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WOLF BLITZER: Another very violent day in Iraq amidst
debate over whether some of the deadliest weapons are
now coming in from next door. That would be in Iran.
CNN's Michael Ware is joining us from Baghdad with
more.
Michael, I understand there has been a briefing in
Baghdad. You're getting some new information. Tell
our viewers in the United States and around the world
what you're learning.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you're
correct. There's certainly been a briefing, but how
much of it is new is to be seen. In many ways, this
is old information being dressed up again as new.
What happened today in Baghdad is the U.S. military
rolled out a senior defense official, a senior
defense intelligence analyst and an explosives expert
to paint a picture of Iranian military activity here
in Iraq targeting U.S. troops.
Essentially they paint the picture of an Iranian
campaign where the Iranians are using the very
tactics that America used against the Soviet Union in
Afghanistan in the 1980s, essentially using proxies
to fight a war in a third country. That's what the
military intelligence community is saying today.
They focused on the use of a particularly lethal--
the most lethal kind of roadside bomb here in Iraq,
called an explosively formed penetrator. This is a
bomb that's so devastating, it can punch through the
toughest American armor on any of its battle tanks.
Now, this was introduced through Shia insurgents by
the Iranians, according to military intelligence.
Indeed, one of the components of the bombs needs such
precision machine tooling that they can only be done
in Iran. They do not believe it's happened here in
Iraq, but again this is an old story. These bombs
first started detonating in 2004. The issue was made
public in 2005. Secretary Rumsfeld himself has
pointed to them.
The other thing that the experts talked about is the
Iranian supply of munitions, exactly like these ones.
These are the tailfins from mortars that have come
from Iran. This one in particular, an 81mm, according
to the military a signature of the Iranian armed
forces. The fact that the tailfin is in one piece, a
single-piece tailfin, another signature that it came
from Iran.
But again, Wolf, we have known this. What was a
little more interesting was a revelation that in
recent arrests in January in Erbil by the U.S.
military, the Americans now claim that they captured
the operations officer, one of the key commanders of
the Iranian special forces unit known as the Quds
Force.
This is the high-level, very secretive organization
that is running the anti-America campaign here in
Iraq. The other thing that the briefers said was that
this unit is being guided directly by supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself.
And finally, the American intelligence officers also
said today that an Iraqi political faction admitted
that it received weapons from Iranians that the
Americans had captured, but claimed these weapons
were for protection, a claim rejected by the
military, who said sniper rifles and mortars are not
for protection.
So that's what was laid out in this briefing today --
Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Michael, stand by, because I want
you to come back later here on "Late Edition," and
we're going to continue to get some more information
on these new developments coming out of Baghdad. A
lot more from Michael Ware coming up on "Late
Edition."
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WOLF BLITZER: New
warnings today in Iraq that some of the deadliest
weapons targeting Americans may be originating in
Iran.
CNN's Michael Ware, joining us live from Baghdad with
the latest. Michael, this briefing that you had today
made the case that the Iranians are directly
providing weapons, sophisticated munitions, to Iraqi
Shia militia forces and those weapons are killing
Americans. What information, what evidence did they
have to back that up?
WARE: Well, Wolf, what we saw was American officials
come out today and paint the picture of a program, a
campaign, that Iran is using to kill American
soldiers here in Iraq through Iraqi proxies or
surrogates that they're arming, funding and
directing.
Now, foremost amongst the weapons that are being
given, says U.S. military intelligence, is the most
deadly roadside bomb being used in this war. It's
called an explosively formed penetrator. And
essentially, it's so powerful, it can punch through
the heaviest armor on an American battle tank. U.S.
military intelligence says since this weapon's
introduction in May 2004, at least 170 American
soldiers have died. Now, that's as a result of this
Iranian weapon.
They also say today, in this briefing, that the
Iranian elite Quds Force unit is supplying weapons to
Shia insurgent groups and political factions and
among them is mortars, sniper rifles, all sorts of
weapons that have been used, not just against other
Iraqis, but against Americans.
Here are two mortar tail fins that U.S. military
intelligence says have come from Iran. Now, here on
CNN, we aired these last year. But they're precisely
the same kind we saw in the briefing today. The
markings, according to military intelligence, clearly
trace them back to Iran, manufactured only last year.
So, they've only recently come into the country.
81mm, American military intelligence says is another
signature of Iran. Also, the fact that this tail fin
is a single piece, intelligence says, is another
signature that this came from Iran.
But the newest thing, the most interesting thing, out
of this briefing is that an American senior defense
official said that the Iraqi government confirmed
that Iranian armed forces gave weapons to an Iraqi
political faction. And these included mortars and
sniper rifles, weapons that the government said,
well, this political faction needs for protection.
But the U.S. said these are not protective weapons;
these are weapons for attacking -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Were they specific which faction received
these Iranian weapons? Were they the Mahdi army, for
example, loyal to the anti-American radical Shiite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who, as you know, his
political forces are aligned with the government of
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki?
WARE: That's right. Muqtada's forces are aligned with
Maliki's government. In fact, Muqtada and his militia
put Maliki in power. And these defense officials
today spoke openly about the provision of weapons to
Muqtada's Mahdi militia.
However, in this particular case, what they are
talking about is this confirmation, by the government
of Iraq, of the supply of weapons not to Muqtada's
faction, but to arguably the most powerful political
faction within this government. That is the SCIRI
political party.
BLITZER: Michael Ware reporting for us from Baghdad.
Michael, thank you. We're going to get back to
you.