The City of Laredo and Farouk Systems — the Houston company founded and run by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Farouk Shami — brought 96 soldiers who couldn’t afford the trip from El Paso for an early Thanksgiving with family last week. The soldiers were from Laredo, San Antonio, and smaller towns in the Rio Grande Valley. They visited last Tuesday, and shipped out for Iraq on Saturday.

And for the curious, the press release came from Farouk Systems, and not from the campaign. As did the photo, one of several in the press packet.

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