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Length: 2:32
ANDERSON COOPER: So, with the policy struggle just
beginning really to play out in Washington, as we're
seeing, we turn to the fighting and the dying in
Iraq. Would more troops matter? And can the Iraqis
get their act together?
CNN's Michael Ware is with us tonight, early morning,
in Baghdad.
Michael, thanks for being with us.
General John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in
the Middle East, was there, sternly warning the Iraqi
prime minister, al-Maliki, that he's got to disband
Shia militias. Why haven't they disbanded thus far?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, I
mean, this is a call from the U.S. administration
that the Iraqi government has heard time and time and
time again.
I mean, the disbandment of the militias, from the
American point of view, with this government is the
thin end of the wedge. It's the center of American
demands, or American expectations of the government.
Yet, little if anything has happened apart from a few
changes on the surface.
The reason why is that the militias remain the
fundamental building blocks of this parliament and of
this government. Nouri al-Maliki only has a limited
degree of power. In fact, America is looking at him
to be the vehicle to tackle these militias. Yet, he
doesn't have what it takes to stand up against them.
Indeed, one of the sources of his power is one of the
most powerful Shia militias in the country in the
first place -- Anderson.
COOPER: So, don't -- you say he doesn't have the
power to stand up to the militia. What, he doesn't
have the troops, the numbers, or are the troops
themselves, the police themselves, divided among
these militias?
WARE: Well, certainly, the police, particularly, are
heavy dominated and infiltrated by these militias.
So, it's very hard for the prime minister to use them
to flex any kind of muscle.
Within the army itself, the control of the militias
is much more diluted. Yet, the situation there is
much more complex as well. There's so many issues
about the prime minister, as commander in chief,
truly directing his army forces on the ground.
I mean, really, he's got no tools that he can use. I
mean, the great irony is that Nouri al-Maliki, as
prime minister, he's the only man in the country who
does not have a militia, where the currency of
political power is still men at arms -- Anderson.
COOPER: Michael Ware, thanks from Baghdad
tonight.