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WOLF BLITZER: By rolling
back its troop strength to pre-surge levels, is the
United States moving back to square one in Iraq?
Let's go to Baghdad right now.
Joining us, our correspondent, Michael Ware --
Michael, as I was saying, if they go back to the
pre-surge level, that's sort of open-ended. Unclear
how long those troops will have to stay in order to
maintain -- at least maintain the level of security
they have right now.
What do you think of this?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's true,
Wolf.
I would expect that whether you like it or not,
America's military and diplomatic footprint in this
country is going to be significant for a sustained
period of time. Whenever I speak to military analysts
or planners or any of the diplomats, no one is
deluding themselves. To think that with this country
so broken, so torn apart by America's intervention
here, that they can simply walk away completely --
it's just not being entertained.
What is being entertained is how much you can scale
back and how you then reset your goals and who do you
look to as your new partners. And what we're finding
increasingly from the testimony of both the
ambassador and the general here in Iraq is that that
answer -- the cornerstone of America's policy going
forward -- is the engagement with the Sunni tribes
and the Sunni insurgency. This seems to be their next
building block -- Wolf.
BLITZER: I want you to listen, Michael, to the
ambassador, Ryan Crocker. He keeps making this point
during these hearings yesterday and today.
I'm going to play you a little clip.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROCKER: In my view, a secure, stable, democratic
Iraq at peace with its neighbors is attainable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right, do you agree that a secure,
stable, democratic Iraq at peace with its neighbors
is attainable?
WARE: Well, it is, depending on a number of things.
One is how many generations are you prepared to wait?
Even the outgoing U.S. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad,
in his last sit-down interview before he left
Baghdad, he himself said that, yes, while he still
holds a democratic Iraq as the ultimate goal, he
considered it would take generations. And for it to
truly take root in this country, that's what it will
require.
Also, to bring about this democratic Iraq that the
ambassador is pursuing, that doesn't necessarily mean
that it's in the current form it is now. You could
have a drastic change in the face and the shape of
this government, either by parliamentary or even
non-parliamentary means. All of these things are
being canvassed.
So, yes, those goals may be attainable. But the path
to those goals has not been discussed nor how long
America will have to hold out and dig in here in Iraq
-- Wolf.
BLITZER: I think few Americans are thinking in terms
of generations for democracy to emerge in Iraq, those
goals.
Michael Ware, thanks very much.