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Length: 4:24
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN:
President Bush is meeting with the secretary of
state, Condoleezza Rice, at Camp David. It's
happening before his trip to Jordan. He's going to
meet with the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al- Maliki.
Meanwhile, though, a powerful anti-American cleric in
Iraq says that if that presidential meeting takes
place, he's going to pull out of the Iraqi
government. Between the violence and the threats,
Iraq is truly in chaos.
Let's get the latest from Michael Ware, who is live
for us in Baghdad.
Good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Yes, what we've heard is, as you say, the very
powerful political faction loyal to anti-American
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has today threatened to
suspend its cooperation or involvement with the
government -- to boycott the government, as it says,
without any detail on what that means -- if the prime
minister meets with President Bush next week as
planned.
Now, this is a nightmarish position for the Iraqi
prime minister. He owes his place to two competing
interests. He's borrowed political capital from both
the Americans and from Muqtada. So he answers to two
very different and, indeed, competing and opposing
interests. And this is where we see it come to a
head.
This is a fault line. He's damned if he does and he's
damned if he doesn't, quite frankly. This is the most
precarious position that the prime minister could be
in.
S. O'BRIEN: We just heard, Michael, from Suzanne
Malveaux, who said no word from the White House on
that front yet.
Let me ask you a question about the latest round of
attacks. Outside of the sheer number of dead, more
than 200, and the sheer number of wounded, more than
250, was there a sense that there was something
different about that attack?
WARE: Well, in a sense, this is just part of a much
broader continuum. We have been seeing these kinds of
mass attacks launched against the Shia population,
even way back starting in the summer of 2003, August
29, the assassination of one man with a car bomb that
took out more than 90 people around him in a holy
shrine in Najaf.
What we have seen is al Qaeda, led by the
now-deceased leader, Zarqawi, taken over by Abu Hamza
al-Muhajir, striking at the Shia population time and
time again, provoking them, wanting them to
retaliate. And we've seen that happen, particularly
since February and the destruction of the holy Golden
Dome Mosque in Samarra.
So this is part of a much broader picture. It's not
distinguishable from a broader campaign. It's just so
devastating that it just overwhelms you.
S. O'BRIEN: You have all this talk about diplomacy.
We know that -- we were just reporting Dick Cheney
heading to Saudi Arabia. You've got this -- which
might be up in the air now -- Bush and al-Maliki
meeting in Jordan. And then there was talk of a
meeting between the Iranians, the Iraqis and maybe
the Syrians as well.
What can be accomplished with all of these various
meetings, do you think, Michael?
WARE: Well, all sorts of things could emerge from
this. I mean, essentially, there's a number of very
powerful regional-level power blocs that are all at
play here in Iraq.
This war here, the many wars of Iraq, as you could
put it: the insurgent war, the terrorist war with al
Qaeda, the civil war, and this great rivalry, this
competition between the U.S. and Iran for influence
in interest, not just in Iraq, but in the region. So
you cannot see these wars being fought or conducted
in a vacuum.
So what we're seeing is everyone has their pieces in
play right now. And this is a critical time. Everyone
is trying to capitalize on and fathom this period of
American strategic crisis as we see this upheaval
politically following the midterm elections. Everyone
is looking to capitalize. This is a moment where
everything is being repositioned, and that's the
nature of this diplomacy.
S. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware is in Baghdad for us this
morning.
Thanks, Michael -- Miles.