"ITS NOT ABOUT POLITICS, ITS ABOUT PEOPLE"

"I'm proud to have fought for my country and to protect America," she said, "but I'm more proud to help those people have the same freedoms we have."

Schools have been rebuilt, textbooks purchased and hospitals restored, she said.

"Everything we blew up or they blew up, we're fixing," she said.

News reports don't focus on troops' efforts to provide electricity and clean water to Iraqis.

"It's those things that no one wants to talk about. The whole thing is not about politics. It's about people."

"The media will never show you the guy in the street that gives you a hug and kiss and says, 'Thank you, please don't leave my country.' That doesn't get TV ratings."