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WOLF BLITZER: Top U.S. officials, by the way, named
an Iranian brigadier general being held by American
troops in Iraq. He's identified as Mohsen Chirazi,
who we reported weeks ago was arrested back in
December. He's described as the third ranking officer
in the Quds force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. That
force, by the way, is accused of directing attacks on
U.S. troops and supplying those deadly armor-piercing
explosives.
But could Iran now be backing off from such
activities? Joining us now from Baghdad, our
correspondent, Michael Ware. Michael, yesterday I
interviewed the Iraqi national security adviser,
Mowaffak Al-Rubaie. He startled me. He surprised me
with these words.
I want to play a little clip of what he said that the
Iranians now are not doing in Iraq.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER:
Very simply, the Iranians have changed their position
and we have some evidence that they have stopped
supplying arms or creating any of these charge shaped
mines in the streets of Baghdad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And he went on to say that the Iranians now
want the U.S. military operation, together with the
Iraqi military, to succeed in bringing stability to
the Baghdad area.
Have you seen evidence that backs this up?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you're
never going to see evidence that backs this up one
way or the other because the way these Iranian forces
work, these Quds force officers, these are some of
the best covert operators in the world.
You'll never see them with their fingerprints on
anything, whether they're active or chosen to go
inactive.
Now, the fascinating thing here is Dr. Rubaie. I know
Dr. Rubaie. If you want to talk about a man between a
rock and a hard place, it's the national security
adviser of Iraq. He has to serve two masters, keeping
two powerful forces at bay, both Washington and
Tehran.
This is a man who has to live with both of these
power blocs.
Dr. Rubaie comes from the Al-Dawa Party. It's got a
long association not just with Iran, but with its
intelligence agencies. So he's certainly wired into
what they're doing.
However, listen to what he said. There's two things
notable about it. One, it's an implicit concession
that, yes, the Iranians have been supplying the EFPs
that the U.S. claims have been killing British
troops. This is the Iraqi government confirming the
Bush administration's claims.
He's now saying, however, that they've stopped doing
this.
That does not change the fact it's in Iran's national
interests to maintain a presence here. If that
presence is changing, we don't know. And I suggest
neither does Dr. Rubaie.
BLITZER: You said that they were killing these
British troops. I think you meant American troops,
right?
WARE: Both, actually, Wolf. We've seen quite a number
of Brits killed by these EFPs and we've seen
Americans killed by these EFP explosive devices that
punch through heavy battle armor like a fist through
a wall.
More than 170 British and Americans have died as a
result of these weapons.
Don't forget, it was the Brits who first encountered
them back in May 2004. That's where this technology
came in, through the Iranian strongholds in the
south. It then migrated north and started hitting
U.S. troops in Baghdad through the work of an
Iranian-backed network run by a man called Abu
Mustafa Al-Shaebani (ph), the former intelligence
chief of one of the political factions that is now in
government here in Iraq -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael Ware reporting for us in Baghdad.
Michael, thanks.
WARE: My pleasure, Wolf.