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Length: 3:05
LARRY KING: ...and
Michael Ware, who's just joined us from "TIME"
magazine.
KING: And returning now is Michael Ware. And by the
way, Michael, we want to congratulate you, recently
joining CNN as our Baghdad-based correspondent. Prior
to becoming part of the CNN team he was "TIME"
magazine's Baghdad bureau chief. "TIME's" loss is our
gain, Michael. Great to have you with us.
WARE: Thanks, Larry.
KING: Congressman John Murtha, a critic of the war,
says Iraq is the kind of war that's impossible to
train for. How would you comment on that?
WARE: Well, in many ways, I guess that's true.
There's certain things that can be done. But what's
lost on the people back home is the grim realities of
the nature of the fight there in Iraq, particularly
in Al Anbar province, where you see Haditha and
Ramadi.
I recently left Marines in Ramadi. They are in blood
and guts combat each and every day. The battalion I
was with had lost seven men in seven days. And you
have to understand that this is a brutal war that's
being fought in the midst of a civilian population
trying to go about its life. Now, no matter how hard
the military tries, it remains a blunt instrument.
So there are Iraqi deaths each and every day as a
result of U.S. operations. So the Iraqis very much
are desensitized to this. So this is much more an
American story about a reflection of the values that
America holds and what it expects of its troops in
these situations.
KING: Michael Ware, I know you've dealt a lot with
the insurgency. The ambassador, the Iraqi ambassador
to the United States says that this incident,
whatever it turns out, is going to boost the
insurgency morale and recruitment. Do you agree?
WARE: Absolutely. This is grist for the insurgent
mill. I mean, they're very good at spreading
disinformation but also publicizing their own
attacks. So they'll very much be using this and
putting this at the centerpiece of a propaganda
campaign.
However, for the Iraqi people, it's all but they
assume this is going on anyway. I mean, I've been in
operations with U.S. troops where civilians are
killed in the course of operations. The wrong bomb
lands on the wrong house; a man is shot peering out
of his front gate.
One of the most difficult things for the troops,
though, is now with the Marines I was most recently
with, they feel that they're fighting this horrendous
war in a vacuum. They know that it's increasingly
unpopular back home, and they know that the appetite
among people for news of their daily grind is very,
very low. One of the Marines begged me to tell their
story.
Yet, this just shows you this broader strategy,
there's simply not enough troops in Iraq now, despite
the calls from people to get out early. Why is
Haditha still Haditha, and why is Ramadi still a
Ramadi? This incident can tell us many things about
the war in Iraq.