Click photo to play
Length: 5:05
HALA GORANI: Let's bring
in our senior Baghdad correspondent, Michael Ware,
for a reality check on what's happening now in the
country.
We have several operations. We have one in Diyala. We
have also Sunni sheikhs allying themselves with
America to combat al Qaeda. All this going on at the
same time.
This is a very crucial time period for Iraq and for
the Americans, isn't it?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Very
much so. And certainly the enemies of America -- as
Washington identifies them, principally al Qaeda and
the Iranian-backed Shia militias -- know that
America's on borrowed time.
They know that the clock is ticking down to when the
commander of the war, General David Petraeus, goes
before Congress in September. So, as one of the other
American generals in this country said, the enemies
are surging as much as we are. They're trying to
distort Petraeus' casualty figures and figures of
violence before he goes to Congress so he has nothing
but a gloomy picture to give.
GORANI: So those who oppose America keenly aware of
the political agenda inside the United States and
playing on it, right?
WARE: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
They track it so minutely. They follow it in crucial
detail, both to the east, in Tehran, of course, and
al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has displayed over and over and
over again its ability to play or factor American
domestic politics. And we're seeing it again.
GORANI: Let me ask you something about the Anbar
strategy of getting Sunni sheikhs, tribal leaders, in
on a cooperative sort of team against al Qaeda. We
saw so many of them killed in the downtown Baghdad
hotel.
What happens when the Americans leave?
WARE: These will essentially become the Sunni
militia. In fact, they are America's Sunni militia,
or they're America's assassins. These are insurgents.
These are the Ba'athists. These are the nationalists,
the ex-Iraqi West Pointers, so to speak.
From the very beginning, they've never shared al
Qaeda's agenda. From 2003, they were looking to work
with America. But the administration back then
wouldn't have a part of it. Now America knows that
the only way to combat al Qaeda is to unleash the
Ba'ath insurgency, and that's what they've done, even
giving them ammunition.
GORANI: All right. Michael, stand by.
We're going to go to a Frederik Pleitgen story. He
was in Diyala Province for an update on the so-called
military surge and how American troops are having a
hard time holding on to territory that they
"conquered".
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over):
U.S. troops fire mortar rounds at a suspected
insurgent position. Their mission: clear and secure
this area south of Baghdad so Iraqi forces can take
control of a checkpoint.
After almost three days of fighting, they hand over
the outpost. Now it's up to the Iraqi national police
to hold the position. "This is a big sector, and we
need a lot of troops. And coalition forces will
hopefully help us stand here," the Iraqi colonel
says.
The insurgents came sooner than expected. A mosque
right next to the checkpoint. And this is that same
mosque only about two hours after U.S. troops left
the area.
As this video shot from an aerial drone shows, the
insurgents at the mosque launch an attack on the
outpost, destroying a guard tower and killing several
Iraqi officers. With the Iraqis struggling, a British
aircraft is called in to aid them. The fighter drops
a massive 2,000-pound bomb on a house used by the
attackers, a rare opportunity for coalition forces to
effectively use air power against insurgents.
COL. WAYNE GRIGSBY, U.S. ARMY: When the enemy does
mass this way, we focus right then on the secure line
of operation and we take everything that we have to
kill or capture the enemy.
PLEITGEN: But while military officials call the
airstrike a success, they acknowledge it highlights a
major problem for U.S. forces in Iraq. American
troops fight and die to win terrain from insurgents,
but the Iraqi security forces are often unable to
hold the ground on their own.
MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, U.S. ARMY: The key is, someone
has to stay. There has to be a persistent security
presence, and that has to be Iraqi security forces.
So we continue to work with the government of Iraq
and the leaders of the Iraqi security forces to get
that persistent presence.
PLEITGEN: A crucial point, military leaders say. Even
with the major increase of U.S. soldiers in Iraq,
they will not be able to hold all the ground they are
now fighting for. That is something the Iraqis must
do on their own.
Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, Salman Pak, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right. One last question to you, Michael
Ware. We saw that in Salman Pak, but Diyala Province
is going through a very crucial operation as well.
And the big question is, will the insurgents move
elsewhere? Have they gone already?
WARE: Well, indeed, the second most senior American
general in the country, Lieutenant General Ray
Odierno, has already said that as far as the U.S.
forces are aware, the top al Qaeda leadership left
Diyala before the operation. I mean, it was flagged
so heavily.
I mean, the insurgents know that the U.S. is coming.
They left Falluja. They left Samarra. They left Tal
Afar. They've done the exact same thing yet again,
and they'll continue to do so.
GORANI: All right. Michael Ware, thanks very much.
All right, well, that's it from me and Michael Ware
here in Baghdad for now.
Michael in Atlanta, back to you.