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ANDERSON COOPER: The
president went into great detail about the
capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, in
particular, saying the recent battle of Tal Afar was
a sign of how strong the Iraqi military has become.
The president says Iraqi forces led that battle, but
our next guest remembers it very differently.
He was there on the front lines and says Iraqis
fought, yes, but they certainly didn't lead.
Michael Ware is "TIME" magazine's Baghdad bureau
chief.
I talked to him earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So, Michael, the president made a point today
to come out and say that the Iraqis, the soldiers,
those who are being trained are better than they have
ever been doing before. What's your assessment?
MICHAEL WARE, BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF, "TIME": Well,
they might be doing better than they have ever done
before. But I have to tell you, that benchmark is not
set very high.
I have been in combat with, I can say with some
confidence, every type of Iraqi security force there
is. These guys are a long way from ready. I mean, in
fact, I have had a very senior officer here in
Baghdad say to me that there's never going to be a
point where these guys will be able to stand up
against the insurgency on their own.
COOPER: One of the things that Army General George
Casey had said back in September, that there is only
one Iraqi unit that's at a level-one readiness. Level
one is fully capable of maintaining operations on
their own.
What the president today is, he said -- quote -- "Now
there are over 120 Iraqi army and police combat
battalions in the fight against the terrorists."
There's a big difference between being in the fight
against terrorists and being fully combat ready.
WARE: Oh, absolutely.
And really, what so many of these forces are, are
just numbers on paper. These are guys who have been
churned out in a three-to five-week training session,
where they become familiar with shooting a
Kalashnikov rifle and learn how to do basic
patrolling.
Then they're wrapped in a uniform and they sit on a
street corner or a checkpoint or actually go out on
raids. And these guys, the traditional Iraqi culture
is that you spend as much time at home you as you
possibly can. So, if these are troops who are far
from their home base, they spend weeks every month
traveling to and from their home cities. So, these
guys are getting very little real training.
COOPER: The president said 80 Iraqi battalions are
fighting side by side with coalition forces, and
about 40 others are taking the lead in the fight. The
soldiers, the American soldiers, who you have spent
so much time with, do they have confidence in the
Iraqis who are apparently taking the lead in this
fight or standing side by side with them?
WARE: By and large, no, not at all, Anderson.
I mean, there's some units that they have performed
better than others. There's other occasions where an
American unit and their counterparts develop a very
particular rapport. But, otherwise, no -- the
American soldiers can really have very little faith
in their Iraqi comrades.
I mean, I was in a battle just two weeks ago where
some of the Iraqis refused to fire when we came under
attack. This is a man who, in the face of an attack,
just puts down his weapon and curls up in a ball. I
mean, I have seen that on many, many occasions.
COOPER: The president also said today that, in the
battle of Tal Afar, the assault in the north of Iraq,
that he said it was led primarily by Iraqi security
forces, 11 Iraqi battalions, backed by five coalition
battalions providing support.
WARE: With the greatest respect to the president,
that is completely wrong and is extraordinarily
misleading.
COOPER: How do you know that?
WARE: I was in that battle from the very beginning to
the very end.
I was with Iraqi units, right there on the front
line, as they were battling with al Qaeda. They were
not leading. They were being led by the U.S. Green
Beret special forces with them, Green Berets who were
following an American plan of attack, who were
advancing with these Iraqi units as and when they
were told to do so by the American battle planners.
The Iraqis led nothing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: A very different view from the president's
speech.