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WOLF BLITZER: The report,
by the way, puts even more pressure on Iraq's prime
minister. He's already embattled for failing to unify
Iraq's deeply fractured sectarian and ethnic
communities. And that's caused some to call for his
ouster.
And joining us now, our correspondent in Baghdad,
Michael Ware -- Michael, who takes over in Iraq if
Nouri al-Maliki should go?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's truly a
plaguing question, Wolf, because to be honest,
there's no immediate candidates. I mean, to use an
example from Afghanistan, there is no Hamid Karzai
waiting in the wings, as a single political figure
who has even the vaguest prospect of unifying this
country.
Indeed, let's bear in mind, Wolf, Nouri al-Maliki was
not the answer either. He was the compromise
candidate of all compromise candidates, with very
little support from anyone and absolutely no power.
So even he wasn't a solution.
Now, there are a number of people who are out there
on the fringes trying to jockey and maneuver. And, of
course, Iraq's neighbors -- Iran, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan -- they're also providing support to some of
these potential candidates.
So, really, the question is after Maliki, what
happens?
If he goes, will he go constitutionally by, say, a no
confidence vote in the parliament? Or is it going to
be a non-constitutional upheaval, like a coup d'etat?
Or, as former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi calls for,
an emergency government?
That will be one of the things that determines who
might lead next. But, honestly, America has to pick
one of the horses in the race and back it, because
Iran certainly will be doing the same.
BLITZER: I don't know about you, but I keep hearing
suggestions from some influential elements out there
that what Iraq really needs is a strongman, someone
not necessarily like Saddam Hussein who was a thug
and a killer, but someone, let's say, like a Pervez
Musharraf in Pakistan or a Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.
Forget about democracy for the time being, but get
someone who is pro-American, pro-West, but at the
same time can get tough and crack down on what's
going on there.
What's your sense of that?
WARE: Well, look, Wolf, you know, what we're talking
about here is essentially what's dubbed '"the
Musharraf option," precisely what you're talking
about, putting a strongman in place.
Now, this is something that has been talked about and
mooted since even before the invasion. It's now known
that that was the CIA's preferred option for regime
change. They said "coup d'etat. Cut off the head, put
in our own guy and then cut out the cancer of the
Iraqi Baathist apparatus as we go."
I certainly know very influential special forces
commanders and other leading generals here in the
country who have been pushing for solutions just like
that since way back in 2004.
Now, coupled with that, coupled with that -- a period
of, say, an emergency government with a
quasi-democracy or a constitution not abandoned, but
merely suspended until this place can hold itself
together and blunt the Iranian interference -- to go
with that must be an empowerment of the tribes. Now,
it's a very famous line, but back in 2003, the U.S.
administration here blithely, glibly said that the
tribes have no future in the new Iraq.
Well, how wrong they have been. The tribes are
vitally needed to rebuild this country and support
whoever can really control this place and keep it an
ally of America, as opposed to the mess and the
almost anti-American shemozzle* that it currently is.
*(shemozzle
is used in
Australian sports to describe a confused mess on the
field)
BLITZER: Michael Ware reporting for us from Baghdad.
Michael, thanks.
WARE: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, let's go to Jack Cafferty in New
York.
You know, you've got a book coming out. He should
write a book, too, don't you think?
JACK CAFFERTY, THE CAFFERTY FILE: I don't even want
to follow him. I mean he's so good, I feel like just
going in my office now and closing the door. I'll
wait until 7:00.
He's magnificent. I love listening to his
stuff.