Mitch Landrieu: “I want to say, just before we break tonight, that the people of Louisiana have watched, with relief and exuberance and…”

“I want to say, just before we break tonight, that the people of Louisiana have watched, with relief and exuberance and pride, the exploits and the work of our troops in Iraq. We have been proud of each and every soldier and the work they are performing under very difficult circumstances, but they are performing beautifully, exceptionally, as expected. We are very proud of their work, the Active Forces as well as the Reserve Forces. We know we have done many things right in Iraq. We know there are some weaknesses we will address. The military is always the first to say--which is why I enjoy working so closely with them--this is what we did right and we are proud of it and we are going to do it better. But we don't mind admitting there are some things we could do better next time. And lessons learned is something that our military goes through after each and every exercise, which is why they are so good, and why we get better and better and better.”