WEBVTT

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I just want to follow how many U . S .

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Personnel are assigned to those

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units . Mhm .

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Um I think the average is about

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45 That do day to day

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training . 40-45 . It varies by unit

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and their level of expertise and

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experience so far . Uh that is the

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level of the Iraqi capability but

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in addition they've got quick reaction

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forces of of american platoons a

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company size that are available to

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assist them . So You know , 40 is

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on average in terms of the coaches that

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they have from day to day uh and

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assistance and another 100 as

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backups , immediate backups if there

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are difficulties ,

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General Tom Bowman was

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Baltimore sun set in March . General

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Abizaid told Congress that the Iraqi

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security forces could take the lead in

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the insurgency quite sometime in 2000

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and 52 weeks ago , he said , well they

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may take the lead next spring or next

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summer . I'm wondering why the delay

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first of all . And if you can offer a

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little more clarity in the Iraqi forces

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in your own area of the 15,000 Iraqi

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Army soldiers , how many or how many of

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what percentage roughly are at the top

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tier ? Was training and readiness ? And

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you also mentioned the end of the

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summer , the Iraqi divisions would be

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ready . You said controlling Baghdad ?

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Does that mean taking the lead in

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Baghdad or does that being trained and

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ready to assist us forces ?

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Um Last question 1st , when

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our current plan , our current timeline

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that we're working towards is to have

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the Iraqi six division with its six

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brigades capable of securing

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Baghdad with the Iraqi police and the

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Iraqi special Police and public order

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brigades . So in other words , Iraqi

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security forces securing Baghdad for

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the elections with our assistance as

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backup and we think it's going to take

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longer . We think it's going to take .

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I think I think I didn't hear what

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General Abizaid had to say directly ,

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but My , what I would tell you is that

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I think it's going to be spring of 06

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or uh or so before they are able to

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support themselves logistically long

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term sean right now , their

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difficulties are in terms of supporting

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themselves in sustained operations , um

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supply units and maintenance units

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and those are the ones that will take

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the longest to grow , we believe . And

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once they've got those and there their

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ministries are capable of supporting

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them long term , then they'll be able

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to take control of fighting a

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counterinsurgency altogether . Our

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intent with the forces in Baghdad is to

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have them capable of planning security

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of the election process with our

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assistance and conducting that security

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hands on in the lead by the

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october and december elections in

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Baghdad . I can't speak for the other

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division areas . And I

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will tell you that we measure their

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readiness , um not not to the same

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standards that we measure our U . S .

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Army units , but in the same general

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areas personnel readiness and manning

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uh equipment training logistic support

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leadership assessments , those kinds of

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things and I'll have to leave it there

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because it wouldn't be useful if I

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although I could tell you , I don't

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want to tell you about the levels of

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readiness because that would probably

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provide more information than uh I'd

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like to give out . You can't give us a

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rough estimate of passage of

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Muhammad at the top here . I would tell

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you that all of them right now uh

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require uh additional logistic

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support for their long term operations

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because that is the long pole in the

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tent , if you will uh will take the

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longest to develop and produce . Um

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There are two brigades that have two or

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three battalions . Iraqi army

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battalions working for them that are

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currently operating out in the battle

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space now and the rest are operating at

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the company or battalion level uh

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in battle space that is currently owned

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by U . S . Army units that worked for

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me . So um I don't know

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what's that ? About 35% . At this point ,

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I will tell you that , you know , one

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of the units that One of the brigades

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that's currently not what you might

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call Tier one . Not currently fully

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occupying battlespace in their own

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right , not responsible for

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individually , but the second battalion

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of the first Iraqi army brigade is the

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unit that gathered the intelligence

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planned and conducted the operation to

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free the Australian Douglas Wood

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And uh the US team of about

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10 individuals was supporting them when

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they conducted that operation .

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General Al Qassam from Voice of America

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to questions sir , you indicated there

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has been a reduction in the number and

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effectiveness of the bombing and yet

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last month was one of the highest

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casualty rates for U . S . Forces uh

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since the end of major combat and most

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of those at least it seems from the

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daily reports come from uh some sort of

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explosion . The roadside bomb or

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vehicles were involved . So can you

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comment on the apparent discrepancy

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between those two uh offensive figures ?

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Uh First of all , I'm only talking

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about a Oh Baghdad and not the rest of

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the country . Uh their their marine

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and army and coalition

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division commanders responsible for

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those other areas . But speaking of a

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Oh Baghdad , there were As you know

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before , before we began operations on

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22 May , there were 14 car bombs in a

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single day . Uh there was an average of

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14-21 per week just prior to

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22 May . And uh since we began

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operations , we have cut those car

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bombs in Baghdad again in half

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to roughly seven or eight per per week .

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Oh well my uh what

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are you doing that both elsewhere in

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the country ought to be doing no

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uh we're conducting operations with our

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Iraqi security forces . Uh We had a leg

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up I believe on the rest of the uh of

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the country's uh coalition

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forces in terms of having here the

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essence of uh of several brigades in

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the Iraqi army before we started . And

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so that probably gave us a leg up on

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the other divisions for conducting

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operations . Um Other than that , I

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just say that the quality of uh of our

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coalition soldiers and the quality of

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the Iraqi security forces that are

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developing has has made it so that we

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were able to gather intelligence and

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conduct opts to bust up a number of

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cells that we're delivering these car

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bombs . Well , we're just we're just

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about the retirement . If there's

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anybody else have a question . Okay , I

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will let you finish with your model of

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the instinct uh general progress

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that you're reporting sounds like

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moving forward a military solution , so

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to speak . And yet we hear from various

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experts up to and including the

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secretary , that's what's really needed

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as a political solution . What are your

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thoughts on the balance between the two

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military solution to the insurgency or

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political and what needs to be done ?

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Well , I think um the success that

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we're having . You know , I was talking

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primarily about the military aspect of

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it , but I will also say that that the

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Iraqi government is getting stronger

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all the time and the faith of the

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confidence of the Baghdad people in

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their government in the next year uh is

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overwhelmingly high . Uh so there is a

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large political aspect of their

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confidence . And also as I move around

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the city especially as unable to fly

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from from neighborhoods and

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neighborhood in moving between our

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brigades . It's easy to see that uh

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this this city is prospering compared

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to what it was a year ago when uh when

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I was last year . Uh you can uh you can

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see that there's construction going on

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all around the city . Uh suburbs are

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expanding . Uh There are lots of

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electrical appliances and lots of of

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commerce going on on the streets and

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that all shows you that there's hope

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for the future . And so the economic

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and political aspects of the solution

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are strong at work here in this capital

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city . I might just close here

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with a real good news story . You know

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there's been an awful lot of talk about

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uh about our our armor and the level

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of protection of our U . S . And

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coalition soldiers . Uh just a few days

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ago it was on the second of july we had

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a patrol from the Louisiana National

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Guard Brigade , the 256 brigade . It

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was out in their up armored Humvees

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conducting a routine patrol and a

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search in one of the neighborhoods

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looking for uh some some I . E . D .

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Makers . And while they were out there

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conducting this patrol off to the side

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of the road , a sniper engaged one of

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our National Guard soldiers part of

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this task force hitting square in the

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middle of the chest knocked him flat on

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his butt . The soldier quickly got up ,

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pointed his weapon towards where the

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shot had come from , took cover and

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then and then directed the rest of the

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patrol over towards where the snipers

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came from . Um the rest of his

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patrol engaged those two snipers ,

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wounded one , capturing both of them

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and this soldier who had been shot in

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the middle of his armor plate , is also

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a medic and so he ended up ironically

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giving first aid to the soldier who are

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correction the insurgents who had been

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wounded uh in taking down these two

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guys who had tried to kill him . So

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it's a testament to our levels of

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training are levels of effectiveness

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and the levels of protection that our

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soldiers from all components are

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currently getting . And I just like to

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say thanks to all the people

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responsible for uh for providing us

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such great men and women and such great

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equipment . Thank you with that general .

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Uh we'll bring this to a close and

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again . We want to thank you for taking

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the time to spend it with us and to

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give us a view from the commander's

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perspective on the ground . Uh one that

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helps us with our situational awareness

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back . We're going to tell stories

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about it . So thank you again and we

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hope to have you back in the briefing

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room sometime soon . I look forward to

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it and my thanks to everybody back

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there for doing their jobs too . Okay