Mike Pence: “I am overwhelmed by the sense of gratitude expressed by the Iraqis with whom we interacted in Basra. I mean, the…”

“I am overwhelmed by the sense of gratitude expressed by the Iraqis with whom we interacted in Basra. I mean, the touching of the heart, I came to find out virtually every Iraqi that we met ended their conversation with me... by touching their hearts. And I would later find that this is a form of deep respect in the Muslim and Islamic tradition. It is the touching of the heart that means the ultimate expression of gratitude. When we met with political prisoners and we thanked them for their candor and we thanked them for being willing to meet with us, they touched their hearts and bowed to us. And in this instance here where we visited one of hundreds of democracy workshops that are taking place all over Iraq, and here you see Ana who is a young Islamic Iraqi woman, wearing an abaya, and she is presenting me one of my most treasured possessions since becoming a Congressman. It is a stack of handwritten poems in English about what freedom means to her.”