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MILES O'BRIEN: When
Islamic militants took power in Iran three decades
ago, they didn't trust the existing army. They
created their own force, the Army of the Guardians of
the Islamic Revolution. The Guards got their own
intelligence wing, along with air, naval and ground
forces.
Now, take a look at these military exercises earlier
this year. That's not the regular army, that's the
Revolutionary Guard.
Iran's president, Ahmadinejad, joined the
Revolutionary Guard back in 1986. If the Bush
administration follows through with its plan, this
would be the first time official armed units of a
sovereign state are added to the list of outlawed
terror groups.
U.S. commanders in Iran's Revolutionary Guard say
it's been arming and aiding militants who attack U.S.
troops.
Could economic sanctions against the Guard put an end
to such activity?
CNN's Michael Ware is in Baghdad.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Revolutionary
Guard Corps doesn't exactly do a lot of banking or
business transactions with American companies or
organizations. So, no. This is merely symbolic.
And will it stop the flow of bombs and arms which
have been put in the hands of Shia militias and are
killing U.S. troops?
No. In fact, it may even spur it on. To General
Suleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Force
within the Revolutionary Guard, he may see this as
such an act of desperation that he may think that,
"I'm hurting America, let's keep going."
That's certainly what we've been seeing this year.
O'BRIEN: Let's shift gears just a little bit.
You were on patrol just recently in Diyala and you
came back with some very interesting insights.
Give us a little taste of the story you have.
WARE: Well, what we're talking about is going into
one of Al Qaeda's known nests. Now, this is an area
just north of the capital, Baghdad, beyond the much
heralded surge of U.S. troops, into a zone called the
DRV, the Diyala River Valley.
Now, for years, because America has not had enough
combat troops here in Iraq, Al Qaeda has owned that
valley. They set up their own government,
transportation units, a military wing, Sharia courts.
They executed their own kind of justice.
Indeed, we have an exclusive video seized by troops
during a raid on one of these Al Qaeda holdouts which
shows a public execution. The entire village gathered
to watch a man have his head hacked off. And it's
only now, this year, that 300-odd American
paratroopers have been thrown into the fight to
re-take that valley and we were with them -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Michael Ware in Baghdad.
Thank you very much.
You can see Michael Ware's full report tonight on
"ANDERSON COOPER 360," 10:00 Eastern, right here on
CNN.