KUWAIT CITY:We spent about half the day yesterday at the Iraqi military academy about fifty miles from Baghdad. It’s a tough place, and not just for the curriculum. More on this later. The bus to the plane is leaving in about two minutes, so I’ll have to be brief. We saw a lot at the IMA that was encouraging. Motivated students, a great faculty and if they can keep things going they will help transform all of Iraq.

The C-130 carrying us back to Kuwait City last night had two very special passengers. Two American soldiers — one man and one woman — who had been killed in action lay in flag-draped coffins along the aircraft centerline. On landing in Kuwait, we waited until they were about to be taken off, and stood in line with the soldiers saluting them as they were taken off the aircraft. Let’s remember them and their families. These two, and more than 2,000 others, have made the ultimate sacrifice in this war. Now is no time to quit. The Iraqis don’t want us to leave until the job is done. It isn’t yet.