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Length: 4:06
WOLF BLITZER: Al Qaeda in
Iraq: behind the bloodiest, most spectacular attacks,
the mass slaughter of civilians. President Bush today
went all out to boost his case that the war in Iraq
is part of the broader war against Osama bin Laden's
terror network.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The
Iraqi people know they are al Qaeda. People across
the Muslim world know they are al Qaeda. And there's
a good reason they are called al Qaeda in Iraq --
they are al Qaeda in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: In fact, as we mentioned, the president used
the name al Qaeda some 95 times today in that speech,
and it was probably no coincidence. He spoke in
Charleston, South Carolina, where an underlying theme
of last night's Democratic presidential debate was a
troop pullout from Iraq.
Did the president make his case?
And joining us now from Baghdad, our correspondent,
Michael Ware -- Michael, you spoke earlier and
suggested that President Bush's speech on al Qaeda in
Iraq, in your word, was rudimentary.
What did you mean?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the
president's speech, to me, was breathtaking in the
fact he was giving us an ancient history lesson, so
to speak. What the president was highlighting and
emphasizing over and over again is clearly well
established, an unequivocal fact. That al Qaeda in
Iraq is a part of the broader al Qaeda network has
never been in question. That Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
the man who created it, and his successors, have
aspirations beyond Iraq, particularly targeting
America, have never been in doubt. They spelled it
out from the beginning. And that it's a foreign-run
organization with foreign leadership and foreign
suicide bombers, again, is common knowledge.
That it really makes one wonder why the president is
hammering this point home when he just glosses over
the fact that this war is creating more al Qaeda
jihadis rather than reducing the number, and the only
success America has had in blunting al Qaeda is by
unleashing the Baathist insurgents in a crude
alliance.
BLITZER: What's a bigger problem, the al Qaeda
operation in Iraq or the sectarian violence?
WARE: Well, it's much of a muchness. They both feed
on each other. Now, what you need to bear in mind,
that in terms of the total fighters in combat against
U.S. forces and government troops, al Qaeda makes up
probably about 1 percent. And the foreign fighters
probably make up about half of 1 percent of the total
fighters in this country. Yet they're spectacular in
the dimensions of their attacks, and particularly
inflammatory.
They go out and slaughter Shia civilians, principally
to provoke rage. And it feeds on each other. And
Iran, at the same time, is manipulating the situation
from its side, as well.
It's two enemies -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Iran met with the U.S. in Baghdad for some
seven hours today.
Is Iran part of the solution or part of the problem?
WARE: Look, it's safe to say that Iran has legitimate
national interests in this country, Iraq. Yet their
interests not only do not align with America's, but
are opposed to America's. Iran sees an opportunity to
hammer America and they've been doing that. We had
two historic meetings between U.S. and Iranian
diplomats. In the two months since the first meeting,
the attacks have gone up by Iranian- sponsored
surrogates. And while the American ambassador is
sitting there talking about Iranian special forces
units helping Iraqis to kill Americans, he's talking
to an Iranian ambassador who is a member of that
Iranian special forces unit, according to Western
intelligence.
It's quite a conundrum -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael Ware watching all of this unfold for
us.
Michael, thanks.
WARE: Thank you, Wolf.