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Length: 4:37
WOLF BLITZER: More now on
what may turn out to be a last-ditch battle for
Baghdad. Can U.S. troops defeat the death squads?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And joining us now, our correspondent in
Baghdad, Michael Ware.
Michael, you're familiar with what General Chiarelli
told reporters over at the Pentagon; namely, that
there's an important reason why troops have been
redeployed away from the provinces like al-Anbar,
toward Baghdad.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right,
Wolf.
General Chiarelli is saying that the focus is
Baghdad. Now, this is -- this is a message that I've
been hearing for the last month from the highest
levels of U.S. military intelligence, from the
military commanders themselves, and from the State
Department here.
They are saying that as far as they are concerned,
the front line is Baghdad, Baghdad, Baghdad. That
right now, the war is going to be won or lost in the
capital.
Indeed, they say that for al-Qaeda, it's the same
priority. That if you asked al-Qaeda what their
targets were, it would be a similar answer: Baghdad,
Baghdad, and then al-Anbar.
However, I think that misconstrues al-Qaeda's true
intentions. You just need to speak to al-Qaeda or
read their own information. They make it clear that
Baghdad to them is just one theater of many. And
their base is al-Anbar.
The real story behind the concentration of troops
here in Iraq, according to senior State Department
and military intelligence officials I've spoken to,
is that they need to restore order in the capital so
that they can develop a popular base of support for a
powerless prime minister. The prime minister here is
essentially propped up by the U.S. He does not have
his own support base, nor does he have his own
militia.
So if security can be delivered to the people, then
it's hoped from the U.S. side that credit can be
given to this prime minister, and that that will give
him a wedge against the militias which dominate and
actually control his government -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael, one of the most gruesome,
horrifying situations that has developed in Iraq, and
specifically this week, the dozens and dozens of
bodies that have been picked up. Clearly tortured,
mutilated.
What's going on here?
WARE: Look, this is the death squads. This is the
sectarian war.
I mean, you've got extremists on both sides. Al-Qaeda
on the Sunni side, and you've got extremist Shia
elements buried within the government. And according
to the U.S. ambassador here, backed by Iran, trying
to polarize the general community.
Now, they're doing that through the sectarian
killings. The problem is that it's almost impossible
for the U.S. military to stop. No matter what they
are saying about the success, or, as they deem it,
the progress of Operation Together, the Battle for
Baghdad, the killings continue.
The military tries to minimize this by saying that,
well, in the areas we're in it's less. However,
there's a fundamental flaw to their plan.
The U.S. troops, in conjunction with Iraqi troops, go
into an area, clear it, seize it, hold it. The next
phase is they hand it over, back to the Iraqi police
and the Ministry of the Interior troops -- the very
people that the American administration alleges are
connected to the death squads in the first place --
Wolf.
BLITZER: This notion, though, I can understand the
killing, because in every civil war there's a lot of
killing. But the mutilation and the torture, what's
behind this? Why are Sunnis doing this to Shia, Shia
doing it to Sunnis, the whole nature of the torture
and mutilation?
WARE: Well, this is something I've been talking to
particularly some Shia militia members I know. I
mean, I've been wondering myself, what's in the mind
of the man who is doing the torturing? I mean, he
must have a room somewhere where he brings in these
victims and tortures them, puts drills through their
knees, through their arms, into their heads. For what
purpose? It's not to extract information. It's purely
to send a message.
Now, al-Qaeda and other extremist groups are doing
the same thing on the other side. It's about
provocation.
The aim on both sides -- for example, as the al-Qaeda
-- former al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
said, let's provoke the Shia. Get them to rise up,
which seems to be working. It's only this that will
awake the sleeping Sunni giant.
So the extremists on both sides are mutilating
victims on the other just to inflame and enrage their
own populations -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael Ware reporting for us.
Michael, be careful over there. Thanks very
much.