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WOLF BLITZER: With his
visit today to Iraq's Anbar province, long one of the
hotbeds of the insurgency, President Bush tried to
send a message of success in Iraq. But any success
has come at a very, very high price for U.S. troops
who are there. As an army staff sergeant, David
Bellavia fought the insurgents at close range in
Fallujah. His new book is entitled "House To House,
an Epic Memoir of War."
Dave, thanks very much for coming in.
DAVID BELLAVIA, AUTHOR: Thanks for having me.
Appreciate it.
BLITZER: I want to talk about the book in a moment
but you spent a lot of time in Fallujah, in the
al-Anbar province. When you look from afar now at
what's going on there -- you're reading about it, I'm
sure you're hearing about it from some of your
buddies in the army. What do you think? Is this new
strategy going to work?
BELLAVIA: Well, I'm not going to - I'm not naive
enough to think that Fallujah's going to be put in a
bid for the summer Olympics anytime soon. I think
some people get a little carried away with what we
see as security comparing it to the United States.
But if you look at Anbar and if you look at where
Anbar province was in 2004 during the battle of
Fallujah, the last time I was in Anbar was in the
summer of 2006, and I couldn't fly any aviation
during the day and today the president of the United
States took a 747 with his big presidential logo and
landed it during the day in the middle of Al Asad air
base. And if that doesn't speak for how far aAnbar
province has come, I really don't know what else I
can say.
BLITZER: It clearly does speak at the enormous
capabilities of the U.S. military, the marines and
the soldiers who have been operating there. But
fundamentally, do you think the Shiites and the
Sunnis, who hate each other and have been at war with
each other for a long time, they're really going to
get together and form a cohesive national government
that's going to really take charge and lead to a
prosperous Iraq?
BELLAVIA: You know I really hope to God they do
because we've spilled buckets and buckets of American
blood. And my whole point of view is that the
brothers and sisters that I lost from the First
Infantry Division, you know, Iraq has to mean
something. Fallujah has to mean something. And at
this point when we're so close and we're seeing
success in places like the Diyala province in the
east, al-Anbar in the west; at this point when we're
starting to see the pendulum turn, that blood has got
to stand for something, sir. And now is the time
where we've just got to push the thing across the
finish line.
BLITZER: The book "House To House" has been
incredibly powerful imagery, details. You write about
your first-person account, what you went through and
many times it was hell in the battle for Fallujah and
elsewhere. Let me read a paragraph. "I lunge at him,
putting all my weight behind the blade. We're chin to
chin now. And his sour breath is hot on my face. His
eyes swim with hate and terror. They're wide and dark
and rimmed with blood. I keep my weight on the knife
and push down around the wound in staccato waves,
like Satan's version of CPR."
You were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the
enemy.
BELLAVIA: Absolutely. We prepare ourselves for
combat, sir, physically. I don't think anyone can
ever be prepared for the mental, the emotional, and
in my case, the spiritual combat that you have when
you're that close with the enemy. That's a situation
in 2004. There's no way on earth I ever would have
imagined that that could possibly happen with our
laser-guided bombs, our night version, our thermals.
It just goes to show you that a man that's fighting
for his life, no matter what side of the fight he's
on, he's going to give everything he's got. And as
painful as that was to experience, it was equally as
taxing to write it and to even hear it now today.
BLITZER: And it's painful to read but important to
read, very powerful words.
You also write in the book about your encounters with
our own intrepid correspondent Michael Ware. You came
upon him at various points. He's been there for now
on and off, mostly on, for more than four years. Tell
our viewers a little bit about your exchanges, what
you saw from Michael Ware?
BELLAVIA: You know, I have to tell you that as far as
the gold standard of combat journalism goes today,
there is no one more qualified to give his opinion. I
am awed by the bravery of Michael Ware. You have an
outstanding correspondent. I won't work as his agent
here, but I will tell you that I am blown away. He
has almost lost his life more times than I can count.
I entered that room that I write about in "House To
House," I had a couple of my army buddies who were my
brothers in arms but there was one guy behind me and
that was Michael Ware and he trusted me enough to
enter this home with these six insurgents and I will
never forget that.
BLITZER: You write this, let me read it to our
viewers who know Michael Ware very well. "Ware is an
authority on the enemy. He knows more about them than
our own intelligence officers. I hang on every word
and try to remember everything he tells us. It is the
best, most comprehensive discussion I've heard about
the enemy since arriving in Iraq."
We can only echo those words based on his
extraordinary reporting for us but leave us with a
final thought, David, what you hope the reader of
"House To House" will emerge with after he or she
reads this book.
BELLAVIA: You know, so many of the American
population right now is, if they don't have a vested
interest in this fight, they really don't know how to
feel about it. They don't know if this is the same
combat of Iwo Jima, if this is the same sort of
military struggle that we had in Korea and Vietnam.
And my story is so unfortunately so similar to all
these other soldiers and marines' stories. What our
men and women are doing, every inch of success in
Iraq has been bought and paid for by the blood of the
real patriots and heroes, and this book I hope when
people read it not only can take a moment but to give
that extra hug to that local hero that comes home on
their block leave and also remembers all the many
thousands that we've lost.
BLITZER: Let's thank you, David Bellavia for writing
this book "House to House, an Epic Memoir of War."
Thanks for your service to the United States.
BELLAVIA: Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.