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WOLF BLITZER: The
stunning kidnapping raid has certainly captured the
attention of everyone in Iraq, but what message is it
sending?
And joining us now our correspondent in Baghdad,
Michael Ware. Let's take a look at the bigger picture
here. This incident today, Michael, what does it say
about the Iraqi government of the prime minister
Nouri al-Maliki?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well I mean it's
been an absolutely remarkable affair surrounding this
mass kidnapping. And in many ways, hopefully in the
washout in the days to come, we might be able to
learn quite a lot about Prime Minister Maliki and his
government. I mean, firstly the question is who is
responsible for this? I mean, clearly there was a
degree of organization, sophistication to suggest
that there has to be some kind of paramilitary
involvement here. Now, whether that's Sunni insurgent
or whether that's Shia or whether that's government
related is yet to be seen.
Also, what has led to this? I mean, was this a rouge
Shia militia or was this a hard-line element or was
this a faction within the government or was this a
stunt to begin with? I mean, there's so many
questions yet to be answered or indeed, is this a
case of the prime minister cracking down on the
militias within the ranks of his own administration?
We saw this afternoon that a number of police
officers responsible for the area where the
kidnapping took place called in for interrogation and
then later, their hostages were released. Perhaps
this is a sign of the prime minister finally flexing
some muscle. We just don't yet know, Wolf.
BLITZER: And Michael, what it does show also though
is that this major U.S. military effort to secure the
Iraqi capital of Baghdad, which has been going on now
for weeks, still has a lot left to be done.
WARE: Wolf, I mean even the military themselves admit
that this thing has all but stalled, I mean, if not
in serious need of major overhaul. I mean just look
at the last two days. Total of 86 bullet-riddled
bodies have been found in the mornings on the streets
of Baghdad alone.
Clearly the sectarian violence continues apace. We
had at least two car bombings in the capital today.
That doesn't include the rest of the country. So no,
the Battle for Baghdad, as it was so-called, the
great Operation Together Forward has not achieved
even the veneer of stability that it was hoping to,
let alone attack the fundamental problem, which are
the militias that are the building blocks of this
government -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael, thank you. Michael Ware reporting
from Baghdad.
WARE: Thank you, Wolf.