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JOHN KING: And as the insurgency rages in Iraq,
civilian death tolls reach new heights. Can a summit
make a difference?
Correspondent Michael Ware joins us now from Baghdad.
Michael, President Bush announcing he will travel to
Jordan to meet Prime Minister Maliki next week, even
though the president has already said there will be
no major policy changes until he gets the report of
the Iraq Study Group led by former secretary of
state, Jim Baker. That is still several weeks away.
So, why this meeting now? Is there something Mr.
Maliki wants or Mr. Maliki needs from such a summit?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is
just all pure guesswork at this stage, John. The
Iraqi prime minister and his office are remaining
tight-lipped about the true forces behind this
meeting. And certainly we've heard very little from
the White House in terms of the detail. Clearly, this
comes at a time of American strategic uncertainty.
Indeed with the Baker-Hamilton review not to come out
until the end of the year, this period could even be
a period of crisis if it drags out that long.
So, certainly this is just a sign of how urgently
people need things to change here. And I think these
two leaders are getting together to try and spur
things along. However, the sad fact is I don't think
that either of the players, neither Prime Minister
Maliki, nor President Bush have a winning hand right
now. So it is difficult to see just what they can
hope to achieve.
KING: And Michael, the backdrop for this meeting, not
only the policy review underway here in the United
States, but this stunningly depressing new report
from the United Nations saying the civilian death
toll, more than 3,700 last month, a record-setting
month. Any end in sight? And I assume this is mostly
the result of the sectarian violence you speak of.
WARE: Absolutely. As the United Nations assistance
mission in Iraq says that the 3,709 Iraqi civilians
that are known of, who died in October -- that's the
worst death count of any month since the U.S.
invasion back in 2003 -- is due to terrorism,
violence from the insurgency, and sectarian violence.
So, this very much paints a tragic, tragic picture.
And when you put it back to back with the U.N.'s last
report, before this one, we're talking about the
deaths of more than 13,500 men, women, and children
in four months alone.
KING: Michael Ware, for us in Baghdad. Michael, thank
you very much.
WARE: Thank you, John.