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Length: 5:18
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone.
We begin, sadly, with breaking news out of Iraq: a
suicide car bombing with heavy loss of American life.
Let's go right away to CNN's Michael Ware in Baghdad.
Michael, what's the latest?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, all
that we know right now is exactly what you have said,
is that a suicide car bomb struck what's called a
patrol base somewhere in Diyala, taking the lives of
nine American soldiers and wounding 20 others.
However, of the 20 wounded, only five currently
remain in hospital, according to the U.S. military.
Now, this has been a bloody day in Diyala Province --
this is a province the size of Maryland, it's just
north of the capital, Baghdad -- because we saw also
yesterday another suicide car bomb targeting the
provincial council.
This is a provincial council that was essentially
suspended. It was unable to function for many, many
months. And most council meetings, they don't get
enough members attending to even have a legal quorum.
So this has been yet another awful day in a province
that has long been plagued by wretched violence from
al Qaeda, Shia death squads and all sorts of violent
groups -- Anderson.
COOPER: Michael, you just came back from an embed in
Diyala Province. The security situation, how bad is
it there? What did you see?
WARE: Well, what's going on at the moment, Anderson,
is that this, in many ways, has become the new front
line against al Qaeda.
Way back last year, al Qaeda started shifting its
operational focus away from the western deserts of Al
Anbar Province and moved into Diyala. Diyala has been
an al Qaeda stronghold almost since the beginning of
al Qaeda's presence here three years ago.
Indeed, if you recall, the al Qaeda in Iraq leader,
Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, was actually killed in Diyala
Province. We have seen U.S. forces there -- the
brigade that is currently there, about 5,000 troops,
arrived at the end of last year. They have been just
there six months so far. Now, the brigade before
them, in one full year, lost 19 people. If you
include these now nine further soldiers, this new
brigade has lost 50 in six months. The level of
violence in this province is almost double what it
was one year ago.
The difference, however, is that, one year ago, it
was Iraqis being killed, civilians. What's happened
is, we have seen a shift in the violence targeting
coalition forces and Iraqi security forces.
Now, the brigade commander up there, the leader of
the Grey Wolf Brigade, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team
from the 1st Cavalry Division, with many other units
attached to it, has said that he is aggressively
targeting al Qaeda. He is going into their safe
havens.
In Diyala Province, al Qaeda has training bases. It
collects taxes. It has entire regions which are
firmly under its control where it has Sharia courts.
It has declared much of Diyala Province as part of
the Islamic state of Iraq.
And this combat brigade is attempting to wrest it
back by going into the al Qaeda strongholds, battling
with them in blazing, pitched fights that go for days
and weeks, at enormous cost of American life, trying
to take this province back.
COOPER: So, has anything in Diyala changed because of
the increase in troops, of American troops, in
Baghdad? The -- what was one time called a surge or
an escalation -- is that occurring also in Diyala or
is it simply in Baghdad?
WARE: Well, what we saw with the introduction of
what's now almost 30,000 additional combat troops to
the war here in Iraq, focusing on the capital Baghdad
-- as you say, it's the surge -- is that we saw a
furtherance of a trend that had already been well
under way in Diyala Province.
Yes, when more troops came Baghdad, more al Qaeda
went to Diyala to join the others who had already
moved there. But let's not forget, this has been an
al Qaeda stronghold for years. It ebbs, it flows. The
level of activity changes, but they have been the
preeminent insurgent force in that province for quite
some time now.
Indeed, when the American brigade commander arrived
there, he described the situation that al Qaeda
considered that America owned the roads in that
province, but they owned everything else. Well, he's
been taking the fight to them. And this would be one
of many acts of retaliation from al Qaeda.
COOPER: All right, Michael Ware, appreciate the
latest from Baghdad.
Just to reiterate, nine American service members
killed in a suicide attack, a vehicle-borne
improvised explosive device, or a VBID, as the
military calls them. We don't know exactly where it
was in Diyala Province. We are trying to get more
details. We will bring that to you as
warranted.