The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

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big set no major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer has been provided by the world as one giant pharmacy and culture where they don't dance to improve agricultural efficiency make food more affordable and comedienne the nature of what's to come and by spca communications committed to providing americans more choices and high speed internet access and working toward and opportunities in broadband technology as providers as people we're spca communications this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to a pbs station he was like you

thank you good evening from washington i'm jim lehrer and welcome to the special edition of the newshour and a few minutes president bush will address the nation from the deck of the aircraft carrier abraham lincoln at sea off the coast of california a white house spokesman said today the president will announce that major combat operations in a rack at the end it and coalition troops around gays and securing and reconstructing the country the president flew out to the abraham lincoln this afternoon he sat in the co pilot's seat and a navy jet plane and here now we hear from prison for shows that the president is no they were the president of the united states to play points to the pros there is a

korean president including abraham lincoln this afternoon he was in a white says since then came through that history issues it's by the paintings captain picard officers and sailors of the uss

abraham lincoln my fellow americans major combat operations in iraq and ended in the battle of iraq the united states and our allies have prevailed it's been the plan gates is securing and reconstructing that country in this battle we're thoughtful because of liberty and for the peace of the world our nation our coalition are proud of this accomplishment yet issue the members of the united states military who achieved your courage your willingness to face danger for your country for each other made this day possible because of you our

nation is more secure because of you the tyrant has fallen and iraqi is free oh oh why chris operation iraqi freedom was carried out with a combination of precision and speed and boldness the enemy did not expect the world had not seen before from distant basis or ships at sea we sent planes and missiles that can destroy an enemy division or strike a single worker marines and soldiers charged to baghdad across three hundred and fifty miles of hostile ground in one of the swiftest advances of heavy arms in history you have shown the world a still

in the mine of the american armed forces is nascent i saw the members of her coalition to join in the noble cause we thank the armed forces of the united kingdom australia and poland who shared and the hardships of war we thank all the services of a raccoon welcomed our troops and join in the liberation of their own country and tonight i have a special word for secretary rumsfeld for general franks for all the men and women who wear the uniform of the united states america is grateful for a job the pen the character of our military through history the daring of normandy the sere scourge of you would you know

the decency and idealism that turned enemies and allies is fully present in this generation when iraqi civilians look into the faces of our servicemen and women face our strength and kindness and goodwill when i look at the members of the united states military i see the best of our country and i'm honored to be your commander in chief the paintings and the images of four statues we have witnessed the arrival of a new iraq for a hundred of years of war

culminating in the nuclear age military technology with the sign and deployed to inflict casualties are never grown stale in defeating nazi germany and imperial japan allied forces destroyed entire cities while enemy leaders who started the conflict or safe until the final days military power was used in the regime by breaking a nation today we have the greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous and oppressive regime with new tactics and precision weapons we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians no divisive man can remove the tragedy for more data is a great advance when the guilty have far more to fear for more than the innocent

the paintings the image is a sobering iraqis we've also seen the ageless appeal of human freedom decades of lies and intimidation could not make iraqi people love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement men and women in every culture the liberty like they need food and water and they are everywhere the freedom rides humanity rejoices and everywhere the freedoms gerson let parents fear the paintings we have difficult work do interact were bringing order to parts of the country they remain dangerous were

pursuing in finding leaders of the old regime who'll be held to account for their crimes we begin the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated were helping to rebuild iraqi with a dictator build palaces for himself has set up hospitals and schools and we will stand with the new leaders iraqis they establish a government of by and for the iraqi people i hate what the transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time but it is worth every effort our coalition will stay until our work is done

and they leave and we will leave behind a free iraqi i cried that were directly is one victory in a war on terror that began on september eleventh two thousand won and still goes on that terrible morning nike needleman the shock troops a hateful ideology gave america and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions they imagined in the words of one terrorists that september eleventh would be the beginning of the end of america's by seeking to turner cities in the killing fields terrorists and their allies believed they could destroy this nation resolve and forced to retreat from the world

they have failed as beakman the pinky rings and the battle of afghanistan we destroyed the taliban many terrorists and the camps where they try and we continue to help the afghan people a rhodes restore hospitals and educate all of their children yet we also had dangerous work to complete as i speak a special operations task force led by the second airborne is on the trail of the terrorists and those who seek to undermine the free government of

afghanistan america and our coalition will finish what we had begun the printer running nineteen months ago a place that the terrorists would not escape the patient justice of the united states and as of tonight nearly one half of al qaeda's senior operatives have been captured or killed the paintings the liberation of iraq is a crucial advance

and the campaign against her will remove an ally in class cut off a source of terrorist funding and this much is certain terrorist networks working weapons of mass destruction from iraqi regime because the regime is no more the paintings and he's nineteen months they changed the world our actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the events we have not forgotten the victims of september eleventh last phone calls to call the murder of

children the searches in the rubble with those attacks the terrace and their supporters declared war on the united states and war is what they got our war against terror is proceeding according to the principles that i have made clear to or any person involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks against the american people becomes an enemy of this country and a target of american justice the paintings organizational government that supports protects our harbors terrorists

is complicit in the murder of the innocent an equally guilty of terrorist crimes any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups and sikhs work possesses weapons of mass destruction is a great danger to the civilized world and we'll be confronted he's been the pen and at any one in the world including the arab world works and sacrifice for freedom has a loyal friend in the united states of america the paintings were deliberately is america's tradition

a farm in franklin roosevelt's four freedoms asserted in the truman doctrine and enroll reagan's challenge to an evil empire we're committed to freedom in afghanistan iraq and in a peaceful palestine the advance of freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal of terror in the world for freedom takes hold hatred its weight of hope when freedom take so many women turned peaceful pursuit of a better life american values and american interests lead in the same direction we stand for human liberty the pumpkin it's security and freedom in many ways with all the tools of

diplomacy law enforcement intelligence and finance we're working with a broad coalition of nations that understand the threat and our shared responsibility to me to the use of force has been and remains our last resort friend and foe alike that our nation has a mission will answer stressed or security and we will defend the piece the pumpkin scatter cells of the terrorist network's still operate in many nations

and we know from daily intelligence that they continue to plot against three people the proliferation of deadly weapons remains a serious danger the enemies of freedom or not idle and either we our government has taken unprecedented measures to defend the homeland and we will continue the hunt and the enemy before he can strike the war on terror is not over yet it is not endless we did not know the day a final victory but we've seen the turning of the tide no activity years will change or purpose or

weaken our resolve or alter their fake their causes last three nations will press on to victory the pink things other nations in history of thought in foreign lands and remained occupying exploit americans' following a battle want nothing more than to return home and that is your direction tonight i hate

crime and their service in the afghan already theaters of war and after one hundred thousand miles on a longer secured a poem in recent history and you were homeward bound some of you were seen at family members for the first time one hundred fifty babies were born well their fathers or malaysian family and your nation will welcome you

we're mindful as well to some good men and women are not making the journey home one of those who fail or borges and leo spoke to his parents' five days before his death jason's father said he called us from the center of baghdad not to brag but to tell us he loved this person was a soldier every name every life as a lost or military to our nation and to the love one to grieve for the homecoming for these families yet we pray and guts time their reunion will come those we lost or less scene and at their final act on this earth was to fight a great evil

and bring liberty builders all of you all in this generation ever military have taken up the highest calling of history you are defending your country in protecting the innocent from home and wherever you go you carry a message of hope a message that is ancient and everything in the words of the prophet isaiah detectives come out and to those in darkness the free thank you for serving our country and our cause he got less fuel and they got to continue less american ta it's been

the paprika plains power ahead or maintenance that remains for the walls one for republicans sailors and others aboard the uss abraham lincoln thought of the president's words is personally shaking hands and going to spend the night there on the aircraft carrier it's off the coast of california he came there this afternoon

on a small plane and landed on aircraft carriers like jet fighter plane slightly larger four seats he said the core policy resume be violent and secret service men and the other teams in the gulf the way this worked in line even when he's doing now japan's with the root of both the pictures the names and eighteen flights in something familiar word everyone knows that the nineteen sixty seven lines so there's a mixed those student new lanes on their uniforms osama bin laden years of various specialties

the point is the same speech those members of the military on the aircraft carrier abraham lincoln and to the american people in which he declared that major military action against a rack to be finished now some pbs stations will be leading us now to rejoin their regular programming at

eighteen and we continue our regular edition of the newshour even before president bush declared the war is a major combat phase was over his defense secretary was touting the way the war was what margaret warner prepared this segment earlier this evening before the president's speech at a town hall style meeting in qatar monday donald rumsfeld told the troops in iraq conflict in the history of warfare baghdad was liberated unless the month possibly the fastest march on the capitol in modern military history the war was remarkable only for the speed and scale which but also for what did not happen because of that speed and because of the design of the plan and the brilliant execution of the dust to settle iraqi military historians will study this war will examine the unprecedented combination of power precision speed flexibility and i would

have also compassion that was employed as much a certain from this experience our experience in afghanistan as well where learning lessons that will affect how the united states of america of the department of defense and the service is organized well trained and well equipped lessons that will impact budget and procedures training and doctrine and affect the future success of our country for many years to come so let's be no doubt the liberation interact you have transformed the country but how you did it will help transform how we defend our country in the twenty percent of the time the vision for the twenty first century how would you betray that to us here are going to be going into the july first entry within our country well when you think about it really former defense has historically been organized to be able to picture and

defend against communism at the air force and what we're finding is a world where the weapons are increasingly more powerful capable of killing not just biological attacks and we're so the the task we have is a point in the twenty percent it's not conventional it's unconventional yesterday visiting troops in baghdad fielded more questions about how the iraq conflict and he was more fighting in the future so do you think that our experiences in operation iraqi freedom have allocated our efforts to transition to a more strategically mobile later military force i think that the planning and the execution of the plan in

operation iraqi freedom has been super and what i want to see happen is i wanna see those of you who have that experience in combined joint war fighting and such successful experience bringing that knowledge back into your respective services how we have a long way to go for this defense establishment of ours to to get itself fix so that it can deal with the kinds of problems we're facing in the twenty first century we do need to be quicker on our feet we need to be able to do things in hours in days instead of weeks and months we need to be able to do things with somewhat smaller footprints we need to be doing able to do a variety of things we need to be able to function with a service is in a completely enter and it entered connected way i think that the leadership that some of the key leader standing right behind me on this platform i have

fashion a an approach to warfare which will be critically important as we go forward so when people are writing the history books you're going to be an addict thank you remark was the film or for the history books we get four perspectives on that notion trust got a fourth grew up in an army family graduated from west point in nineteen sixty nine but resigned his commission he's a freelance journalist screenwriter and the author of several novels with military themes including dress gray an army below james dunnigan has written extensively about military doctrine and history including the textbook how to make war he now runs a military affairs website patrick lang one of the news hours wartime military analyst is a retired army colonel special forces officer and middle east intelligence analyst and winslow wheeler a longtime capitol hill staffer and fence issues directly to a gao study and lessons learned after the gulf war he's now a

fellow with the center for defense information in washington welcome gentlemen we just heard donald rumsfeld tell this war is essentially new a revolutionary do you agree with that james duncan was this was this really a new kind of warfare so yes and no in nineteen forty one the year british more than baghdad today three weeks outnumbered you're three to one person that was itself unique but what really was the low casualty rate i mean taking seven casualties per day per division is unprecedented and the reason we did that was because of a lot of innovations that are basically building up over last several years and what about the other the fact and rumsfeld and not talk about this about driving to baghdad by passing the city's not getting bogged down and trying to seize territory along the way and it was that that's i had no idea that that music that's what we're about four thousand years lisa just got your view on how newer revolutionary this once so sure how new revolution it was because there was a great euro more to the rest of

our lives and one on the port bow his name was pat for us a movie about it and i think what's new here is for those we have a great job for its patent pinstripes great job we have is the person you just don't watch it's a very close that this was once phelps war it's clear it was once world war for all of that platitudes and he's come out with that was tommy franks as planned and so forth how much we heard from doug frantz its worst and how much are we heard from rumsfeld but what was it that rumsfeld brought to the thinking of the strategy that the snows i think that when he brought was that a shark an hour for small presses thought they were installed that was his idea to put troops on interact before they started a huge great big forty daycare war and that and that was his idea to move them very varied quickly run the rest about on the supply was on the rest of it the unfamiliar part of this is that was true because but that was because rumsfeld knew

that that's why the paper machete army by that time but nevertheless i think the thing that really interesting here and i am the grandson of force our job and listen to one question for thirty five years and that is whatever happened to the great generals liked that bradley and eisenhower and even your grandfather and i don't think that we've had services on that scale for fifty years or we have some way ours well i i wouldn't argue for more on what this wasn't just rumsfeld warned it didn't shape the plan of quite obvious that's true from the beginning and early made it clear what it was to be expected should be in the plan when it was submitted so much that the least but i would say you know i'd be very careful as mr dundon what i think about saying there is anything really revolutionary about way when the war was fought the idea that what that plan should be executed with great speed something unexpected should be done that you could bypass unnecessary year resistance of the people of one man's thigh mama would've vary from very familiar with concepts like

that or even the old pavel regional summit this is a very narrow that there something's always remain the same guess be careful about is in more need to have some sort of a ground force occupy think that mostly things get out of bounce too much european of a situation where you can take a portable rig this is so these questions i think the different perspective right now we don't know what happens at a meaningful level after action report had just been written for databases on what was used where are just being put together what he's been through via the rocky rocky thanks to figure out what he'll do what didn't alarm right now there's no data there's no lessons learned the worst ones that we have to go through a period of having professional pot acts by waiters experts look at what's actually happens it'll be months before we had with secretary

rumsfeld knows what actually happened at a meaningful level between now and then we're going to hear a lot of stocks are already here but we did after desert storm how wonderful that the all the pet rocks were on and when the data does come in our most of that will be about that those numbers nevada about by but you're talking here about the weapons strikes the air strikes in yemen so he gets out that stormed a large extent the air force announced that the ap and seventeen eighty percent rate we went through their database bomb by bomb they could validate about fifty percent the navy announced that the er on seven ninety seven percent want success rate whatever that's boston in a classified it was actually about the media tends to do you think it's premature to draw lessons here or do you think there were

elements in their success jamestown again that in fact we do not to be true yeah i mean as i mentioned earlier the week after it was you know historically a very low and there are good reasons for that i mean we tend to forget but now we have an all volunteer army the professionals rather not and for two years or for three four or more and makes an enormous difference also the training is much better and it's a period of probably the best in the world and that may be because we've also managed to defeat the enemy weapons over the last fifty years they can get their story honestly have no air force against us and there's also a spirit of innovation in the armed forces out of the dsm toronto was alluding to a story about the spirit of jointness and that made a tremendous difference as rumsfeld pointed out were faster and that makes an enormous difference no matter what you're doing on that ship was just a few earlier referred to saddam's forces being a paper tiger how much did the success the strategy the tactics all of it really depend on having this week found that has been painted for ten years by both sanctions and that a no fly zone

or think that you're going to hear about how much of the law and when you take a look at the fact they threw out what they were fighting a war zone of the world were for six thousand you they've been fighting wars pretty much around the clock and they threw up and the wire haired book that was six thousand years old the first in war when they didn't knock out that single communications tower anywhere that was revolutionary and i was really interested to see what what would happen because we're in effect they did was they weapon as the medium they use the media against iraqi leadership but an attempt to make some sort of surrender and we're going to find out there wasn't rick risk but it was a throng of the whole the whole text book or more than a little but says the ignorant of what you where you are what you're gonna do and i said i'm alive when they open up in europe most of the package and so far the iraqi general i could fight

world for this map they were let them know where they were every minute but i think that there wasn't a method behind that madness because they expect the river iraqi generals and colonels the college other up and say oh my dear governess to the show you know and that and that was supposed to scare and i think as it went on it so it's a pathway go back under rumsfeld assertion that this is a sensitive about the template of how for how we fight wars in the pair force in the twenty first century it would not be true if they were a stronger fall let's say another one word it's a chinese and the north koreans but if it was a more formidable enemy well there's a real danger that really there there's a danger of thinking here that in fact ground forces especially heavy ground forces become increasingly unnecessary in fact if you subtract third of television in the marines from this thing you what you have is a situation which we found the rack into oblivion and then they all run on circles what triggers the head cut off but they don't surrender sandwiches and three headman first gulf war the surrender before we went

underground against them and kuwait so you stuck their ground forces and decisive action and and we kill tremendous numbers of iraqi fighters in this thing if those guys for more effectively in local pockets like maybe some other enemy when you're somewhat different problem inside the good news sometimes in some bad news and talk about the more casualties are up that's great news the bad news is on one hand how many of those and reinvent themselves on there's obviously lots of problems inside some of these data it's good that wants to figure these things out we don't know what the story is i must have done it and what about mistakes made a very obvious mistakes made during this that i can see the naked they didn't move a little faster i mean the american army is an army vet he's not used to being a highly professional capable peacetime army that's unique in american history and if anything you saw that in the year some of the background chatter here during the war became moms villages generals and some of the pundits

that he was being too aggressive when it turned out he probably wasn't being aggressive about i mean as any use any military history and you find out when it comes to speed you can't have enough mistakes you know i think it is important and as the lessons learned about this war are the lessons that we have learned yet and that is one of the key ones that really really interesting is the whole concept of theology that that's built up around precision bomb i wonder if mrs obama is doing enough damage to a country to tell the populace sufficiently that when you want to democratize them that actually works there's a lot of persons that iraqi germany and japan before this war during the war i think those comparisons are falling i lived in germany in nineteen fifty five ten years after the war ended and you could walk walks in cities like mine said never see anything higher than a half of cobblestone we killed hundreds of thousands of civilians that were nasty nasty civilians copenhagen's

book proof that the germans wholesale supporting hitler on every single level and i think that the justification for joint so many of whom was because then we found out his book was because they were innocent they were killed for sure that involves avoid civilian casualties and there's a theology built up around this and i'm not sure that the wars are going to be one of the precision bombs that can be carried into pieces that you know the we killed millions of japanese and german civilians we kill all column this week though wasn't true and it sits idle because usually helpful and doctrine to suggest that we should be around louise kelly they're in that and it was very clear that the precision bombing of baghdad a place like this did not in fact intimidate iraq is a minimal interaction that this week they were not part of the least they were delivered forces were defeated but as a people they certainly don't know if

i can be here whether you're shot or let me get this done in it that is not at the table mr downey and do you think that the post war period that they're any mistakes coming to the fore now whitey i mean there's obviously a problem with the civil affairs said the special forces had a much larger role in this war a largely as a result of their success in afghanistan but the special forces opposed the law gone by the generals as a bunch of you know beatnik you're crazy people that they are really the sort of the twenty percent is that i'm a book coming out next month for the perfect soldier which goes into the nationalization of the military and the year that your copy the tactics and techniques of the special forces in the commandos and advocacy a lot more than the future i think one of the mistakes people will look upon the iraq war is the fact that we didn't use these gotten up and that we use them a lot more most people are aware that's one of the stories that's going to come out in the next few months on display very short time at length quickly rumsfeld is always want to transform the military quote unquote do you think the pentagon has fought hand you think this

war that the pentagon will now sign up for what he wants to do well in the last decade we the people are going to continue to believe in what they believe him but he's going to have his white lot of things are more things that worries me about special forces in this war it is a fact that we have been doing things like trying to capture the city of mosul with three hundred men with rifles or iran issue these and i would hate to see two hundred and five guys to wipe out someplace secretary rumsfeld needs to take a breath and stop gloating about our people criticized and what they need to sit back and understand those conflicts and then decide in this situation how we should ask yourselves as be plenty of other situations the force of that relevance for me not do well north korea ever since passed we need we need to sit back and take a breath and is not going to soften his service by the kinds that an innovative who's wrong and write

the best way to do that is that president roosevelt interviewing were to the commissioner the secretary of war to do a thorough long term study of what happened in that was not the study was not under the control of the department warned the titans and control of people who would try to find out the true conservative online survey of an ex lover and all right gentlemen thank you all for it yeah heroin and the other news of this day seven us soldiers were lightly wounded overnight in a grenade attack outside baghdad that happened in the town of foliage up where us troops fired on protesters twice this week iraqis say at least fifteen people died in those earlier confrontations the two sides disagree over who fired first a us army general said today there is intelligence that members of saddam hussein's ba'ath party are behind the trouble

at least four people were killed today in an explosion at a gas station in baghdad more than thirty others were badly burned at happens when people fired guns to celebrate the return of electricity in their neighbor and some of the bullets at a fuel tank and it blew up us troops and tried to open the way for emergency vehicles but angry iraqis confronted them complaining about the lack of security in the city the us formally declared today that major combat in afghanistan is over eighteen months after the war there began defense secretary rumsfeld made the announcement in kabul after meeting with president karzai he said the us would put more emphasis on reconstruction efforts because afghanistan is now safer the bulk of this country today is progressive secure it is clear that that's the case by virtue of the fact that we see people returning to their country from all

across the globe in large amounts and there they are voting with their feet here they are saying that the circumstance here is something they want to be a part of it rumsfeld said some pockets of resistance remain but he said us and allied forces would strike them whenever they threat and also nine thousand us troops remain in afghanistan their commander said today he hoped they could leave the country by the fall of two thousand for a fierce gun battle in gaza today leapt at least a dozen palestinians dead including two children before dawn israeli troops raided a stronghold of the militant group hamas that touched off hours of combat work with more than two hundred gunmen it came a day after a suicide bombing in tel aviv today secretary of state powell began a three day trip through europe and the middle east the gain support for the new road map for peace in

madrid spain he appealed again for an end to the violence we've got to get beyond this period of suicide bombings and korean actions or the defense of actions that are taken to end the violence and protect one society we can't let these sorts of incidents legally contaminate the roadmap will contaminate throw the process that we're now involved the secretary will also visit albania syria and lebanon on this trip does not include a stop in israel is expected back in the middle east in the next two weeks for talks with the israelis and palestinians an earthquake rock southeastern turkey early today killing at least one hundred people injuring one thousand the quake hit hardest in a town four hundred miles east of ankara officials said more than one hundred drug one hundred children could be trapped in the rubble of the school building we have a report from cabin down of independent television news

if all those schoolchildren were sleeping and they fill the tree when the earthquake crushed the building a school dormitory was one of a dozen buildings in the town of dingell the earthquake struck in the middle of the night are children small outlying villages were housed in the tent school because it was the nearest half hour rescuers used their bare hands and an attempt to reach the children trapped in the rubble out hundreds of volunteers during the emergency services and rescue efforts is distraught parents and relatives basically collapsing injuries sometimes sadly they recovered only corpses

anguish there were moments of relief even the viewing here waving hand signals to rescue is that the child is the line one by one gently potentially deadly ability carried away turkey's prime minister toured the quake damaged today he blamed shoddy building materials and lax inspections for the schools collapsed and he promised an investigation concern over sars kept millions of chinese at home today as officials cut short a traditional may day holiday villagers set up makeshift roadblocks outside beijing to try to keep out people with lee disease the date nearly four hundred people have died from sars worldwide about sixty one hundred have been infected china alone account for one hundred and seventy deaths three hundred thirty six hundred cases will have more on sars later in the program tonight the us house

overwhelmingly approved a new plan to fight aids today mostly in africa and the caribbean and includes fifteen billion dollars over five years three times what congress had planned to spend on global aids during that period have the money would go for treatment and the rest for prevention orphans and other needs the bill now goes to the senate senate democrats today boy the vote on texas judge priscilla owen for a federal appeals court they said her anti abortion pro business news an affected her rulings republicans said she was put through political meat grinder democrats also continue to filibuster the nomination of miguel a spot out for a federal appeals judgeship on wall street today the dow jones industrial average lost nearly twenty six points to close at eighty four fifty four the nasdaq rose eight points to close at more than fourteen seventy two at and once again for we go we had two more to our silent honor roll of

american military personnel killed in a car wreck fb we'll sue online in a game here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks among others i'm jim lehrer thank you and goodnight major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer has been provided by something beautiful is sometimes drive christians need to advance at the nature of what's to come and by spca communications committed to providing americans more choices and high speed internet access and

working toward and opportunities in broadband technology as providers as their spca communication the program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to a pbs station he was like you need it this because it's been to bridges video cassettes of the news hour with jim lehrer call one eight six six six seven eight news

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