WEBVTT

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now the U . S . Military is engaged in

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what it says is its biggest offensive

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in Iraq . This year 2.5 1000 troops

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taking part in the operation in the

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west of the country , in how Ambar

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province , In fact , let's speak to

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Colonel Stephen Davis . He's the

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commander of the unit in charge . He

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speaks to us from lisa in Iraq Carl .

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Just explain for us , if you can the

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point of this latest operation . But

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this is one an ongoing series of

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operations we have conducted throughout

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the Euphrates River Valley designed to

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disrupt and ultimately remove all the

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insurgent influence and networks from

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this area , it comes at a very critical

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time . Is I'm sure you're well aware

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with a referendum coming just in a

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couple of days here on the 15th . So we

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look forward to having Hadithah

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Haqlaniyah and marijuana all join in

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the elections that days ,

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2.5 1000 troops . Is that significantly

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more than previous operation ?

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It is larger than other

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operations we have conducted in Western

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Al Anbar province , in my area of

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responsibility . Yes , that is correct .

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And when you talk about wanting

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everyone to take part in the elections ,

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I mean , can you , can you be more

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specific about what exactly you're

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trying to achieve here then with an

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operation of this scale and how long

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you think it's going to take ? Well ,

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we're very , very satisfied with the

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progress that we're making in all three

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of these cities right now . Uh these

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cities have been under a significant

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murder and intimidation campaign by the

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cowards and the terrorists and make up

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Al Qaeda in Iraq . And interestingly

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the first question on the street that

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my men have encountered up there were

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people asking are you here to stay ?

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And when the answer was yes , we are

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here to stay . The response was thank

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God the very very positive atmospherics

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from the people in all three of these

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cities uh and they look forward to

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joining the rest of this nation and uh

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voting in this referendum on the 15th .

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But how much resistance have you also

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encountered ? What's the flip side of

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that ? The resistance in the in this

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tri city area is there ? But it has

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been easily overcome . Uh We're very

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satisfied with a good game plan that

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was very very well executed and the

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precision of that execution . The

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makeup of the force with both U . S .

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And Iraqi forces has allowed us to move

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much faster and much more thoroughly

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than I think the insurgents thought we

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could do . So . This is minimised the

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destruction of critical infrastructure

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and has kept casualties low on both

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sides . People

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watching this would of course expect

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you to put a positive light on what

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your men have so far achieved . But

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they will also wonder why if it is this

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relatively straightforward to deal with

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the situation , why british and

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american forces are still mired in huge

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problems inside Iraq . Uh I think I

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probably take issue with the

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terminology , mired in huge problems uh

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were very satisfied with the progress

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that we're making in this area of

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operations . Uh by definition a gorilla

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insurgent enemy is elusive . We have

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used all the tools that we have at our

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disposal . Intelligence sources . Uh

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The greatest of which frankly is the

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Iraqi people that have given us most of

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the tips that have allowed us to either

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kill or capture the insurgent

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leadership and makes up these networks .

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So I do not see this as being mired in

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anything . We are executing our

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campaign plan exactly as we had

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expected to . And I think we're going

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to be very satisfied with those results .

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Given the existence of those networks

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that you talk about , how long do you

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think U . S . Forces will have to

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remain inside Iraq ? Uh I wish I

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had a crystal ball . I could answer

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that with . I can't speak to a policy

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matter like that . I can tell you

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though that we will make the Euphrates

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River Valley uh a place that is not

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friendly to Al Qaeda in Iraq or any

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other insurgent organizations in the

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very near future .

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Colonel Stephen Davis , We thank you

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for your time tonight . Thanks very

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much for joining us .