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PAULA ZAHN: ...turn to
the reality on the ground tonight, with scores of new
Iraqi dead in another day of shootings and bombings
and more American troops killed.
Michael Ware now joins us from Baghdad.
So, Michael, what's the very latest tonight?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest,
Paula, is that this is just another day in Iraq.
What we have seen is the announcement of the deaths
of three more service personnel over the last 24
hours. We have seen 31 more executed bodies, the
result of sectarian violence, appear on the capital
streets this morning.
And, across the country today, 41 Iraqis have died.
11 in Mosul when a suicide bomber, using a fuel
tanker, attacked the police headquarters. We had
another 11 more killed in Kirkuk, when yet another
suicide bomber attacked soldiers as they went to
collect their pay.
In Baghdad, five people were killed in a roadside
bomb, a police officer assassinated. In Diyala
Province, seven people were killed in a crowded
market bombing. Two executed bodies showed up. Four
other people were shot.
This is just another day -- Paula.
ZAHN: And a lot of people were stunned to hear that
announcement by that top U.S. military spokesperson,
admitting that the plan is not working.
What is the reaction on the ground to the fact that
this plan wasn't enough?
WARE: Well, it shouldn't really come as any surprise.
I mean, the plan only had limited goals from the
beginning, or expectations. I mean, this was all
about perception. The idea wasn't to actually break
the back of the insurgency or the militias or the
death squads that actually have the grip on Baghdad,
as opposed to the U.S. military. The military knows
they can't do that, not with the forces they have
got, not with the mandate they have.
So, it was to give the appearance of security to try
and prop up a paper-thin prime minister, Nouri
al-Maliki. I mean, a lot of the plan involved
coordination with Iraqi security forces. Yet, U.S.
commanders talk openly about the leakage of
information, because these security forces are
penetrated by the insurgents, death squads and
militias that the Battle of Baghdad plan was supposed
to address -- Paula.
ZAHN: All right, Michael, we would like to you stay
right there. We're going to come back to you in
Baghdad in just a few minutes. Thanks.
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PAULA ZAHN: General Grange, what do you think needs
to be done to turn things around?
GRANGE: Well, first of all, the -- what needs to be
done is, one, stem the influence of Iran and Syria,
especially Iran. A lot of this influence you have
right now on violence is manipulated by Iranian
agents and their strategy. I mean, their strategy is
actually working in Iraq.
The other thing that has to be turned around is this
-- at least this elected government has to survive,
with a reliable Iraqi military supporting it, and the
people having freedom from fear. Those things have to
be established. You notice they said that does not
mean the measure of success that we leave.
ZAHN: Well, let's ask Michael Ware about those two
points you have just made.
I have got to imagine that there's got to be a huge
concern that the insurgents will be actually
emboldened by what that top U.S. military
spokesperson had to say, when he said things aren't
going as planned.
WARE: Well, of course, that's exactly what they're
after. But, I mean, that just reflects the reality on
the ground. I mean, it's not as if that was a secret
to anyone here.
And in terms of victory, one of the ways of looking
at it is to ask, in terms of American interests -- in
terms of, theoretically, the Western alliance
interests, and the international community, much more
loosely -- is a secure, stable state in Iraq able to
defend itself, protect its borders, and whose
interests are at least mutual to the West and the
international community, if not actually friendly.
And what's happening now in no way is developing this
end state. You are not on the path to that, as it
stands right now.