Length:
3:10
LARGE (37.2 MB)
-----
SMALL (3.7 MB)
ANDERSON COOPER: And as
for progress throughout Iraq, the picture is
certainly mixed.
CNN's Michael Ware joins me now from Baghdad where
the president did not visit.
Michael, thanks for being with us.
This was just the third visit by the president.
Clearly, timed for the run-up to General Petraeus's
trip to Washington. What was the reaction in Iraq to
the surprise trip?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's been muted at
this stage, Anderson. Obviously, there's been very
little that we've heard from the Iraqi senior
political leadership. Indeed, in a few hours, the
Iraqi National Security Adviser Dr. Mowaffak Rubaie,
is due to unveil Iraq's new strategy of its own, so
we're eagerly awaiting that.
Although we have heard from Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki that he rejects U.S. criticisms and that
he's hardening his government. He's buttressing it,
saying that he can deliver as his government sees
fit. So they remain defiant -- Anderson.
COOPER: The president flew to Al Anbar Province.
We've talked about it a lot. He touted the security
progress that has been made there. Undeniable, things
are getting better. What is working in Al Anbar and
how and really, frankly, can it translate into the
rest of Iraq?
WARE: Well, certainly, one of the president's war
counsel -- I believe it was Secretary Gates himself
-- said that really the success of Al Anbar Province
predates the surge. It's really an Iraqi initiative.
And what that is is that the Sunni Baathist
insurgency turned on al Qaeda and it offered America
the same terms of negotiation that it first offered
four years ago in 2003 in that it was willing to work
with America, but not with the Iraqi government.
And America, after four years of bloodshed, was
finally ready to accept those terms. So it's the
Sunni insurgency that has turned Al Anbar around and
made it safe. And having just returned from that
province ourselves, having been with those
insurgents, we watched with our own eyes as the
insurgents go in one door of a training camp and
emerge as the so-called Iraqi police that are keeping
those streets safe that President Bush referred to --
Anderson.
COOPER: A lot of people probably did not cover this
today, but a really important event did happen in
Iraq elsewhere where President Bush wasn't. British
forces handed over control of Basra, which is Iraq's
second largest city. It's down in the south. They
handed over control to Iraqi forces. It's a big test.
WARE: Absolutely. I mean, in terms of a test, we
already know the outcome. The Brits have by and large
been irrelevant to the security situation in southern
Iraq for almost a couple of years now. Anderson, they
just haven't had control. They never had enough
forces in the beginning. They never had the mandate
to confront the real problem down there, which is the
Shia militia's stranglehold on power and oil revenues
and Iran's backing of those Shia militias, according
to Western intelligence. So all the Brits have been
trying to do down there is stay alive while they've
been getting hammered by rockets and missiles. So the
significance militarily is minimal at best --
Anderson.
COOPER: Michael Ware, reporting from Iraq.
Michael, thanks.