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Length: 3:20
ZAIN VERJEE: Anything would help. Iraqi officials
reported this week that more than 3400 Iraqi
civilians were killed last month. That makes July the
deadliest month of the insurgency. With these
statistics, are Iraqis any closer to being ready to
'stand up' in the words of the Bush administration
and how much further off is the day when the U.S.
military can stand down?
With us from Baghdad, Michael Ware; from the
Pentagon, Barbara Starr; and in our New York bureau,
Jane Arraf of the Council on Foreign Relations, a
former CNN Baghdad bureau chief. Thanks to you all
for joining us. Michael Ware in Baghdad, to you
first. Over the past months, it appears that the
insurgency has gained momentum. What's the reality on
the ground? What's your assessment?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very much the
insurgency is still here and in fact, many in the
U.S. military would argue that it's picked up pace. I
mean let's just take four days this week from Monday
to Thursday. We saw more than 200 IEDs or roadside
bombs detonated. That's in four days. Over that same
period, there were 10 car bombs. This is three years
into the war where one would have expected, according
to military predictions, that things would be
improving, not worsening. That's one part of this
war. Another part of this war is the sectarian
strife, the civil war. That has definitely picked up
steam and that's accounting for the bulk of these
civilian deaths, which has reached horrific
proportions.
VERJEE: One of the new ideas out there, Michael Ware,
that's proving to be extremely controversial is this
idea that local committees should be set up in
different areas, where the Shias protect and patrol
their own neighborhood, the Sunnis will protect and
patrol their own neighborhood and in mixed areas, you
have mixed patrols. What is the sense on the ground?
Would that fuel or prevent more sectarian violence
from escalating?
WARE: Honestly, it's not a new development. These
things sprung up a long time ago, ad hoc, street by
street. In some places they're called night guards.
Otherwise it's just like a local militia group or
vigilante group, simply protecting their homes. This
is rooted in some basis. We saw elements within the
original CPA -- led by Paul Bremer and elements of
the CIA -- experiment with divesting power, just like
Saddam did, to local groups, local sheikhs, local
tribal identities or power blocs. We also saw Saddam
doing this, decentralizing power in this way. I mean
this has some similarities the way security is
maintained or not in Afghanistan and other places. So
this really is not a new development. That the
military is acknowledging it publicly is the only
development. These facts have been here clear and
evident on the ground for a long time. It's only now
that the military's rhetoric is catching up with the
insurgency and the reality of the sectarian
violence.