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Length: 5:44
ANDERSON COOPER: Six
months into the troop buildup and nearly
four-and-a-half years into the war, of the 18
benchmarks set for the Iraqi government, Baghdad gets
passing grades on eight goals, a mixed grade on two,
and eight unsatisfactories, mostly on the political
side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The
bottom line is that this is a preliminary report.
I'm not making any excuses, but it is hard.
I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I
think they ought to be funding our troops.
The same folks that are bombing innocent people in
Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on
September the 11th.
I'm guess I'm like any other political figure.
Everybody wants to be loved. Just, sometimes, the
decisions you make and the consequences don't enable
you to be loved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was the president today.
Senator John Warner, an influential Republican on
defense issues, say today he is not impressed by
Iraqi progress, nor are other GOP colleagues now
calling for a change in Iraq strategy, nor are
Democrats in the House, who, as we mentioned at the
top, passed a resolution calling for a troop pullout
by April.
Meantime, of course, more bloodshed.
CNN's Michael Ware is in Baghdad, "Keeping Them
Honest" for us tonight, in a city where mortar fire
hit today, killing at least 19 people.
Michael, this House vote to get most U.S. troops out
of Iraq by April, largely symbolic. On the ground,
does the notion of a pullout seem realistic? What
does that mean?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, no.
I mean, clearly, to the commanders I have been
speaking to in the past couple of days, you know,
what's happening in D.C. bears absolutely no relation
to what's happening here on the ground. In fact, it
was a rather gloomy mood just a couple of days ago,
as I was meeting with some of these commanders.
They honestly couldn't believe that whilst they were
still fighting the fight, whilst they were still
hoping to gain some advantage finally on the
battlefield, and hopefully with this Iraqi government
-- no matter how distant that hope may be -- that the
political rug could be pulled out from underneath
them.
Now, physically, can you pull troops out by April of
next year? Sure. You can pull anything out by April
next year, but only if you're willing to pay the
cost. I mean, it could be a bloodbath by Christmas.
And it would be an ignominious withdrawal for the
United States -- Anderson.
COOPER: On the political front -- because all of this
upsurge in troops was all about trying to secure a
political environment -- on the political front,
progress on an oil law and de-Baathification of the
government was given an unsatisfactory grade today.
We often that there's no military solution to the
war; it needs to be political. Can this war be won
without more progress from the Iraqi government
themselves? I mean, these guys are about to go on
vacation for three weeks, aren't they?
WARE: Yes, they are. The parliament is about to
recess. Obviously, the government will stay in
operation. But, to be honest, who cares about the
three weeks? Even if parliament sits 24 hours a day
for the next three weeks, they're not going to make
much progress.
To be honest, you know, many of the power blocs in
government don't want de-Baathification in three
weeks, three months, or three years. They're in no
great hurry to bring it about. I mean, they're just
not sharing the same interests that America does on
these issues. So, no, you do need a lot more from the
Iraqi government.
But, to be frank, you're most likely not going to get
it, or certainly not to fit the vision that D.C. has
of what should be going on here on the ground --
Anderson.
COOPER: The benchmark for reducing the level of
sectarian violence was given a satisfactory rating.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, said -- quote
-- "To say that there's not progress against al Qaeda
in Iraq is an insult to those men and women who have
brought about progress. It's a denial of their
sacrifice."
From what you're seeing, from what you see when you
go out with the troops, as you often do, what kind of
progress has been made on that front?
WARE: Well, on the sectarian violence, it's -- you
know, if you want to take the measure that there's
fewer bodies tortured, executed showing up on the
streets of the capital alone, then you can say, well,
there's been some impact on sectarian violence.
But that's not looking at the countrywide. Across the
country, particularly if you include the figures of
U.S. or Iraqi security forces, the deaths remain much
the same as they have been. So, in one particular
indicator on the streets of Baghdad, oh, the numbers
may be down. That doesn't mean the sectarian violence
has really abated in any fashion.
And let's not forget, say here in Baghdad, hundreds
of thousands of people have left in the past 12
months. So, there's fewer people to be caught in the
middle. Neighborhoods themselves are much more
homogeneous than they were. They have essentially
been ethnically cleansed. So, now the neighborhoods
are Sunni and are Shia.
And, also, don't forget, America is now allowing
predominantly Sunni neighborhoods to maintain their
own militias here in the capital and some of the
provinces. That means the police death squads can't
get to them. So, really, has the sectarian violence
abated? Not exactly. And is that directly related to
al Qaeda? No, because that ignores the fact that al
Qaeda's not the only one involved in the sectarian
violence.
What about this Iraqi government and its police death
squads? What about the Iranian-backed militias? So,
just looking at al Qaeda as an end to the sectarian
violence is almost an insult to the tens of thousands
of Iraqis who have died as a result of that violence
so far.
COOPER: Michael Ware reporting for us from Baghdad --
Michael Ware, appreciate it. Stay safe, as
always.