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Length: 3:47
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: I'm
Fredricka Whitfield, it is April 8th and you are in
the NEWSROOM.
This Easter Sunday, tragic word coming out of
Baghdad. The U.S. military announced the deaths of
ten more American troops, including six who died
today in various attacks.
Also today, bombs killed at least 21 civilians,
including 17 in the town of Mahmoudiya. And with
tomorrow marking the fourth anniversary of the fall
of Baghdad, the Iraqi government abruptly announced a
citywide vehicle ban to take effect at dawn.
At a briefing today in Baghdad, the military's top
spokesman said again that the U.S. troop surge is
showing signs of progress. That remains a point of
contention. So we sought the perspective of CNN's
Michael Ware.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we're seeing
already with only two of the five additional U.S.
combat brigades already in place or currently in
place, is that there has been an impact on particular
types of violence, at least in the capital of Baghdad
itself.
What we've seen is a decline, not an eradication of,
but a decline in sectarian murders. It's much harder
now for the death squads to operate. That's for two
reasons. One is Americans are maintaining much more
of a constant presence in many of the areas where the
death squads were working. Secondly, the Americans
are now essentially babysitting many of the death
squads or their facilitators, the Iraqi police,
elements of the ministry of interior and the Iraqi
army forces.
WHITFIELD: Now does that depend on where you go
within Iraq?
WARE: Absolutely. Because what we are seeing is the
result of the focus of U.S. combat power and
operations in the capital is what the U.S. commanders
expected from the beginning.
We've seen time and time again in previous operations
in Baghdad is that the insurgents, the militias,
their hierarchy and the violence picks up and moves
to places outside of the capital.
For example, just to the north in Diyala province, a
faultline of this war where we've seen a massive
upswing in violence and we've just seen four more
U.S. soldiers being killed there this weekend.
WHITFIELD: A couple of other things taking place on
the eve of this four-year anniversary of the start of
the Iraq war. You've got a curfew in some circles.
Then you've got radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr who is
saying and imploring Iraqi police and forces to work
against the U.S. forces. And if anything, to push
them out of the country. So how is this instigating,
or further fueling trouble?
WARE: Well, I mean, this is part of a much broader
tapestry. We can't just look at this in a narrow
focus nor in a vacuum. I mean, this is a piece of
grand political theater that we're seeing. And it
also fits into a broader dynamic of the rivalry being
fought out for the future of Iraq between American
influence and Iranian influence.
What we have is this anti-American cleric, Muqtada al
Sadr who commands this massive militia who have been
laying low for now, call upon his people to come out
in protest against the Americans on the anniversary
in the Shia holy city of Najaf.
He's made it very clear though, he's been very astute
in tailoring his message. He doesn't want his people
carrying his pictures and his banners. He says,
"carry the Iraqi flag."
In his message, which we've heard rumored from among
his militia members was coming, he says, "refocus
your attacks. Not upon each other, my brothers in the
police and the militia, but upon the occupier," is
what he's suggesting.
WHITFIELD: CNN's Michael Ware in Baghdad.