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Length: 4:08
TONY HARRIS: President
Bush about to head to the podium. Mounting questions
topping the list.
New developments out of Iraq, nagging questions about
Iran and increasingly hostile turf on Capitol Hill.
HEIDI COLLINS: We are covering all the angles this
morning with the best political team in television.
You see them there: at the White House, Elaine
Quijano in Washington, Andrea Koppel, Barbara Starr
is at the Pentagon, and Michael Ware joining us now
from Baghdad.
HARRIS: And let's take you to Baghdad now and Michael
Ware.
And, Michael, a couple of things with you. First of
all, Barbara Starr is expecting to hear from the
president, according to her sources, that the
president is going to back away from the most
explosive charges from this administration over the
weekend, that being that Iran, is at the highest
level of the government, is involved in supplying
these EFPs to Iraqi insurgents.
Now, if you would, paint a broader context of this
story based on your reporting from as far back as two
years ago.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, essentially,
what we're talking about here is if this is, in fact,
the case and President Bush does pull back from the
rhetorical brink, then what he'll be doing is
betraying not only the reality on the ground as
American forces here see it, but also the body of
knowledge that American intelligence currently
possesses.
Essentially, what has been happening here in the war
in Iraq since the invasion is that the Iranian armed
forces and the regime in Tehran were primed and ready
to take advantage of the vacuum that the removal of
Saddam would create.
Now, to do this, they had many tools at their
disposal. For decades they have been fighting Saddam,
giving shelter to hundreds and thousands of Shia
Iraqis.
Now, from this ex-pat community they formed military
brigades. They formed surveillance networks,
reconnaissance teams, assassination networks,
sabotage crews. When the Brits and the Americans
advanced, removed Saddam, these teams were put to
work. They seized political power. They seized ground
in the south.
We have seen them take the central government,
essentially, to now there's a point where Tehran has
more sway with the government, an ally of the U.S.
here in Baghdad, than Washington does.
So this is something that clearly has been plaguing
the U.S. mission and obviously something has happened
since this briefing and the president wants to back
away, if we're what we're being told is correct.
HARRIS: Okay, and Michael, you have spent as much
time there as anyone covering this war. Why would the
president want to back away now, if that is, in fact,
what happens? And we'll find out shortly in this news
conference.
Why would the president want to back away from
claims, from a case it has been building for quite
some time now?
WARE: Well, it's very, very hard to say. I mean, it's
just a matter of pure speculation. Either the
administration may feel that what it was seeking has
been achieved. They have sought undertaking or some
kind of assurance that they've pursued.
Who knows? Perhaps they feel that they don't want to
escalate this campaign of rhetoric and accusation
that's been underway for some time.
It's anyone's guess. But what's clear is that U.S.
intelligence knows that the Iranian special forces
and intelligence community has been waging a shadow
proxy war against not only American interests in this
country, but against American soldiers.
American soldiers have been dying as a result of the
training, assistance and financing of Iranian special
forces.
There's a lot at stake here. There's diplomatic
levels, military levels, economic levels. Goodness
knows which way the president can take this.
HARRIS: Michael, appreciate that insight. We'll ask
you to stand by. We will talk to you, of course,
again after the president's news conference.
Heidi?
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DON LEMON: Now to Iraq.
He's blamed for some of the worst sectarian violence
in Iraq. Now comes word that radical Shiite cleric
Muqtada al Sadr may not be in Iraq any more.
CNN's Michael Ware has that story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Has one of the most
powerful men in Iraq fled the country? And if he has,
does it matter?
According to U.S. military intelligence, the powerful
anti-American rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr has left
Iraq for neighboring Iran. According to White House
sources, it is said that he is fleeing an American
crackdown on his formidable Mahdi Army militia, which
in many ways dominates the streets of the capital of
Baghdad and is behind many of the sectarian killings.
Muqtada also heads a powerful political faction in
the burgeoning Iraqi Parliament that put the Iraqi
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki into power. Muqtada's
political party and his militia both insist the
cleric remains in the country. However, he has yet to
make an appearance.
Even if he has left Iraq, the question remains
whether he would still be able to maintain command
and control both over his political and military
factions or whether it would break apart into rogue
elements.
Either way, observers here on the ground suggest if
he has left Iraq for fear of his security, it is not
in the face of an American offensive, but most likely
in the face of internal factional fighting.
Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.