(10 May 2007) SHOTLIST
1. US Vice President Dick Cheney being introduced and walks onto stage
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dick Cheney, US Vice President:
"I'm here to say thanks for your service, for what you do for all of us. To let you know how impressed we are with the job that you're doing every single day. You're part of a superb multi-national force. You belong to a military that shows dedication and skill up and down the chain of command. So I'm honoured to be with you in person. I bring greetings from the folks at home and from your Commander in Chief, (US) President George W. Bush. Don't hold back."
3. Troops
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dick Cheney, US Vice President:
"Many of you have had your deployments extended and that puts an unexpected hardship on you and your families. I want you to know the extension is vital to the mission. The army and the country appreciate the extra burden that you carry. Because of your willingness to serve today, our children and grand children will grow up in a better world and you will be proud of your service for the rest of your lives."
5. Wide of Cheney on stage with troops
6. Troops
7. Medals being awarded
8. Zoom in of Cheney having breakfast with troops
9. Cheney boarding plane leaving Tikrit
STORYLINE:
US Vice President Dick Cheney saluted US troops stationed near former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Thursday.
In remarks to the troops he defended the Bush administration's recent decision to extend military deployments as "vital to the mission."
"The Army and the country appreciate the extra burden you carry," Cheney said.
He vowed to stay on the offensive despite growing public opposition in the United States to the war and efforts by the Democratic majority in Congress to restrict spending.
Cheney, who was defence secretary in the first Bush administration, spent the night on the base, about seven miles from Tikrit, Saddam's former hometown and an area populated mostly by minority-party Sunnis.
Cheney had breakfast with troops and participated in classified briefings from military commanders.
Between 10,000 and 12,000 troops are stationed at the base, which is located on the grounds of the former Iraqi Air Force Academy and is about 100 miles north of Baghdad, where Cheney spent Wednesday.
It was the first time Cheney spent the night in Iraq, and his whereabouts was closely guarded by the White House until Thursday's speech to the troops.
Cheney spoke to several thousand mostly Army forces in a huge tent that is scheduled to be a gymnasium.
He was enthusiastically cheered and greeted when he stepped on stage, but only politely applauded when he talked about deployment extensions.
Later, he arrived at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to a red carpet welcome.
The vice president is on a weeklong tour of the Middle East that will also take him to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
On Friday, he will visit U.S. troops on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Persian Gulf.
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