WEBVTT

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well . He says he considers himself a

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Republican . But today Defense

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Secretary robert Gates is saying he

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does not necessarily oppose President

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elect Barack Obama's views , especially

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when it comes to pulling troops from

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Iraq joining us live from Iraq right

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now is Colonel Ted Martin , commander

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of the first brigade combat team in the

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fourth Infantry Division . Thanks for

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being here . Colonel First of all ,

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Obama and gates are talking about

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getting forces out within 16 months .

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Do you think the country of Iraq will

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be ready to stand on its own by then ?

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Wow . Uh Well , I'll tell you um I can

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tell you about rasheed district and

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multi national division Baghdad and uh

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things are looking pretty good here

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right now . Uh november marked the

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lowest level of enemy activity in

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Baghdad uh and rashid District since

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they've been keeping statistics here .

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So I feel confident we'll be able to do

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our part to set the conditions so that

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we can take the next step as far as the

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plan for Iraq over . Well ,

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knowing that it will have an enormous

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bearing on the job you do . How closely

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are you following the plans of

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President elect Obama ? Well , I'll

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tell you uh we really stay focused on

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what happens day today in uh Southern

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Baghdad . That's that's where the

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soldiers of the raider brigade , er our

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station and that that takes up every

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minute that I have . So I'll be honest ,

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I really don't uh I really don't focus

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on the national scene . We focus on

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doing the best that we can hear every

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day . And Colonel tell us more about

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the progress that you've witnessed

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since your first deployment to Iraq .

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Yeah , this is my third deployment was

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here during O . I . F . One and I'll

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tell you what you see on the ground

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right now is truly phenomenal . Uh ,

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the the great strides the Iraqi

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security forces have taken . My

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counterparts are there are three Iraqi

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security force brigades fighting

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alongside my brigade , not to count ,

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not to mention the 30 500 Iraqi

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policemen . And I tell you , they have

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done fantastic work the day to day

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policing of this area and maintaining

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stability . It's very much in the hands

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of the Iraqi security forces and my

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soldiers . And it's going pretty well .

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I'm very proud of what soldiers have

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been able to do . And Colonel , we're

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just about out of time . But you do

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have four Children and a wife back home .

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Is there anything that you'd like to

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say to them tonight ? Yeah , I love him

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and I miss him . And uh , I know I

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speak for all my soldiers . When we say

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our family is everything to us . We

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can't wait to get back home to you . We

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love you and we miss you . All right ,

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Colonel ted martin , thanks so much for

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your time . We'll be right back