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WOLF BLITZER: Welcome
back. We'll get to my interviews with two
presidential candidates, Bill Richardson and Sam
Brownback, in just a moment. First, though, let's go
to Baghdad.
Our correspondent, Michael Ware, is standing by for
some special insight into what's going on in Iraq
right now and what we've just heard during the first
hour of "Late Edition."
Michael, we heard the former interim prime minister
of Iraq, Ayad Allawi, in an exclusive Sunday
interview here, suggest that it's over with for Nouri
al-Maliki, the prime minister; he's simply not up to
the job.
Listen to this little clip of what Ayad Allawi told
us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLAWI: I am not doubting whether he's a good guy or
not a good guy. But I am doubting the system of
militias, of sectarianism, of trying to avoid the
benchmarks which President Bush and the Congress have
laid down for the government in Iraq. And I cannot
see that this government will implement the
benchmarks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right, Michael, what do you think?
You've been there for four years-plus. No one knows
the situation better on the ground on a day-to-day
basis. What do you think of what we're hearing from
Ayad Allawi right now about Nouri al-Maliki?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the
former prime minister's assessment is right.
Now, remember, Wolf, Ayad Allawi has been a stalwart
for American support all through the '90s and since
the invasion. Indeed, he's arguably America's closest
political ally.
And if you listen to what the former prime minister
says, he's not condemning Maliki personally, but the
whole process. He's saying that the system, the
government, the institutions that have been implanted
here are not working.
Now, that's an assessment that we now know is shared
by some very senior generals here on the ground in
Iraq -- that's American generals.
And let's have a look at Dr. Allawi's past. In the
mid-1990s, he and the CIA attempted a coup d'etat
against Saddam Hussein. Then last year, in the
summer, I interviewed Dr. Allawi, and at that time he
told me Iraq did not have a real democracy and
perhaps it had come too quickly for Iraq to digest.
He was saying the system was failing.
Then, in February this year, he told me he'd just
returned from Washington, D.C., where he told
American policy-makers that, if the surge does not
work, you need to consider installing an emergency
government.
Now, Dr. Allawi told me that the response from the
administration was not a yes, but it was not a no.
And now we're hearing generals saying that maybe
democracy is not working, and the embassy saying
we're pursuing less lofty and ambitious democratic
goals.
BLITZER: Well, is Dr. Allawi, Michael, the so-called
strongman that the Iraqis might need to pick up the
pieces right now?
WARE: Well, Dr. Allawi certainly is shaping himself
as one of the key candidates. But I've known Dr.
Allawi for years; he's been shaping himself that way
since I've known him. And certainly, he's been close
to certain American security agencies. They've
certainly bet on him in the past.
And indeed, during the attempted coup d'etat in the
1990s, he did that with another Iraqi who had left
Saddam's regime, General Muhammad Abdullah
al-Shahwani. General Shahwani is currently the head
of the Iraqi intelligence service, an intelligence
service run and funded by the CIA, over which the
Iraqi government has no control whatsoever.
Dr. Allawi has appealed to the Baathists and to the
Sunnis and to secular moderates within the country
and some Shia, all of whom were essentially abandoned
by American support during elections, while
Iranian-backed parties were flooded with money and
Iranian support.
BLITZER: What did you think of what we heard from
General Odierno, suggesting that some progress, in
fact, is being achieved on the battlefield against Al
Qaida in Iraq and other elements there?
Because the critics, a lot of critics, are
suggesting, yes, there may be some progress, but it
won't make much difference in the long run, as long
as that sectarian rift that exists between the Sunni,
the Shia, and the Kurds continues to exist.
WARE: Yeah, well, General Ray Odierno very much has
his finger on the pulse of this war, and his
assessment is entirely correct.
Yes, there has been some stabilization, some
spectacular examples, like in al-Anbar province. Yes,
it's forced changes in the type of violence that
we're seeing here.
But Iraqi innocents are still dying in their hundreds
and thousands every month. And what we're failing to
address is, how are we achieving these successes in
bringing down the violence? It's by cutting a deal
with the tribes, the Baathists, and the Sunni
insurgents. It's by creating Sunni militias to
counteract the government's own militias and the
Iranian-backed militias. That's bound to have
long-term consequences.
In many ways, part of what's being achieved is
because America is turning somewhat -- despite its
rhetoric -- against this government: fostering Sunni
militias, questioning the role of this government,
questioning whether it can actually perform.
And we Ambassador Crocker, just the other day, say
that if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki does not
deliver, then American support is not at the end of a
blank check. So he's threatening the prime minister.
BLITZER: Michael Ware, reporting for us from Baghdad.
Michael, stay safe over there. Thanks very
much.