uh

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those training team stayed with them

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and provided them the access to our

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enablers . Uh And until once again we

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have those types of enablers uh you

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know , resident and the Iraqi security

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forces will have to continue to do that ,

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so we do play a role , but this has

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been an Iraqi led uh and planned uh

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uh operation from the very start .

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Um And there were second question was

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in reference to the degree to which um

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the government of Iraq provided support

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to the to the awakening councils in

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Anbar , is that , was that your

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question ?

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The second question was about that the

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Iraqi government where or didn't

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provide any support , but the

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multinational forces supported them

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much more than that , Do you expect

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that the awakening through our councils

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could turn over you in case you you

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stop supporting them ? Well , I'll go

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on the record and saying that the

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multinational forces are specifically

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the most multinational corps , Iraq um

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supports , you know , everyone in this

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country , where we can not only uh the

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focus in in our Anbar province , but in

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every province . Our aim is to help the

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people of Iraq as as much as we can and

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enable the Iraqi security forces to be

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able to help the people of Iraq as much

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as they can as well . Um whether or not

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the uh the sons of Iraq

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will turn on us at any one point in

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time . Uh an interesting question , I

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think what uh what we've seen thus far

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is overwhelming support even in the

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face of adversity and their number of

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occasions out there where uh Sons of

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Iraq members have been challenged and

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stood their ground and fought valiantly

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uh to uh to not only help the

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uh Iraqi security forces and the

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coalition forces , but actually helped

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to take care of the people of Iraq . So ,

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uh could there be small pockets that

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decide to uh to misbehave or conduct

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illegal activity or or not stand their

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post at any one point in time ?

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Anything is possible and certainly

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would not be surprised to see small

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elements do that ? Well , I think the

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overall this has been a great news

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story thus far . And there's some

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there's some real uh interesting and uh

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yeah , real good stories out there

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about uh sons of Iraq who have done a

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great job in supporting the Iraqi

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security forces .

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You have

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mentioned at the beginning that there's

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a 60% decrease , the little violence .

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But he's also said that these progress

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is fragile . Why is that ? And why when

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do you think the success and the

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progress in Iraq could be really much

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better than this ? Thank you . Well ,

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you know , I think uh the reason that

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it remains fragile is because that we

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know that that al Qaeda

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is capable of conducting a high profile

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attack at any one point in time and

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creating creating a lot of casualties .

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Uh , we also know that we've had a

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ceasefire uh , with jaysh . Al Mahdi

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for uh , charmery has had a freeze on

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activities for for some time . And uh ,

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that's also 10uous . Uh , so conditions

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could change and uh , and , you know ,

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level of violence could , could spike

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at any one point in time . But if it

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does , we'll do what we've always done

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and we'll we'll work with the Iraqi

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security forces to address that . Sure ,

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the new york times , um , in the last

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few days , a little bit more than that ,

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we've seen more suicide bomb attacks

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using vehicles , which was something

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that had tailed off . We'd actually

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begun to see somewhat less destructive

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attacks , often using meth . Um , what

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is your thinking about ? Why those are

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spiking now ? Um , whether it's to try

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to take advantage of the focus on some

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of the , the uh special groups or jam

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whatever you , whatever groups they are ,

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um , why are you seeing that ? And is

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this , you put out a warning ? I'm not

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sure if , and then see or uh , and then

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if I about an increase in suicide bomb

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attacks in on the west side of bag

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Baghdad in Karkh . And I'm not sure if

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what we're seeing in Anbar is just that

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some of them have shown up further to

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the west and whether that warning also

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sort of included a larger area or

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whether you were really just talking

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about Baghdad ? Fine . Well , we've uh ,

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you know , one of the things that I

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said earlier on was that we're gonna

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work hard to hold our gains that we've

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we've made over the past several months .

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Uh , we fully appreciate that , you

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know , as we pressure Al Qaeda and

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other areas . Al Qaeda will try to get

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back into places that uh , that uh ,

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they have been before . Uh , and so I

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think that we'll continue to see uh

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small episodes of that , you know , in

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the foreseeable future . Uh , you know ,

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I think that , you know , throughout

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over time we've seen that same kind of

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activity as as Al Qaeda comes back and

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tries to re establish uh , you know , a

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car bomb network or a suicide vest

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network and those types of things . Uh ,

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our our efforts have been to focus on

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defeating the networks and uh , and

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eliminating uh , leadership by uh ,

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by taking the leadership off the

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battlefield , uh , as quickly as we can

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whenever we can . So I don't think it's

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extraordinary to see uh , episodic

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uh , peaks of activity , but I would

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not necessarily call that a uh a

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tremendous spike again , we'll probably

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see that same type of activity in the

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future .

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Okay , next question .

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Okay , we'll make this the last

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question is okay , thank you .

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Uh there has been a

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threat by saying , look at the outside

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of the Shiite leader a few days ago .

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Uh , is there a

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timetable for the fight that Muqtada

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Sadr would so that he will start the

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fight ? Or do you think that there is a

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policy by the Iraqi government so that

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the policy said is much better than

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going to the fight ? Do you think that

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there will be a better policies that

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are going to fight in the like that ?

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In the light of the threat made by a

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stable Goodell's letter ? I'm not sure

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that I understood the question there .

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Can you say that again please ? So you

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think under the light that Muqtada

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muqtada al Sadr issued a threat of the

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starting a few days ago , there was a

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statement made by state Muqtada al

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Sader , the Shiite leader , He said

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that he will fight or uh will launch an

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open war and start an open war . And is

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there something better than fight

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their negotiation a political

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solution by the Iraqi government and

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coalition forces so that there won't be

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any war ? Well , I can't I certainly

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can't speak to any activity that's

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ongoing between uh the

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uh looked at the Asada and uh and the

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leadership of the Iraqi government .

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But what I can say to you is that , you

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know , we certainly hope that uh cider

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will choose uh the road of peace and

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uh and responsibility ? And uh we

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certainly hope that he will soon began

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to influence some of the elements that

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are , are all of the elements that are

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shooting rockets and mortars at us from

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from various areas as uh specific

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however cyber city that you can

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influence , influence those those

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elements to uh , to cease their

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activity and hopefully influence other

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people as well to to identify who these

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criminal elements are . So we can bring

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those people to justice . But uh , you

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know , we were hopeful that uh , that

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again , uh , well , man ,

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we'll pursue a road of a peace and

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responsibility . Okay , well , he's

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going , thank you very much for uh ,

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allowing me to spend a little time with

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you today . Again , I look forward to

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working with each of you in the future .

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Uh , final thought I'd like to leave

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with you is that uh , our soldiers ,

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sailors , airmen and marines are once

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again doing a tremendous job on , on a

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daily basis and we should be

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justifiably proud of . Uh , our Iraqi

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security forces were also doing a

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tremendous job and uh upholding very

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end of the bargain on a daily basis as

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well . And what we've seen in Bosnia

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and in other places around the country

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is is is very , very promising and

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creates hope for the future . Uh ,

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Again , thank you very much . And I

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look forward to working with each of

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you