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Length: 2:54
JOHN ROBERTS: CNN's
Michael Ware is in Baghdad.
Michael, there's also word of a shift in strategy
there. You did a tremendous piece on this yesterday
that aired on "AC 360," that the U.S. military is
working with Sunni insurgents to fight al Qaeda in
Iraq. But this thing all looks like it's getting a
little bit unseemly at times.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this has
been going on for quite some time, honestly. It's
suddenly being treated as new, though it's quite a
well-developed program here. The talks with the
insurgents that I personally know of began back in
2004. The first U.S.-backed Sunni militias took to
the street in the middle to the beginning of last
year, so this is what we're seeing.
Now, does it have some ugly edges? Yeah. And American
commanders knew this when they commissioned this
project.
I mean, these are Ba'athist insurgents in their home
turf. As one U.S. official said to me, "When these
guys go about their business, they go about the
business in their way." This is the ugly side of this
war.
I mean, these guys are going out, they're the only
ones who know where al Qaeda are, and they're not
asking them to "please come nicely." They are
executing them, they're putting the fear into al
Qaeda. And that's why we're seeing such an enormous
change in the attacks in al Anbar province, that
dropped right down -- John.
ROBERTS: But at the same time, Michael, this is
causing a lot of concern among the Shiite-led
government.
WARE: Oh, absolutely. The Shia government is dead
against this.
Despite whatever lip service the prime minister is
paying to reconciliation in general and the welcoming
of what everyone euphemistically calls the Anbar
sheikhs or the tribal sheikhs -- because really what
they are talking about is the Ba'athist insurgency --
the government's never wanted to deal with these
people. These people are opposed to the government
America created. And now America is backing these
groups.
Now, they're doing it principally because these guys
are taking out al Qaeda. They are also reclaiming
their neighborhoods and stopping the government death
squads from coming in. So that's helping with
security, too. But there is also a second level
effect.
The government fears that these Sunni militias are
being used as a counterbalance to their own Shia
militias which, of course, are backed by Iran. It
might not be a concern that's wrongly held. Indeed,
they do provide a useful political counterbalance
that I'm sure the Americans are not unaware of --
John.
ROBERTS: Well, I'm wondering about that, Michael. Is
that by design on the part of the U.S. military?
WARE: Put it this way: I speak to a lot of these
military folks who deal with a lot of these sensitive
areas, and these people are not fools. They know
what's going on.
ROBERTS: Michael Ware for us this morning from
Baghdad.
Michael, as always, good to see you. Thanks.
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Length: 3:30
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR:
The September deadline for assessing progress on the
troop buildup in Iraq is now getting actually a
little bit closer.
ROBERTS: It is. But U.S. officials in Iraq did not
sound very confident when they testified before a
Senate committee via video conference.
Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN CROCKER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: If there is
one word that I would use to sum up the atmosphere in
Iraq on the street, in the countryside, in the
neighborhoods, and at the national level, that word
would be "fear".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: CNN's Michael Ware is in Baghdad and joins
us now live.
Michael, is that an accurate assessment from Ryan
Crocker there, that the prevailing emotion in Baghdad
right now and across the country, for that matter, is
one of fear?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's so refreshing,
John, to hear an American ambassador actually tell it
like it is, because what Ambassador Crocker is saying
is true. And it's good to see that the American
people and the American Congress are being given the
unvarnished truth from an authority they can respect,
because that's what it is.
If you haven't had enough money to flee this country
and you're still stuck here, then you are basically
battened down. You could die just going to the corner
store, or a government death squad in police uniforms
can show up and drag you away at night and torture
you horribly to death, or al Qaeda could just
flatten, you know, your home or the street that
you're in. Your kids can't go to school for fear of
crossing sectarian lines.
It's a wonderful thing that Ambassador Crocker is
being so frank.
ROBERTS: General Ray Odierno yesterday, Michael, in
that same teleconference, also made a little piece of
news when he said that they're looking forward to the
assessment from Petraeus on September the 15th, but
then he said that it would take further time, until
November, to really get a sense of what's going on
there, to really analyze the results of that.
Are they trying to shift the goal posts again?
WARE: No. I really don't think so.
Now, I understand that the military is saying and
that General Odierno is saying he accidentally
misspoke. Even if he didn't, what he is saying
actually fits the reality here on the ground, and it
certainly reflects more accurately the kind of
thinking within the military that I'm hearing about.
Look, people want ready-made, pre-prepared,
nicely-packaged answers right now. The American
public and Congress wants a free ticket to go home.
They're yearning for it so badly, but I'm sorry, it's
not coming.
And to assess the true impact of an operation of the
magnitude of the one that's currently under way, only
second to the invasion itself, does not happen in a
hurry. It's really only been under way for a matter
of weeks, barely a month, and these effects take a
long time to sink in and then show themselves.
So, honestly, even if he isn't misspeaking, it does
reflect the real timeline here on the ground as
opposed to the artificial domestic political
timelines -- John.
ROBERTS: Right. And you know those timelines now
getting harder and harder in Congress. Yesterday,
member of Congress articulating to Odierno and Ryan
Crocker, look, time is running out, you've got to get
this done quickly.
Michael Ware for us in Baghdad today.
Michael, thanks.