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Length: 3:58
KYRA PHILLIPS: The official curfew is over, and
Iraq's president has left the country on a business
trip. But thousands, maybe millions of ordinary
Iraqis dare not leave their homes.
Let's go straight to Baghdad and CNN's Michael Ware
-- Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, the
curfew, as you said, has lifted. Nonetheless, this
morning, as many as 39 executed bodies were found on
the streets of the capitol. And in the town of
Baquba, just north of Baghdad, 12 more bodies were
found.
We also see the continuation of what's becoming a
daily phenomenon here in this city, which is
neighborhood mortar wars. Firing bombs at each other.
We've seen another neighborhood in the capital hit.
There's reports of at least three dead and 15 more
wounded.
There's been some sporadic attacks on Iraqi police.
There's at least one dead police officer as a result.
Essentially, this is a city that's almost socially
paralyzed by fear. People dare not leave their homes.
The education system is grinding to a halt. Teachers
are not showing up at schools. Students aren't
attending classes. Families aren't prepared to leave
their homes.
And reading Iraqi weblogs has become the most
illuminating exercise. Electronic Iraq is an
organization which culls these things, has posted a
number of these references. We have people in suburbs
saying, "My suburb is under attack now, I can hear
gunfire. We've been under mortar attack for two days.
God save us."
Someone else saying, "Our suburb is running out of
ammunition. Please, come to our aid."
Another one saying, "Our suburb is breached. We will
fight to the death." That's what's become of Baghdad.
PHILLIPS: Michael Ware, interesting point is you give
us these descriptions. All you can think about is, is
there a civil war or not? Some journalists becoming a
little more daring and saying, yes, there's a civil
war going on here. Others not saying that.
King Abdullah doing an interview on ABC this week,
saying, still, potential civil war. When exactly can
you say as a journalist, as a politician, as an
administration, all right, there's a civil war going
on right here. This is how you define it.
WARE: Well, put it this way, this is the way I define
it. It's that anyone who still remains in doubt about
whether this is civil war or not is suffering from
the luxury of distance.
You stand here on these streets, you take shelter in
these families' homes. You dare to go out and try to
go to work or, indeed, shop at a marketplace and you
will know that this is civil war.
There are already signs of what technically could be
declared ethnic cleansing. The United Nations says
entire neighborhoods are being disrupted to various
degrees. Communities being split. I mean, we have
areas that people of one sect cannot enter for fear
of immediate execution by another sect.
You drive in a minibus on your way to work. Suddenly,
there's a check point. If you're of the wrong faith,
you are dead.
There's literally defensive fighting positions now
built in some of these suburbs. And the Sadr City
quarter of Baghdad, the Shia domain, where as much as
half of the population lives, is essentially now a
garrison, servicing outlying Shia militia outposts as
it wages its retaliatory strikes for the deadly
multiple car bombing on Thanksgiving Day which saw
200 innocents slain in the streets in Sadr City.
If that's not civil war, if we don't have two sides
of a nation going face to face, then, honestly, I
don't know what is, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Michael Ware couldn't have put it more
directly. Live from Baghdad, thanks.
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Length: 2:25
T.J. HOLMES: The official curfew is over and Iraq's
president has left the country on a business trip,
but thousands, maybe millions of ordinary Iraqis dare
not leave their own houses.
We're going to go now to Baghdad and CNN's Michael
Ware.
Hello again, Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, T.J., the
curfew has been lifted, three days of lockdown
following last Thursday's Thanksgiving car bombing
massacre against the Shia population of the capital,
Baghdad. At least 200 people died in that attack,
hundreds more wounded.
Since then, we've seen retaliation from Shia
militias. Things have deteriorated where we're seeing
neighborhood against neighborhood engaging in mortar
wars, lobbing bombs upon each other.
Now, while there remains a debate back home in the
U.S. about whether there's a civil war, that debate
is fueled by the luxury of distance. Anyone here on
these streets living this up close and personal has
no question in their minds whatever. This is civil
war.
And you look at all the various definitions and the
elements of civil war. Some say that it's two large
groups fighting for the political center, where at
least a thousand people must have died with at least
100 on either side. There must be militia-style
combat, elements of ethnic cleansing, neighborhood on
neighborhood, family on family, and some degrees of
organization and coordination.
Well, T.J., you can tick every box of that. This
morning alone, after a three-day lockdown, there were
still 39 executed bodies on the streets of the
capital. Death squads still roam the city, many of
them institutionalized in police uniforms.
Citizens have to carry dual identity, one Sunni, one
Shia. Children can't go to school for fear of
crossing ethnic boundaries. Neighborhoods have
fighting positions.
People are communicating by SMS and phone messages
about roaming militia gangs. And we're seeing on
blogs desperate calls for help.
If this is not civil war, T.J., then I don't want to
see one when it comes.
HOLMES: Wow. All right.
Michael Ware for us in Baghdad.
Thank you so much, as always.