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MILES O'BRIEN: Winning
the battle but losing the war, that is the dire
assessment contained in a secret U.S. military report
about Iraq's Al Anbar Province. That report saying a
shortage of U.S. troops a large part of the problem
there.
CNN's Michael Ware has more for us live from Baghdad.
Michael, we were talking about this yesterday, you
were saying you were seeing al Qaeda, al Qaeda up --
sort of up close and personal there, closer than
you'd like it to be, and yet not enough troops on the
ground.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely,
Miles. I mean if you'll recall, you and I were
talking about this from Al Anbar last week, and we've
mentioned it many, many times in the past. I mean
this is not a new situation, nor is it a new story.
This Marine military intelligence report service is
merely relaying the facts as they have existed for
almost two years now there has simply not been enough
troops in Al Anbar Province to attack al Qaeda. I
mean, honestly, the American military commanders, the
planners here, the ones who are making these
decisions have not committed to the fight against al
Qaeda out there. They don't have the number of forces
to even cover the ground.
The best that they say they can hope to do is disrupt
al Qaeda. As the American Marine general who commands
that western province last night said, my mission is
to train Iraqis. That's what I had the troops for. If
my mission changes, if I am told to win this fight
against al Qaeda-led insurgents, then my metrics, his
troop numbers, would have to change -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, so I guess this is a
fundamental question as to what the goal and the
mission is for those soldiers and marines on the
ground there in Iraq. Is that the reason they are not
getting more troops? Are they asking for more people?
WARE: Well, look, on the ground these boys are just
being fed essentially into a meat grinder. They are
being -- I have been on those streets with these kids
as -- and I've watched them bleed. And it's just the
progress is so intangible. I mean they have been sent
out there to hold the line with the people who are
sending them knowing that they are undermanned and
unable to defeat the enemy while attention is focused
elsewhere.
You can say this about the entire war in Iraq, you
either do it or you don't is the feeling among many
senior commanders. And right now militarily this war
is being fought with one hand tied behind the Army's
back. The reason for this is politics. One commander
once said to me that he calls it the big lie. If you
need to ask up high through the chain, to Pentagon,
to D.C. for more troops or more resources, then by
implicit admission you are saying that there is a
problem on the ground, and that's not the message
that D.C. wants to put out -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: So there is pressure that is put on from
the political power structure in Washington on the
Pentagon all the way down the chain not to ask for
more troops?
WARE: There's certainly that dynamic. Whether the
pressure is direct or indirect, it's very much
perceived and it's taken as read. No U.S. commander,
no general will come on camera and tell you this, but
off-line, you see it for yourself. And in their quiet
moments, they will tell you about it. I mean this is
where the politics wraps the military operation up in
knots.
What does this do, Miles? This does two things. One,
it allows al Qaeda to breathe and arguably become
stronger. Secondly, it allows America's other great
contestant, its other great component here in Iraq,
to get ever stronger. And that is Iran.
Iran is battling with America for political
influence. And in many ways with this government it
has much closer ties to Tehran, this current Baghdad
government, than it does to Washington. And we now
see repeated allegations from military intelligence,
President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld and Ambassador
Khalilzad that Iran is also sending bombs and bullets
-- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware in Baghdad, thank you very
much -- Soledad.
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S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look
now at stories that CNN correspondents around the
world are covering today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Michael Ware in
Baghdad.
This morning, the gaping black hole in the
president's global war on terror. In Iraq's western
Anbar province, an al-Qaeda headquarters is located.
But as American commanders concede, they do not have
the troops to do anything about it.
Meanwhile, the bombs and the deaths continues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN
ANCHOR: Baghdad was rocked by two deadly explosions
this morning. A roadside bomb in the center of the
city killed at least 14 people, including a police
officer. Sixty-seven other people were injured in
that attack.
Also, Iraqi police found more than 60 bodies around
the city today. Many showed signs of torture.
A secret report on the war on Iraq is offering a grim
assessment for the future. It takes a look at the
declining situation in the volatile western al Anbar
province. It says there aren't enough troops to fight
the enemy. CNN's Michael Ware spent lots of time in
al Anbar with the troops there. He's in Baghdad this
morning.
Michael, good morning.
MICHAEL WARE: Good morning, Soledad.
Yes, this report really tells us nothing new. I mean,
in one sense, it's good that it's finally surfaced. I
mean military intelligence has been saying this for
well over a year. And when you go out to al Anbar
province, you can see it for yourself. The troops on
the ground know it. The commanders know it.
I mean this is very much an intractable fight with an
al Qaeda lead insurgency in which American
commanders, the top ranks, the war planners, have not
committed to the fight. There simply is not enough
troops out in Anbar to really attack al Qaeda. The
best they can hope to do, as American commanders will
say on the record, is that they hope they can disrupt
al Qaeda and essentially make their life harder.
But, for example, there is a known al Qaeda in Iraq
headquarters sitting there just north of Ramadi in an
area the size of New Hampshire that al Qaeda operates
in. There's just a few hundred troops. So that's the
situation that we see here.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: So then the troops that are on the ground
that you talked to, what specifically are they
telling you?
WARE: Well, these are professional soldiers. I mean,
these are Marines and the Marines say we go where our
commander in chief needs us to go. And they expected
they're going to be thrown into the worse of the
worse.
And one battalion out there that I've spent much,
much time with, Soledad, they really have been in the
worst. They've paid, as a battalion, a group of less
than 1,000 men, they've paid a price in blood and the
deaths of their friends more than most brigades of
5,000 men lose in 12 months. And they're only out
there for seven months.
The soldiers, the Army soldiers themselves, they're
also committed to this. There's a new brigade that's
just rotated in. They're out there trying new
strategies, new tactics. They really want to have a
go.
But, honestly, al Qaeda is still dominating Ramadi.
They dominate the insurgency. They dominate the
population. The military knows it. Military
intelligence knows it. It's there for all to see.
But the military is being forced to fight this war
with its arm tied behind its back. It doesn't have
enough troops in al Anbar. It doesn't have enough
troops in Iraq. As the officers say to me, we either
fight this war or we don't because, in the meantime,
al Qaeda continues to breathe and suck the oxygen it
needs and become stronger.
And Iran, America's other great opponent here in
Iraq, is gaining more and more influence. The
government here in Iraq has closer ties to Tehran
than they do to Washington. And now we see, after
years of evidence that Iran is sending bombs and
bullets to join that political influence, according
to U.S. military intelligence.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware is in Baghdad for us this
morning.
Michael, thanks.
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MILES O'BRIEN: More
violence in Iraq and once again the police are the
target. Two bomb attacks there this morning to tell
you about. The biggest, a roadside bomb in the center
of the city that killed at least 14. A police patrol
was passing by at the time. Sixty-seven others
injured in that attack.
Also, Iraqi police found more than 60 bodies all
around the city today, many showing signs of torture.
A desperate situation now in western Iraq. We're
talking about the volatile al-Anbar province. A top
military intelligence officer offering a grim
assessment of what's going on there. He says 16,000
more troops, a division, is needed. But the top
commander over there says more troops would be
nothing more than a temporary fix.
Joining us to talk about the situation on the ground
in al-Anbar are Barbara Starr at the Pentagon and
Michael Ware in Baghdad.
Let's begin with you, Barbara, and why we're hearing
such an apparent internal debate at the Pentagon.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is all
really coming from the military intelligence arm,
essentially, Miles. Indeed, as you say, the head of
Marine Corps intelligence in Anbar Province has given
a very grim, very sober, classified assessment of the
security situation there.
Let's be very clear. We're talking Ramadi, Fallujah,
the heart of the insurgency and the heart of al-Qaeda
in Iraq operations. This very sober assessment says
there is very little security in that area and very
little functioning government.
This classified assessment has not been released, but
the story was first broken by Tom Ricks of the
"Washington Post."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS RICKS, "THE WASHINGTON POST": The military
basically could win any tactical engagement that it
had, but there was very little security progress
coming from that and that the political and social
systems were deteriorating and that al-Qaeda in Iraq,
the insurgent group, was filling the vacuum.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now, Ricks talking there about what that
assessment says that he broke in the "Washington
Post."
But this now, Miles, has sparked a good deal of
controversy and a very unusual reaction. A classified
report now being addressed publicly, as you say, by
the top Marine commander in Iraq. And he is saying
yes, sober, but he believes that there is progress
being made and he believes that he doesn't need more
troops in Anbar province.
He's got about 30,000 U.S. troops there. He thinks,
at the moment, for the mission he has, that's enough,
that it's really the job of Iraqi security forces to
handle security out there.
Listen to General Zilmer, who had a telephone press
conference yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. RICHARD ZILMER, U.S. MARINES, COMMANDING
GENERAL, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE: I have never heard any
description about the war being lost before last
weekend. We are winning this war. We are certainly
accomplishing our mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Miles, perhaps one of the most interesting
things General Zilmer said, however, is he does not
see his primary mission as being winning against the
insurgency anymore. He says the primary mission for
U.S. forces in Anbar province is to train the Iraqis
-- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, I guess it's all in how you define
the goal. That's obviously very important.
Barbara Starr, thank you very much.
Let's get over to Michael Ware, who spent a lot of
time on the ground in al-Anbar province and has been
talking to Marines and soldiers who are pounding the
ground there.
What are they saying on the ground? Would they like
more support and this whole notion of their role
being primarily to train Iraqis? Does that jive with
what you're seeing?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, on the
ground in Ramadi, there's not that much training
going on by that many troops. There are small adviser
teams. They do some training. But your day to day
existence for an American soldier or an American
Marine in Ramadi is blood and guts battle.
It's constant IEDs, direct arms, you know, gunfights.
It's being mortared. I mean the fight has evolved. In
the last three or four months, new U.S. tactics has
forced al-Qaeda to shift its tactics. But as the
brigade commander who owns Ramadi says, we are in
contact with the enemy every day. And that enemy is
al-Qaeda. There's a direct link between the men we
fight street-to-street, face-to-face, day-to-day and
the people who brought down the World Trade Center.
And let's look at what General Zilmer, the Marine
commander of al-Anbar, said last night. I spoke to
him in that conference last night, and Barbara is
right. He's not saying that he doesn't need more
troops. What he's saying is that right now all I'm
being told is to train. But if you want me to win
against an al-Qaeda-led insurgency, then I do need
more troops.
He said you want me to win? I need to change my
metrics. He needs more troops.
The American military, the planners, have not
committed to the battle. This is giving al-Qaeda the
oxygen it needs to breathe. In fact, there is an
al-Qaeda national headquarters sitting there and
there's simply not enough soldiers to go into that
area and take control of it -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, let me give you, in a hypothetical,
the people you're talking to, the commanders you're
talking to, the generals, if they had those greater
numbers of troops, could they score a real lasting
victory against al-Qaeda that would have a long range
impact in Iraq?
WARE: Well, yes, they could. I mean, obviously
there's always going to be at least two tracks. I
mean they need to train up the Iraqi security forces.
But that -- honestly, I've been in combat with Iraqi
security forces. It's such a mixed bag, that is such
a long way off.
And let's look at the Iraqi security forces in
al-Anbar.
The Iraqi Army, the two divisions there, one is
proven, one is not. One is essentially a group of
Shia militias in government uniforms. Both the units
are Shia. So the local Sunnis there, even the people
who are working with the Americans -- I've got a
police chief on camera, on record, saying these
people are -- these soldiers are taking innocent
people and torturing them. He said it's Baghdad,
there are Iranian links, these, you know, Shia
soldiers that are herding our people toward al-Qaeda.
So, if you bring in more U.S. troops, you can attack
al-Qaeda while you build the security force. Because
right now al-Qaeda is not being put on the back foot.
The commanders say, the soldiers say, the best we can
do is disrupt them; sure can't decimate them, no hope
right now of defeating them -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware in Baghdad, thank you very
much -- Soledad.
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