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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COL. DAVID SUTHERLAND: In Diyala we're seeing an
increase in attacks against coalition forces and
across the battle space.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is this the new
cutting edge of the front line against al Qaeda?
SUTHERLAND: I think the fight right now is in Diyala.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN: A year ago the coalition forces in Iraq
declared Baquba and the surrounding Diyala Province a
relatively pacified area. Let's go the map and take a
look at where this is. It's a little bit north and
east of Baghdad. That's Diyala, a fairly large area
and a lot of Sunnis in this area, and there's Baquba
right in the middle of it. Now however, it's one of
the most dangerous places in Iraq, as trained
insurgents, perhaps some of them pushed out of
Baghdad down here where they're fighting with U.S.
troops, have moved up there. CNN's Michael Ware has
just returned from an embed with the 25th infantry
division in Diyala Province, he's in Baghdad now.
Michael, give us a sense of what's happening there.
WARE: Well, Tom, what I've seen in Diyala Province is
the face of the new front line against al Qaeda here
in Iraq, or indeed the old become new again. Al
Qaeda's always had a strong presence in Diyala, yet
with the pressure applied to their organization,
while U.S. forces unleashing Baathist insurgents and
Sunni tribes against them in al Anbar Province, with
the focus of the surge in the capital of Baghdad,
we've been seeing for some time now a migration of al
Qaeda operations to Diyala Province. At the same time
we've seen a new American brigade rotate in and apply
aggressive new strategies. We're now seeing the
levels of violence double what they were one year
ago, and in just five months, since this brigade
arrived in that province, already 44 U.S. soldiers
have been killed. It's one of the most intense
battlefronts of the war at the moment. Tom?
FOREMAN: There are plenty of groups there, Michael,
that clearly don't like the Americans being there,
but a lot of these are groups that don't actually
like each other much either. How much is that come
into play?
WARE: Well, that's always been the state of this war
here. I mean, this has not been one homogonous enemy
that has faced America or indeed the Iraqi
government. There are many wars within wars and it
has been this way from the beginning. What the U.S.
has failed to do, however, is capitalize on those
divisions and fractures. That is until recently.
We're now starting to see the results of a shift in
U.S. strategy that began at least six months ago,
that's now trying to separate more than ever the
home-grown nationalist insurgent from the al Qaeda
extremist. None the less, the sectarian war --
FOREMAN: Is it working, Michael?
WARE: Well, in al Anbar Province, it certainly is. I
mean, it's been an unhappy marriage from the
beginning. From the outset of this war, when the
professional Iraqi army was sent home in relative
disgrace with dishonor by the then-coalition
administration, they returned to the places they know
best, and it's from where they rose up as the
insurgency. When al Qaeda came to join the fight it
was, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." They never
shared the same agenda. So there's been so many
fractures and it's only now we're starting to see
them really, really come apart at the seams.
FOREMAN: Michael Ware, always interesting reporting.
Thank you so much for joining us after your difficult
trip up there. We look forward to more
reporting.