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WOLF BLITZER: Meanwhile, there's a new audiotape out
believed to be from the new leader of al Qaeda in
Iraq. He's warning his group is launching a major
military campaign, and he urges other Muslims in Iraq
to join in as well. CNN is unable, so far, to
independently verify the speaker's identity.
For more, though, on the tape and the allegations by
Bob Woodward, we go to the Iraqi capital.
And joining us now from Baghdad, our correspondent
Michael Ware.
Michael, there's a suggestion, word beginning to
circulate now in this new Bob Woodward book, that,
perhaps, in 2007, the insurgency, the sectarian
violence, the bloodshed in Iraq, is going to be even
worse than it's been in 2006 and 2005.
Looking down the road, based on everything you have
been seeing and hearing -- you have been embedded
with U.S. troops -- you are speaking to various
forces out there -- does it look like the situation
next year is going to be worse or better?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it's in
absolutely no one's interest within the insurgency or
the militias which currently hold sway with the
governments or among these lethal sectarian death
squads to let up.
There's simply no incentive for them to do so. In
fact, it is the extremes of both the Sunni and the
Shia communities that are not only dominating the
insurgency but also increasingly dominating the
political agenda, whom are benefiting from all this
violence, which there simply are not enough U.S.
forces or Iraqi forces, for what they are worth, to
contain it. So, there's no reason for this to
decrease. In fact, there's every reason to suggest it
should increase. And we have every sign that these
insurgents and militias have this well within their
capabilities -- Wolf.
BLITZER: But what about the suggestion that the Iraqi
military, the Iraqi police forces, that they are
becoming increasingly more successful, or more --
better prepared, better trained, to deal with this,
and as a result the burden on the international
forces, especially the U.S. forces, will be reduced?
WARE: Well, I mean that's the crux of the whole plan,
isn't it? Train them up, until they can withstand the
al Qaeda onslaught, even though we don't have enough
troops now to withstand the al Qaeda onslaught, and
then leave them to it.
Well, that's paper-thin. That is a deck of cards. And
offline, most American commanders will concede the
drastic limitations of the Iraqi forces that they
work with. And this is not even touching on the fact
that key elements, large sections of these Iraqi
security forces are in the sway of the Iranian-backed
militias, the surrogates, as U.S. military
intelligence calls them.
Other large chunks are heavily penetrated by the
insurgency. So, really, this is a mirage in so many
ways -- Wolf.
BLITZER: We heard a new audiotape from the new al
Qaeda leader in Iraq. After Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was
killed by U.S. forces, it was going to get better.
But now this guy shows up, and making all sorts of
threats out there. What's your take on what we heard
from Abu Ayyub al-Masri?
WARE: Well, I think this message is a declaration. I
mean, this is the first chapter of al-Muhajir's
manifesto. He's establishing the new platform for al
Qaeda in Iraq.
Zarqawi, and his assassinated religious right-hand
man, Abu Anas al-Shami, both carved out a certain
path. Well, with Zarqawi's death, the question was,
would that path be followed?
But the replacement for Zarqawi being an Egyptian, a
veteran of the Afghan al Qaeda camps, and coming from
the Egyptian strain of jihad, which is increasingly
growing greater influence inside al Qaeda itself, it
signaled a return to classic al Qaeda.
And this platform suggests that here he is starting
to spell it out. And, most menacingly, he vows that
he now unleashes a new military campaign against the
infidels in Iraq -- Wolf.
BLITZER: What a story. Michael, thanks very much for
joining us.