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WOLF BLITZER: Meanwhile, there's growing concern over
a situation that may be among America's worst fears
-- Iraq looking more and more like one of its
neighbors.
And joining us now, our correspondent in Baghdad,
Michael Ware. You know, Michael, these reports of the
prime minister of Iraq, Nouri Al-Maliki, going down
to meet with the Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, with
Muqtada al-Sadr -- to some people looking at how this
situation, this political situation in Iraq is
unfolding, it almost is beginning to look like Iran,
where there's a supreme ayatollah who's in charge,
overseeing the government.
Is that a fair comparison?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not just yet.
There's definitely elements of that, although
Sistani, from the very beginning, as a key Shia
religious figure, has made it patent that he wants to
see effectively a separation of church and state. The
problem is that not everyone agrees with him.
Even worse than that, where Sistani used to be the
concentration of all Shia power, he was vital, as it
so happens, to the American effort to see the
elections through, to see that they were a success.
He was pivotal to that, in harnessing the Shia vote
and sending them out not only to the ballot boxes,
but to vote for the united Iraqi alliance.
However, what we see now -- six, nine, 10 months down
the track -- is what many officials suspect is a
weakening of his position. Once these people got into
power, particularly those related to the dominant
Shia party, SCIRI, with its strong links to Iran, is
that once in these positions, these people were able
to develop their own power bases, somewhat
independent of Sistani.
So, he certainly does not hold the same influence
that he did back then. And perhaps this is a sign
from the prime minister, Maliki, of starting to
clutch a little bit at some straws -- Wolf.
BLITZER: You know, there's a lot of concern, I have
to tell you here, that the prime minister put some
unusual pressure on the U.S. military, the
leadership, the civilian leadership, to release a
leader of one of these so-called death squads,
someone, a deputy to Muqtada al-Sadr, who had been
captured by the U.S. military, I believe in Sadr
City, someone from the Mahdi militia. And under
pressure from the prime minister, Nouri Al-Maliki,
the U.S. was forced to release him.
How much anger is there among U.S. military
commanders about this specific incident?
WARE: Well, clearly there is some chafing among
military officers. I mean, this was a fellow in an
area of Baghdad not far from where I'm standing now
that is a contested zone and is an area where Shia
militias linked to the Jaish al-Mahdi militias of
Muqtada al-Sadr would go hunting their Sunni prey.
However, if you've been here on the ground long
enough, if you witnessed the birth of this Maliki
government, honestly, this should come as no surprise
to anyone. Effectively, Maliki is a paper tiger. The
Americans are desperately trying to prop him up. He
has no independent source of power except for one,
and that is the critical support of Muqtada al-Sadr.
So, the fact that the prime minister orders the
Americans to release a wanted man linked to Muqtada
shouldn't really come as a surprise. He's got
political debts owing to Muqtada. And, secondly, Sadr
City, the center of the Jaish al-Mahdi power base
from where these death squads are roaming, U.S.
forces want to go in there. Yet I was on those
streets this morning. Not only was there not a single
American soldier, save for the odd quick in and out
patrol, there's not even an Iraqi Army soldier. It is
Jaish al-Mahdi which controls that whole part of the
city and the two million plus people who live within
it -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael, we've got to leave it right there.
Michael Ware reporting for us from Baghdad.
It wasn't that long ago that the U.S. actually wanted
to arrest Muqtada al-Sadr. Clearly, that has not
happened.
Michael, thanks.
WARE: Thank you, Wolf.