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Gov. Murkowski visits troops in Iraq

Jun-21-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

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By ANNE SUTTON, The Associated Press

JUNEAU -- Gov. Frank Murkowski spent two days this week in Iraq, where he had lunch with Alaska troops in Mosul, spent the night at a palace of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Baghdad and spoke with Iraqi vice president Tariq al-Hashimi about the Alaska Permanent Fund.

Speaking by telephone from Kuwait on Wednesday, Murkowski said he'd met with the 172nd Stryker Brigade in Mosul as well as members of the 423rd Infantry from Fort Richardson while in Kuwait.

Many soldiers he spoke to will be rotating out in August and are looking forward to going back to Alaska, he said.

"This is tough duty over here, I tell you," he said.

Murkowski is collecting cards from soldiers with their home information so that he can telephone their families upon his return to Alaska next week.

Murkowski said he was invited on the trip by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who has had a policy of inviting governors to meet with troops and see U.S. operations firsthand.[...]


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