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Length: 4:31
SUZANNE MALVEAUX: Now
let's delve deeper between the alleged connection
with the U.K. car bombs and al Qaeda in Iraq. I spoke
earlier with our man in Baghdad, Michael Ware.
Michael, thanks so much for joining us here in THE
SITUATION ROOM. I want to start off by talking about
the London terror plot. There are now reports that
one of the perpetrators, one of those doctors
involved in the plot received training from al Qaeda,
possibly in Iraq. From your reporting, are you seeing
evidence that al Qaeda is training potential would-be
terrorists, exporting those folks to places in Europe
and overseas?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, the
short answer is yes. I mean, that's been part of al
Qaeda in Iraq's grand design, that ultimately they'd
be exporting terror. And of course, you'll recall
that we saw the hotel bombings in neighboring Jordan
in the capital Amman. That was carried out by al
Qaeda in Iraq.
We also have intel reports from Kuwaiti officials,
Lebanese officials, Syrian officials, others in the
region saying that they are picking up al Qaeda
veterans from Iraq or al Qaeda in Iraq, veterans, the
graduating class coming back, recruiting, training,
forming cells. I mean this is precisely what happened
in the 1980s after Afghanistan. It's the same thing.
When the Russians were defeated by Afghan fighters
and by the Arabs who went to fight against them in
the name of jihad, these Arabs went home and they
became the heroes and around them formed groups and
cells. And eventually we saw the emergence of al
Qaeda itself, so this is going to be -- and we've
said this for a long time -- one of the true great
legacies of the war in Iraq. And that is going to be
the ferment of a whole new era of al Qaeda jihadists
that will come out of this place.
MALVEAUX: And Michael, you reported that we're also
seeing another group, Hezbollah, inside Iraq, working
with the Iranian Quds Force now. I want to read to
you a statement from the Iranian foreign ministry
spokesman today who says today, "It is another silly
and ridiculous scenario brought up by Americans based
on a baseless remark of a person. It is a sheer lie
and it is ridiculous." They're knocking down your
reporting here.
WARE: Well, they're actually knocking down the
American intelligence and, of course, the reporting,
yes. I mean, I've been dealing with the Iran story
for years now. And this is one of the great
difficulties. It's getting to the story. I mean, this
is great cloak and dagger stuff. Again, harkening
back to Afghanistan, what America did to the Russians
in the 1980s by funding and supplying the Afghan
fighters and the Arab mujahideen, weapons, training,
anything else they might have needed, that's
precisely what Iran is doing.
Now it was very hard to catch America with its hand
in the proverbial cookie jar in the '80s; same again
now. But the fact remains there is a Lebanese
Hezbollah man in American custody. Now is it any
great surprise that no one wants to take
responsibility for him? No. But the fact remains the
guy is here. The guy was caught with the special
groups' paramilitaries, which are funded by Iran.
The special groups' paramilitary commanders all
admitted that he was Lebanese Hezbollah, that he was
working with them and they, like he, work for Iran.
There were documents to support it. The materials
they had with them confirmed their story. Also
there's electronic evidence that the Americans say
they have gathered to support this story. This is the
whole point of having proxies. When they're killed or
captured, you can just sever the tie. Plausible
deniability is what it's all about.
Now the difference in this case is that this time the
evidence that the Americans have is much more
tangible than anything they've ever had before.
Nonetheless, you would expect General Suleimani, the
head of the Quds Force, to brush it away. But I can
tell you, Suzanne, that in discussions with Iraqi
representatives from this government who have been to
Tehran recently, General Suleimani and others from
the Tehran's regime haven't exactly denied their
involvement in supporting these groups. In fact, some
of them are very happy to celebrate the fact.
MALVEAUX: Michael Ware, thank you for joining us here
in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks again.
WARE: Thanks, Suzanne.