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Length:
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PAULA ZAHN: Let's go
straight to Michael Ware in Baghdad for more on this
disturbingly violent month.
Michael, you have got an average of just about four
Americans being killed every day this month.
I know you have told us that -- that you attribute
that upswing in violence to the holy month of
Ramadan. Does anybody expect those numbers to come
down?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's
certainly no sign of any easing up, Paula.
In fact, since those numbers came in, we have been
alerted to the death of another American soldier,
meaning it's the loss of 11 service personnel in 48
hours, bringing this month's total to 68.
There's simply no sign of any letup in the
insurgents' offensive here. The coalition-led
Operation Together Forward -- or the so-called Battle
of Baghdad to reclaim the city from insurgents,
militias, and death squads -- continues. So, the
pressure is on. There's no indication at all, Paula,
that either side is going to be backing off, so,
there's no expectation for the casualty rates to
change at this point -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, are you basically saying the Iraqi
government is completely stymied here; there's
absolutely nothing it can do to take this pressure
off?
WARE: Well, it is trying to do some things, if you
listen to its American liaisons and its coalition
partners, the multinational force. We have seen them
take national police commando units offline, replace
two of the top units of the national police.
So, we are seeing some steps. But, honestly, Paula,
by and large, this government does not have the power
to effect the kind of authority that America is
looking for from it. It can't rule against the
militias, who have essentially carved up the power
within this administration.
Indeed, we saw the prime minister, according to a
U.S. newspaper report, tell the U.S. forces they
could not enter Sadr City, the heartland of the
anti-American Jaish al-Mahdi militia -- Paula.
ZAHN: And, against this backdrop of this resurgence
of violence, you have some 54,000 Iraqi families
displaced. What is the impact of that on day-to-day
life there?
WARE: Well, I mean, that -- it's very hard to
measure, but you can imagine what it's like.
The -- according to the Iraqi Red Crescent, there's
at least half-a-million people, out of a population
of only 20-odd million, who have been displaced since
February --the explosion in the Golden Dome Mosque
and, really, the unleashing of this sectarian
violence here in Iraq. To a society like this, that
is real upheaval, not to mention others who have left
the country completely -- Paula.
ZAHN: Michael Ware, thank you so much.