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Length: 1:54
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The
president said: "I cannot learn it from your
newscasts. I have got to learn it from people who are
there on the ground."
All right. Let's get to our folks, then, who are on
the ground.
Joining us this evening, Baghdad correspondent
Michael Ware. He's been reporting from the region
since 2001, spends lots of time outside the Green
Zone. Our military analyst is retired Army Brigadier
General David Grange. He was a commander in the first
Gulf War in special-ops, stationed in western Iraq.
And White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins
us this everything as well.
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
Michael, let's begin with you.
You heard what the president had to say, which is
essentially, the good news that out there is not
getting reported. Have you found that to be true on
the ground where you have been?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, look, really,
nothing could be further from the truth.
I mean, the fact that, when President Bush talks
about those living on the ground, and he cites
General Casey and Ambassador Khalilzad, I mean, these
are men who could not be more divorced from the Iraqi
reality. They very much live within a bubble, be it
physically within the Green Zone or be it within the
bubble of heavy U.S. protection.
And this is true even for their advisers and for the
commanders and the American soldiers. I mean, they
never take the uniform off. The Iraqi people can
never talk to them unless through a filter.
It's very different than living amongst them. And
when people say not enough good news stories are
being told, you ask an Iraqi family what it is that
they're experiencing when their street -- the bodies
of their neighbors are showing up on their streets.
Their kids can't go to school, for fear of crossing
sectarian lines. And the kidnapping and killings are
just going on around them -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, Michael, you raise a good point.
So, let's get to how exactly the president does get
his information. That brings us to General Grange.
You were there, General Grange.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us,
also, Michael Ware joining us from Baghdad, and
General David Grange, thanks to all of
you.