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WOLF BLITZER: A classified U.S. military intelligence
report reportedly paints a very dire picture of the
situation in Iraq's western Anbar province. "The
Washington Post" cites sources as saying the report
being very pessimistic and says there's almost
nothing the United States can do to improve the
political and social situation there.
CNN's Michael Ware just came back from an embed. He
was with U.S. forces in Ramadi. Michael, how bad is
the situation out there?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's
absolutely nightmarish and "The Washington Post"
story is an old one. U.S. military intelligence has
been saying this about Ramadi for a year and a half.
I've been going out there since 2003. I've watched
the steady decline.
Quite frankly, America is not committed to the fight.
It is known -- it is a stated fact that this is the
headquarters of al-Qaeda in Iraq, yet American
commanders privately off camera will tell you that we
only have a third of the troops there that are needed
to even begin to make a dent in al-Qaeda -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Sounds like militarily if the U.S. devoted a
much greater number of troops they might be able to
make some progress, but this "Washington Post" report
suggests that politically the situation already is
lost even if it isn't lost perhaps militarily.
WARE: Well, it's not losing militarily. The boys out
there are just simply holding the line. But they've
been put into the meat grinder for the sake of
concentrating troops in Baghdad. Politically it's an
absolute disaster out there. The potential American
allies out there are essentially the Baath Party and
the Sunnis. Now these Sunnis -- I spoke to one of
these insurgents this morning. I spoke to some Ramadi
sheiks, and I spoke to Iraqi police in Ramadi, as
well as American commanders.
What's happening is they see that in Baghdad America
is empowering their old enemy Iran through its
Iranian proxies who are now in government. They see
that they're being herded towards al-Qaeda because
they have no other choice.
When they do try to break free, the Americans and the
Iraqi army are not strong enough to inhibit
al-Qaeda's intimidation and assassination campaigns.
So al-Qaeda has got the discipline and they're seeing
that no matter what the commanders on the ground say
-- the Americans in Ramadi -- in Baghdad, central
government is being given to Iran. Baghdad had cut
off sugar supplies to al-Anbar and no one can explain
it, Wolf.
BLITZER: So is al-Anbar, which is a huge province, as
you know, Michael, is al-Anbar province now
effectively becoming a place where the insurgents
have free rein, if you will. They can create their
own state within a state?
WARE: It's not quite to that degree, but I mean,
Anbar is the barometer for the Sunni insurgency war.
You want to know where it's going, you want to know
its shifting moods, then you dip your toe in
al-Anbar. Now what I can tell you, for example, is
that there is an area north of Ramadi, just across
the Euphrates River called Jazeera. Now, military
intelligence knows that that's where al Qaeda leader
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would hide, would meet, would
rest, would have his planning sessions.
His replacement now does the same. That is their
central headquarters. Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two
to Osama bin Laden, said, "it's from there that we
will build the caliphate." Well, in this area about
the size of New Hampshire, you've only got a couple
of hundred troops, maybe 300; less than a battalion.
And the commanders there on the ground admit "we can
only do so much. We are not disrupting them, even
though we know that this is their headquarters" --
Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael Ware on the scene for us. He's going
to be having a lot more of these reports, exclusive
reports. He just came back from an embed in Ramadi.
Michael, thanks very much. Please be careful out
there.