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T.J. HOLMES: The Shiites' revenge. A day after the
single bloodiest attack of the Iraq war, more than
200 Shiites slaughtered in Baghdad, Shiite death
squads are attacking Sunni mosques, Sunni worshippers
and laying waste to Sunni neighborhoods.
We'll bring in now CNN's Michael Ware, who's in the
Iraqi capital -- Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, T.J. In the
wake of what's effectively been a Thanksgiving Day
massacre, this multiple car bomb strike on an
overcrowded densely populated Shia ghetto known as
Sadr City here in Baghdad, we've seen the blowback
begin.
Immediately after yesterday's attack there was mortar
strikes on surrounding Sunni neighborhoods. Well,
today we now have reports that as many as four,
perhaps as many as six Sunni mosques have been
attacked. We've heard that two have been burned; two
others hit by RPGs.
Now, there's wild and conflicting reports emerging
from Sunni neighborhoods or neighborhoods that are
predominantly Shia but have pockets of Sunni
communities within them, of people being driven from
their homes by hand grenade explosions and rocket
propelled grenades. There's even terrible reports,
completely unconfirmed, of people being pulled from
their houses and doused in flammable material and set
alight. Either way, what we're seeing is definitely
the hints of retaliation by a beleaguered Shia
population.
All of this despite a crackdown, a heavy curfew on
the capital here that's still in effect as I speak.
HOLMES: And Michael, you said a crackdown and curfew.
Are those the two things that right now -- the only
two things, I guess -- now being put in place to kind
of stop this violence? It seems like it's just
getting going. But is this the only two methods, I
guess, in place right now to try to quell some of
this violence right now?
WARE: Well, yes, this is all part of one broader
continuum the U.S. military steadfastly refuses to
call civil war. But what we've seen is strike upon
strike upon strike, the Shia upon the Sunni and the
Sunni upon Shia.
While the Sunni extremists of al Qaeda and other
Islamic groups use suicide bombings for mass impact,
what the Shia have proven so adept at is death squads
in government and police uniforms, hauling Sunnis
from their home, from their cars, at random or
targeted and executing them, if not torturing them
beforehand.
So all of this is part of a much, much bigger
picture.
And yes, last night there was an emergency meeting of
the national crisis committee involving the U.S.
ambassador, the American general in command of forces
here on the ground, the Iraqi prime minister, the
national security adviser, the minister of defense
and the minister of interior.
Their primary objective last night was to prevent
retaliation. That's why they had the curfew. That's
why they've reached out to leaders on both sides of
the sectarian divide, urging them to call for calm,
which by and large, we have been seeing.
Nonetheless, there's a degree to which once this
violent sectarian genie has been let out of the
bottle, there's no way of putting it back in, curfews
or not.
HOLMES: All right. Our Michael Ware for us in
Baghdad. Michael, thank you so much.
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KYRA PHILLIPS: One day after the slaughter in Sadr
City, Shiite militias are out for blood across
Baghdad. Their target, Sunni mosques, Sunni
neighborhoods, Sunnis in general. And their methods
are brutal.
Straight to the Iraqi capital and CNN's Michael Ware
-- Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, what
we're seeing is vicious blowback from the terrible
Thanksgiving Day massacre that we saw yesterday in
which at least 200 Shia lost their lives -- men,
women and children, in the crowded Shia ghetto known
as Sadr City. In the period of half an hour, as many
as six car bombs were detonated.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health, controlled
by the same Shia faction, was attacked. What we've
seen since then, in the immediate aftermath yesterday
on Thanksgiving, we saw mortars lobbing on
surrounding Sunni neighborhoods. Today we've seen
that intensify.
In predominantly Shia neighborhoods with small Sunni
communities, we've seen gunmen turn on those isolated
communities. Four Sunni mosques have been attacked,
perhaps as many as six. Two burned, two hit by
rocket-propelled grenades.
We're hearing unconfirmed and wild horror stories
from Sunni witnesses about people being driven from
their homes by hand grenades. Even claims that people
have been taken from their houses, covered with
flammable liquid and set alight.
It's an absolutely appalling situation here. And all
of this during a lockdown, during a curfew designed
specifically to prevent it.
Nonetheless, as I'm speaking to you now, I can hear
the sounds of a battle or some kind of gunfight
taking place just a suburb or two away from me. So
what we're now seeing, imagine Manhattan with two
different districts shelling and bombing each other.
This is what Baghdad is like, with American fighter
jets sounding overhead, and the U.S. military,
frankly, appearing impotent, unable to stop it.
PHILLIPS: Michael Ware, live from Baghdad.
Wow.
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KYRA PHILLIPS: Now to Iraq, and confirmation of a
ghastly development -- we have been reporting witness
accounts that Sunni worshipers were attacked today in
Baghdad by Shiite militiamen and burned alive.
CNN is now able to confirm this appalling story on a
day of violence that was, by any standard, just
spinning out of control.
Let's get straight to Baghdad and CNN's Michael Ware
-- Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, we're
really starting to get the full brunt of the Shia
backlash, following yesterday's Thanksgiving Day car
bombing massacre, in which at least 200 men, women,
and children were killed, hundreds more wounded.
In the immediate aftermath, we saw mortars raining
from Sadr City into surrounding Sunni neighborhoods
-- today, even more horrific tales emerging from
Shia-dominated neighborhoods that have small Sunni
communities within them.
What we're hearing from these areas is just
terrifying, that four mosques, for example, in one
district alone have been attacked, two burned, two
others hit with rocket-propelled grenades. We also
have reports of Sunni mosques elsewhere in the city
being hit.
We're hearing that Shia militiamen are preventing
locals from fighting the fires at these mosques.
We're hearing that Sunnis in these Shia-dominated
areas have been driven from their homes by hand
grenades and explosions from rocket-propelled
grenades.
And we heard first from Sunni eyewitnesses, now from
an officer within the office of one of the vice
presidents here in Iraq, that, indeed, perhaps seven
Sunni worshipers were hauled from a mosque and set
alight in the streets.
This very much is a bloody aftermath in what is a
long sectarian war that is underway here. The
military doesn't want to use the term civil war, but,
when you have one suburb raining bombs on another, in
response to a mass car bombing, it struggles one to
find any other way of describing what is happening
here.
PHILLIPS: Michael Ware, well put, live from
Baghdad.