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President Barack Obama paid tribute to the men and women who have sacrificed and died defending America today at Arlington National Cemetery. Obama spoke in the name of all veterans, saying that for the first time in nine years Americans “are not fighting and dying in Iraq” and the war in Afghanistan is “winding down.”

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While addressing the crowd at Arlington, Obama said:

“Each of them loved this country and everything it stands for, more than life itself.”

Obama spoke to an audience gathered under a brilliant sun: 

“These 600 acres are home to Americans from every part of the country who gave their lives in every part of the globe.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, preceding Obama, said “all the men and women who rest here are a constant reminder that freedom is not free.”

Moments earlier, the President participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns and then was on his way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.