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Length: 5:00
TONY HARRIS: The bottom
line now on the front lines. By the numbers, here's a
breakdown of the American military in Iraq. The
number of U.S. troops in Iraq has climbed back to
about 138,000. U.S. marines make up about 22,000 of
that number.
HEIDI COLLINS: On duty and always under the gun, U.S.
soldiers in the heart of an al-Qaeda stronghold. A
small force, but a large area. One, in fact, roughly
the size of New Hampshire.
CNN's Michael Ware spent time embedded with those
troops in the town of Ramadi. He's joining us now
from Baghdad.
And in keeping with our theme, if you will, today,
Michael, we're talking about being on the front line
today. You have called Ramadi the al-Qaeda front
lines.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Heidi. I
mean, I've been going to Ramadi for three years now.
And I've watched it devolve, much like the war in
Iraq itself, as al-Qaeda's jihad has infected the
local Iraqi insurgent fight. And we see it no more
better than in Ramadi.
U.S. military intelligence and American commanders
there on the ground are very upfront. They say, this
is the al-Qaeda front line, al-Qaeda owns the
insurgency there. And it's from Ramadi and its
surrounding areas that it directs much of the rest of
its battle across the country. In fact, there's an
area just north of Ramadi, across the Euphrates
River, known as Jazeera. This is the area the size of
New Hampshire, which is only sprinkled with a few
hundred American troops. But it is the al-Qaeda in
Iraq headquarters. It's the command and control
center.
In fact, President Bush in his -- one of his most
recent addresses referred specifically to Ramadi and
al-Qaeda's grand plan to use it as a toehold to build
its global caliphate. Yet America is not sending
enough troops there. The troops there, all they're
really being asked to do is hold the line. As a
result, they're being put in the meat grinder. As
many as 100 U.S. soldiers and marines are dying there
every year. That's not to mention casualties.
By and large, this al-Qaeda headquarters remains
undisturbed, simply because U.S. military does not
have the troops to send them there. It's a gaping
black hole in the president's war on terror -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, as far as logistics and tactical plans
for moving troops there -- if that, in fact, is the
military strategy -- I mean, lots of times it's a lot
more complicated than that. How hard would it be to
bump up the U.S. force in this area?
WARE: Well, it's a matter of moving chess pieces
across the board, Heidi. I mean, given the fact that
there is 138,000 U.S. troops here, I mean, you have
to make decisions. I mean, in Ramadi, they describe
their operations there, the American commanders, as
an economy of force. Now, militarily, what that means
is that you don't have enough troops to do the job
you ultimately want to do. So you have to make
decisions. You have to take risks. You have to make
sacrifices, and take the pressure off here to put the
pressure on there. So it is across all of Iraq.
As top American commanders will privately concede, to
be honest, there is not enough troops here in Iraq.
Whether you're for or against the war from the
beginning or not, whether you're for or against the
occupation of Iraq, the bottom line is for the
mission that the president has set, there are not
enough American boots here on the ground. This feeds
al-Qaeda; makes them stronger, not weaker. And we're
seeing clear evidence of that. Not to mention the
fact that it emboldens America's [he means
Iraq's] other stated ally,
which is Iran, whose influence here not only competes
with Americans, but often supersedes it -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Michael, I know you had an opportunity to
spend some time with the troops. You were embedded
with them. What is life like there for these troops
in the combat outposts?
WARE: Look, I've been going out there for a long time
on, honestly, both sides of the fence, with Iraqis
and with American troops. The Americans now are in a
new state of the battle. It used to be a point where
there was only a number of American outposts
sprinkled throughout the city. I was there in
November last year when al-Qaeda hit all five
American posts at once.
Now, that type of battle has changed. There's a lot
more posts, but they're smaller, dashed all over the
city. But these are very basic places. The boys --
and, quite frankly, that's often what they are; it's
filled with teenagers -- have to fight for themselves
every day. They are in contact every single day, from
car bombs, IEDs, rocket attacks, mortars, everything.
This is about as remote and as front line as it gets
-- Heidi.
COLLINS: Michael Ware coming to us from Ramadi
[she means
Baghdad] today. Michael, thank
you.