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Length: 2:45
KYRA PHILLIPS: Now the
fight for Iraq and what to make of an apparent lull
in attacks by insurgents in Baghdad.
As CNN's Michael Ware reports, the U.S. command is
proceeding with caution.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Iraq, though the
bloodshed continues and the war lurches on, there has
been a glimmer of good news for the U.S. military. A
lull in violence in the capital, Baghdad, over the
past few days. We see the U.S. military spokesman in
Iraq, Major General William Caldwell, though, still
sober in even his assessment of this current drop in
violence.
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL
FORCE, IRAQ: The violence is focused along Sunni-Shia
ethnic fault lines, predominantly outside the cleared
focus areas. With the end of Ramadan, we have seen a
decrease in the levels of violence, but this is only
been in the past few days, and we'll have to wait to
see if this decrease proves to be a trend.
WARE: So it's too early to tell whether this fits
into a broader pattern of violence being reduced here
in Iraq. Most likely, however, it's linked to the end
of the holy month of Ramadan and the three-day
Festival of Eid where Iraqis celebrate.
It also marks the end of the insurgents' month-long
Ramadan offensive. Most likely, military intelligence
assessments would be that this is a bad time for the
insurgents to attack, during the Eid festival, in
terms of their PR campaign, but also, the insurgency
having launched four weeks of ongoing attacks will
now be regrouping, taking its breath before it moves
on.
Meanwhile, outside the capital, the violence has gone
on. Just 45 minutes north of Baghdad in the province
of Diyala, over the past two weeks we have seen
concerted and coordinated attacks on police recruits
in which dozens have been killed and dozens more were
captured. Their whereabouts to this day still remain
unknown.
Just yesterday we saw an Iraqi police rescue team,
acting on intelligence that some of their missing
comrades were in a village, lured into an ambush, set
upon by the insurgents, who quite possibly had fed
them the information. In that exchange yesterday, 29
police were killed, at least 29 more were wounded.
Meanwhile, we've had the announcement of the deaths
of five more American troops, bringing this month's
total to 96, making it the fourth deadliest month
since the war began.
Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.