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SUZANNE MALVEAUX: An international crisis avoided,
and the captives are now free. More on our top story:
those Britons who are out of Iran and now back home.
Their case is focusing attention on the plight of
other people being held.
Michael Ware in Baghdad, thank you so much for
joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Michael, a lot
of attention being paid to the British sailors and
marines that were released today, those 15 hostages
from Iran. But there are also members of the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard that are in custody of U.S.
military inside Iraq. Why is it so important to the
Iranian government that they be released? Because,
already, President Bush says they will not. There's
no quid pro quo here.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, for the
Iranian government, these men represent the best of
their best. These are Iranian Revolutionary Guards
corps, Quds Force officers. This is their front line,
their ideological tip of the spear. Think American
Green Beret with a dash of CIA paramilitary, and a
little bit of Delta Force operator.
Of an entire Revolutionary Guard force of
120,000-odd, there's only 600 or 700 field officers
from the Quds Force. So these are their
professionals.
Already, their networks would have been cauterized.
So whatever information they had would now be stale.
But it's vital for the Iranian regime to get these
men back at some point, to avoid a loss of face. Just
as it was for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to
get his marines and sailors back.
And we don't need to focus too much on a quid pro quo
for these Quds Force officers. Let's remember that an
Iranian diplomat went missing mysteriously off the
streets of Baghdad earlier this year, and just as
mysteriously, this Iranian diplomat reappeared on the
eve of the release of these British sailors and
marines.
MALVEAUX: Well, the Iranian government is also asking
at least to be able to see these individuals in U.S.
custody. How successful, how likely do you think that
that's going to be able to happen?
WARE: I think that would be extremely unlikely in all
the circumstances, and certainly in the ordinary
course of events.
When prisoners are taken from an opposing force, one
generally doesn't allow them to, you know, make
contact with that opposing force and their
commanders. This is where agencies like the Red
Cross, for example, come into play, or perhaps
intermediaries from third countries or third parties.
So, whether there will be direct face to face contact
between these captured operatives and their
commanders -- I think that's most unlikely.
MALVEAUX: And Michael, we also heard from Secretary
of Defense Gates who said at least there will be no
official channels to make that happen. So, Michael
Ware, thank you so much from Baghdad.
WARE: Thank you, Suzanne.