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Length: 3:44
WOLF BLITZER: Up first this hour, vivid and violent
new evidence that the U.S. mission to shore up
security in Iraq is far from being accomplished.
Gunmen snatched dozens of police from a Baghdad
research institute today, possibly the largest and
most brazen mass kidnapping of the war and it comes
exactly a week after voters in this country showed
they want a change of course in Iraq.
CNN's Michael Ware is in Baghdad.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the hours that
have followed this stunning kidnap operation,
conducted under the very noses of the tens of
thousands of American and Iraqi troops in the
capital, Baghdad, a number of Iraqi police commanders
responsible for this part of this city are now being
interrogated. And perhaps, some might say, for good
reason.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARE (voice-over): Iraqi security forces move in to
seal off a Baghdad university building. But like so
much in Iraq, it's too little, too late. Just a short
time earlier, about 80 gunmen in similar Army or
police uniforms had also set up a cordon before
pouring inside this four-story research institute,
claiming to be on official business, segregating men
from women and within 20 minutes, escaping in a
convoy of more than 20 vehicles, taking the men
hostage. The exact number unknown; police saying as
many as 60, a government minister saying it's up to
100. The only ones left behind -- the distraught
women.
The sophisticated raid, executed at 10:00 a.m., just
after rush hour, was audacious. So many gunmen, so
many hostages, possibly the largest mass kidnapping
of the war, all within the heart of the capital with
more than 60,000 American and Iraqi troops on the
streets.
The breath-taking scale of the kidnapping, a
counterpoint to the previous day's visit by America's
top commander in the region, General John Abizaid.
Preparing to brief Congress, the general's quick trip
was designed to show U.S. support for Iraq's ailing
government and according to Iraqi officials, to press
for rehabilitation of the country's security forces.
Need for that rehabilitation illustrated by the next
morning's kidnappings, a clear sign of either the
government's inability to control its own forces, or
its weakness in the face of an unwavering and robust
insurgency that, in the first 13 days of November,
has already claimed the lives of more than 30
American servicemen.
Following the kidnap operation, university classes
were canceled across the city.
EBED THEYAB, HIGHER EDUCATION MINISTER (through
translator): I'm not ready to see more professors get
killed. I have only one choice which is to suspend
classes at universities. We have no other choice.
WARE: His choice is token. Few students or professors
have dared attend lectures since the semester began
two months ago. Waves of kidnappings and
assassinations of the country's intelligentsia long
ago made study too dangerous.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WARE: Wolf, it now seems that danger is compounded.
With U.S. strategic policy now in limbo in the
aftermath of the midterm election upheaval, it
appears that neither the Sunni insurgents nor the
Shia militias buried deep within this Iraqi
government that America is turning to as an ally, are
willing to relent from their violent campaigns.
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Length: 3:22
WOLF BLITZER: There's
still no claim of responsibility for this mass
kidnapping, which is a familiar tactic, as Jamie
points out, of both insurgents and sectarian death
squads.
Just a short while ago, I spoke with CNN's Michael
Ware in Baghdad.
What is the likely expectation? What happens to these
individuals, I take it mostly men, if not all men,
who were kidnapped.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly.
There were all men, as far as we are aware, who were
kidnapped during the course of this clearly
well-orchestrated raid right under the noses of as
many as 50,000 or 60,000 American and Iraqi troops on
the streets of Baghdad.
What we see in the past, from brutal experience, is
that these stories often end rather grimly. We don't
know if this is sectarian motivated. We've seen
circumstances in the past where groups of people are
taken and then either the Sunnis or the Shias are let
go, with a sad fate for those who are not.
We're waiting to see what becomes of these scores of
kidnapped who have been taken.
BLITZER: My initial reaction when I heard about it,
these gunmen dressed as Iraqi military personnel
going in an kidnapping what would widely be
considered intelligentsia, the elite -- scientists,
doctors, going into the Ministry of Education, this
building. They're also trying to send a message to
this community of, shall we say, the more liberal
elite of Iraq, that maybe they should think about
getting out of that country.
WARE: Very clearly. I mean I think there's a twofold
message, either directly or indirectly behind this.
One clearly is what you hit upon. This is a direct
assault on the country's brains trust, its
intelligentsia. We have seen a campaign targeting
these people since the immediate aftermath of the
invasion.
In the beginning it was led by criminals which were
looking to extort the families of the doctors, the
lawyers, the judges, the engineers, the scientists,
the professors. We've since seen that evolve into
targeted campaigns by both Sunnis and Shias -- Wolf.
This is also a message, though, coming directly the
day after the visit of General John Abizaid, looking
for more support from the Iraqi government. And lo
and behold, men in Iraqi government uniforms conduct
this kind of operation.
BLITZER: It sends a powerful message to the Iraqi
government.
They have to really get their act together.
Do you see -- very briefly, Michael -- any evidence
they're doing that?
WARE: Absolutely not. And I think this morning, in
fact, shows the contrary position is true. I mean
what we're seeing is the government giving whatever
assurances it is giving to the U.S. administration.
Yet through a lack of genuine will or through a lack
of any effective power, it's clearly displaying it
cannot control its own security forces, and perhaps
this morning's daring kidnap is the most glaring
illustration of that -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael Ware reporting for us from Baghdad.
Michael, thanks very much.
WARE: Thank you, Wolf.