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Length: 3:40
WOLF BLITZER: In Iraq, deadly attacks, as Fred just
pointed out, continue against U.S. forces and Iraqi
civilians, with apparently no end in sight.
One key insurgent group, though, has now broken its
usual silence. Our correspondent Michael Ware is
joining us now with an exclusive report. He's joining
us from Baghdad.
Michael, tell our viewers in the United States and
around the world what you are picking up now for the
first time.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what we
have here is, amidst this wave of dreadful violence
during the holy month of Ramadan offensive by the
insurgents, we have one of Iraq's leading insurgent
groups, part of one of the most powerful homegrown
alliances of guerrilla organizations, reiterating its
offer to negotiate with U.S. forces for what
effectively would be a truce or a cease-fire.
What we have is the Islamic Army of Iraq, one of the
backbones of the insurgency, in an interview
conducted by what's purported to be its spokesman,
Ibrahim al-Shimary, with CNN.
CNN forwarded a number of questions through known
Islamic Army channels to the leadership of the
insurgent group. And their response to CNN came back
in a professionally produced videotape with the
spokesman answering CNN's questions. On the issue of
negotiations, he says that the Islamic Army is again
prepared to negotiate with U.S. forces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IBRAHIM AL-SHIMARY (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We in the
Islamic Army, as we have announced many times, do not
reject the principle of negotiations with the
Americans, but only if the Americans are serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARE: In this wide-ranging interview, Wolf, he sets
two conditions for those negotiations: a time-table
approved by Congress for the withdrawal of U.S.
forces and a formal recognition by the U.S. of the
Iraqi insurgency.
It was a wide-ranging interview, where the Islamic
army canvasses the role of al Qaida, the civil war
here in Iraq and, most pertinently, what it considers
to be the driving force behind the Sunni insurgency,
which is Iranian influence in Iraq.
The speaker talks directly to the American people,
urging them to question President Bush's record on
Iraq. Wolf?
BLITZER: I take it that the Iraqi insurgents blocked
out this insurgent leader's face. That wasn't what we
were doing. Is that right?
WARE: Absolutely, Wolf. We sent written questions. We
have known channels of communication with this very
powerful insurgent group, which has been on the
guerrilla radar here in the war in Iraq since 2003.
So it's one of the oldest, strongest and most active
groups, representing a key faction within the
insurgency.
And the video that came back, much like their
propaganda videos that we've seen, is rather slick.
It has a setting akin to a studio. It's
professionally lit and it has the group's logo or
watermark on the screen. So this is the form of the
answers that they sent back to CNN's questions. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Michael Ware, doing some
excellent reporting for us. Michael, we're going to
check back with you, so stay tuned for that, Michael
Ware, doing some exclusive reporting for us, as he so
often does.