Mike Pence: “That is absolutely right. Basra itself is just south of the convergence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, which the…”

“That is absolutely right. Basra itself is just south of the convergence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, which the Bible records to be the location of the Garden of Eden. At Tallil Air Base, you can see essentially a pyramid from 2100 B.C. that marks the birthplace of Abraham, what was known as Ur of the Chaldeans. It is a place of incalculable historical value and significance, and the people reflect that. But I have to tell the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Speaker, that I fell in love with the Iraqi people that I met. The two qualities of the people that I met, and, again, it was only 60 or 70 regular Iraqis that we spent significant time with in the course of that weekend, but the Iraqi people that I met were highly literate, most of them spoke functional English, which was helpful to me, and the two characteristics, there were three. Number one, they were people who had very strong opinions, which made me feel at home, being from Indiana and the Midwest, as the gentleman from Michigan is. We sat in a meeting, and, boy we heard it. Some people did not like how we were spending money on construction, other people did not like how we were investing in domestic security. But they had strong opinions, they were articulate, and they were revelling in the ability to express the opinions for the first time in their lifetimes.”