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ANDERSON COOPER: An
extraordinary report out of Iraq that Sunni
insurgents here are actually telling foreign
terrorists, Al Qaeda in Iraq, not to get involved,
not to interfere in Thursday's historic elections.
We're joined now by CNN's -- by "TIME" magazine's, I
should say -- maybe someday CNN's, Michael Ware.
MICHAEL WARE, TIME MAGAZINE CORRESONDENT:
Insha'allah.
COOPER: Insha'allah. Thanks very much for joining us.
You spent a lot of time with these insurgents. Is
this for real? Why would Sunni insurgents be telling
Al Qaeda in Iraq, don't interfere with the elections?
WARE: Anderson, this is the two faces of this war.
There's a homegrown insurgency, a war of liberation,
if you will. And then there's the imported holy war,
or terrorist war. And here we see them clash. The
homegrown insurgents have a political agenda. They
want to see a political dimension to the insurgency
emerge. They've told their fighters, they've told
their supporters, go and vote just like you did on
October 15 for the referendum. And just like the
referendum, they've been saying to Zarqawi's people,
just sit down. For one day, sit down. So unlike the
January election, during the referendum, Anderson, we
saw not one Zarqawi attack or suicide bombing because
he was told to back off.
COOPER: But, I mean a year ago in the January
elections, they were talking about, you know, the
streets running red with the blood of anyone who
voted. Do the Sunni insurgents feel they made a
mistake in doing that?
WARE: Well, as I was talking to one of their most
senior strategists just yesterday -- this is a man
very much within the inner circle of one of the most
powerful factions -- it's a response to two things.
One is he said, yes this is answering to the
constituency, listening to our people, to our
community who want to vote. But don't forget, the
Baathists and the independent fighters, the
Nationalists -- they were telling me back in 2003
that they saw that this was a two-track war with a
political and a military front. They talked about Ho
Chi Minh, Che Guevara, and they talked about Sinn
Fein, very much like the political process in
Northern Ireland.
COOPER: And so, I mean, there is this tension between
the two -- I mean, for a long time -- I remember when
I first came here, I was talking to you. They were
talking about, you know, trying to drive a wedge
between the nationalists and these foreign terrorist.
I mean, is that still possible? Is there a tension?
Is there a space between them?
WARE: I mean, this has been a marriage of
inconvenience. It's very much odd bedfellows, secular
Baathists and homegrown Iraqi nationalists working
together with both foreign and Iraqi Islamists, who
want to bring about a very different kind of society
here in Iraq. However, they have a common enemy right
now, so they are working together. This schism, this
tension has always existed. But what we've seen is
the Iraqification of Zarqawi's organization. As his
foreign leaders have been killed or captured, Iraqis
have risen up. And they find it much easier to talk
to their old friends from the Republican Guard.
COOPER: So if the U.S. withdrew or, you know, to some
extent, stepped back their forces, would that take
away the fight from some of these nationalists
insurgents?
WARE: Very much. The sole cause, their motivation, is
to resist the occupation. And as the top Baathists
have said, and as the top Iraqi Islamists have said,
the association of Muslim scholars say, "give us a
time table for withdrawal. Be genuine about your
intent to support us and empower us and we will stand
up to Zarqawi for you." U.S. military intelligence is
looking for exactly this. This is why Ambassador
Khalilzad and U.S. military intelligence says they
are bringing back the Baath party because they are
against Zarqawi and together they can root him out
from Iraq, they believe.
COOPER: "TIME Magazine" Michael Ware. Michael, always
good to talk to you.
WARE: Thank you.
COOPER: All right, stay safe.
He hustled over here. It's not an easy thing to do at
this time in the morning. So we do appreciate
it.