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WOLF BLITZER: Meanwhile,
we are also gauging just what this diplomatic
exchange of words between the United States and Iran,
what it exactly means.
Joining us now, our correspondent in Baghdad, Michael
Ware. Michael, you heard the president raise the ante
today, speaking about the possibility of a nuclear
holocaust because of what Iran is up to. How do you
interpret that?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, clearly, yes,
that is a new rhetorical assault by the Bush
administration against Tehran. We are certainly
seeing the heat, the pressure rising here in this
relationship. Now, clearly, for Iran, the pursuit of
nuclear energy is very closely wedded to the
situation here in Iraq. They're clearly using Iraq as
leverage on the nuclear issue.
However, the Iranian officials that I speak to here
in Baghdad are very firm. They defend what they
describe as their natural right to pursue nuclear
energy. Yet, they once more reiterate, they insist
that this does not mean that they are chasing nuclear
weapons. So President Bush obviously can raise this
as an issue but once more the Iranians will be
batting it away.
BLITZER: When I interviewed General Ray Odierno --
the number two U.S. military commander in Iraq -- on
Sunday, he suggested, Michael, that in the past 30 to
60 days Iranian involvement in improvised explosive
devices, killing U.S. troops -- Iraqis, in effect,
whom they oppose -- that has escalated, increased,
despite these two rounds of talks that the U.S.
Ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, has held with
these Iranian diplomats in Baghdad. Is that what
you're hearing on the ground from other sources as
well?
WARE: Absolutely, Wolf. There's clear evidence of
that. Western or U.S. military intelligence believes
that essentially Iran is surging. They know that the
clock is ticking down on America's timeline, for its
public mandate here in Iraq. So they are trying to
apply the pressure.
Indeed, between those two historic meetings, one in
May and one in July, we actually saw an uptick in the
attacks by what military intelligence say are
Iranian-supplied weapons.
Now, we've had a lot of focus on this particularly
lethal roadside bomb, the EFP. But there is another
Iranian-supplied weapon the U.S. military had been
yet to talk about and President Bush just touched
upon. We raised this with the military on the weekend
at the last meeting. It is the 240-mm missile. Now,
this is being fired almost exclusively at coalition
forces, primarily the Brits in the south, but also
Americans in Baghdad and just south of Baghdad.
Indeed, this month, we saw one of these massive
rockets with a 110-pound warhead slam into an
American base and hit the dining hall, wounding at
least 25 Americans. This is the biggest, baddest kind
of rocket or mortar that's out there in the war. Now,
it was introduced in July last year. And we saw an
increase in the use of what the Americans say are
these Iranian-supplied missiles called the Falaq 1
(ph) in the lead-up to the first meeting of the
ambassadors. Then we saw an uptick in the roadside
bombs in the lead-up to the second meeting.
Obviously, Iran is using its military strategy to
help its political gain.
BLITZER: Michael Ware, doing some excellent reporting
for us as always from Baghdad. Michael, thanks.
WARE: Thank you, Wolf.