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Length: 2:10
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Let's
turn to Iraq now where two marines were killed
yesterday in Anbar province west of Baghdad. CNN's
Michael Ware is embedded with American forces in
Ramadi. He says al-Qaeda operatives and other
insurgents are not letting up in their attacks. Hey,
Michael, good morning. Tell us a little bit about
what it's like for the troops there who you're with.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, this
very much is the tip end of the-- not just the war in
Iraq but the war against al-Qaeda. Here in Ramadi, in
al-Anbar province, the very same place where the two
marines have died in the past three days, we're
standing at a marine base. This site here is
dominated by al-Qaeda. Local insurgent groups have
been hijacked and are being led and are being
intimidated and forced down the al-Qaeda line. So
this is literally where Marines and soldiers come
face to face with al-Qaeda on a daily basis.
Now, we visited the soldiers and Marines in the city
of Ramadi in these combat outposts. Small, little --
like little Fort Apaches deep inside al-Qaeda
territory. In these places living is tough. These
kids, some of them are lucky if they see a shower
once every couple of weeks. They get a lukewarm meal
once a day. They burn their own refuse. They burn
their own human waste. These kids are working on
three hours on, three hours off shifts and they're
fighting almost every day.
Just earlier from here this morning a platoon-- a
convoy went out; they came back with three guys
wounded. They're all going to be okay but their
vehicle is damaged and three of them were slightly
wounded. Here in Ramadi on this al-Qaeda front line,
the brigades are suffering on average 100 killed in
action every year. And there's one particular
battalion of Marines here, 3/8 battalion, they've
suffered 17 killed in action in seven months. Now
that's 5- or 600 men, when some brigades of 5,000
don't suffer that many losses in a year. Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Well, it's amazing. Michael Ware for us this
morning. Thanks, Michael. Michael Ware, in Baghdad,
good to see you again, Mick. Thanks very
much.