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SW: →Iraqis willing to "step up": tidy
In a February 9, 2005, interview with CNN's Paula Zahn, Lute was [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0502/09/pzn.01.html asked] about the impact of the first Iraqi elections on the population, to which Lute answered:
:"Well, first of all, it suggests that there's no immediate impact. That is that the elections themselves were not a silver bullet or a panacea that we were going to solve the insurgency. The other thing it suggests to me, Paula, is just the bravery and the incredible willingness to step forward on the election day itself which we witnessed by millions of Iraqis moving to the polling places. And further more, the support by the brother Iraqis, the security forces, in securing over 5,000 election places. It suggests to me in sum that it's still a dangerous place, but the Iraqis have demonstrated they are willing to step up. They deserve our respect and our support for that."
===No "hard factual evidence" of "clear link" between [[opium economy in Afghanistan|Afghanistan's drug profits]] and "extremists"===
