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JOHN MCCAIN: I would do a lot of things, but the
first and most important and vital element is to
continue this surge, which is succeeding. And we are
winning the war in Iraq.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: That's the first thing I would do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER: Well, it doesn't get any clearer
than that -- John McCain telling you last night the
U.S. is winning the war in Iraq.
He's not alone. You heard the applause that followed.
Senator Fred Thompson also said progress was being
made. And close to half of Americans agree. In a new
Pew Research poll, 48 percent say things are getting
better. The number is a sharp increase from the 30
percent back in February.
Also, also the U.S. death toll from November is 36.
It hasn't been that low since March of 2006. The
surge is working militarily. The question is
politically, what happens next, the next step? Is any
progress being made on the political front?
We're "Keeping Them Honest" tonight.
Here's CNN's Michael Ware.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the
condemned, those singled out by al Qaeda, walking
these narrow alleyways to the makeshift torture
chamber behind these doors was the last act of their
lives.
Al Qaeda dumped mutilated bodies in rubbish heaps or
left them in this fetid water -- all of this
happening right in the heart of Baghdad, in this
small Sunni neighborhood called Fadhil. Al Qaeda
marked the homes of families to be punished, the men
to be killed, the houses burned.
(on camera): So, like, from al Qaeda, this is like a
mark of death?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His family not good here.
WARE: Right.
(voice-over): This man is a Sunni commander here in
Fadhil.
(on camera): What would have happened to me on these
streets when al Qaeda was here?
(voice-over): My body would have been fed into a meat
grinder, the commander tells me. Then al Qaeda would
have asked CNN and my country for millions of
dollars.
The murders and torture continued until only a few
weeks ago, when these men rose up, making Fadhil the
latest neighborhood to drive out al Qaeda.
(on camera): But look at all the bullet holes even in
the school.
(voice-over): They are Sunni insurgents now allied
with the U.S.
(on camera): This is all from the fighting, yes?
(voice-over): Across the country, the American
military has recruited 72,000 former Sunni
insurgents, of whom 45,000 are temporarily on the
U.S. government payroll.
(on camera): They have been a huge part of a stunning
American success. Insurgent attacks are back to
levels not seen for almost two years. And, in
Baghdad, civilian deaths have dropped by a remarkable
75 percent.
(voice-over): The one thing America now needs most of
all in Iraq is reconciliation between the Sunni and
Shia religious sects. Without it, U.S. commanders
say, the military victory will have been wasted, as
the country keeps tearing itself apart.
So, we traveled to Fadhil, the scene of this most
recent success...
(on camera): Is this Haifa Street?
(voice-over): ... to gauge what hope reconciliation
might have.
(on camera): This neighborhood has had many wars wash
through it, hasn't it, I mean, fighting with the
Americans, fighting with the Shia militias, fighting
with government forces, fighting with al Qaeda? And,
I mean, all that you wonder now is, what's the next
battle to come?
Do you think this government will ever be able to
embrace the Sunni groups?
(voice-over): The government is not loyal to its
country, says this U.S.-backed commander. They are
supported by the intelligence service of a
neighboring country. This, he says, is the abyss.
(on camera): Who will you be fighting when the
Americans leave?
(voice-over): He already knows who his next battle
will be against.
(on camera): We're talking about this government.
It's this government, he answers.
The other commander believes reconciliation has
little chance. "Everybody knows militia and Iranian
agents are inside the government and inside the
security forces," he says. "They cannot work with
us."
Suddenly, we have to hide our camera, put it down.
(on camera): A convoy.
(voice-over): Because a military convoy is coming.
Tension is high.
(on camera): It's an American convoy or Iraqi?
(voice-over): Who is it?
(on camera): It's American? Then we can film.
(voice-over): And can they be trusted?
(on camera) Is it Jaish American or Jaish Iraqi?
Get out of the way. If it's American, we should be
fine.
How does he feel? Nervous?
(voice-over): It is the Iraqi army carrying a
brigadier general.
"With orders from the government," the general says,
"we're asking these Sunni elements to join the police
and army, because we don't want the security
institutions owned by one sect."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WARE: And those words from the Iraqi general did not
comfort America's Sunni commander. As we quickly
jumped in our car to leave that area, he leaned in my
window to say he did not trust the general's offer.
This mistrust is shared on all sides and deeply
troubles U.S. commanders, for they know that they
cannot return home unless Iraq can make peace with
itself -- Anderson.
COOPER: Michael, when I was last there a couple
months ago, the Sunni groups it talked to, like the
Sunni group you're talking to, I mean, they don't
trust the government, and they say that the
government has been slow to accept them, slow to give
them money, slow to incorporate them in the police.
How do you bridge that trust? How do you make that
reconciliation happen?
WARE: In one sense, Anderson, it's not going to
happen.
This government, this power structure, these militia
blocs who run the government, these political parties
who front those militias, they have no interest in
seeing this American-Sunni program develop. They
don't want to share power. They don't want anything
to do with the Sunnis.
So, American commanders are saying, we believe we can
keep this violence down hopefully until next summer.
But, if they haven't reconciled by then -- and, to be
honest, no one really thinks they will -- we're going
to have to completely rethink U.S. strategy yet again
-- Anderson.
COOPER: Political reconciliation the key, as always.
Michael Ware, appreciate it. Thank you,
Michael.