Length: 4:25
LARGE (51.8 MB)
-----
SMALL (5.2 MB)
(NOTE: CNN International ran the same piece earlier in the day, and Délie grabbed as much of it as she could. The only difference is the lack of the banner graphic, so you can see a bit more of what is going on. Watch it here if you are interested: 45.7 MB)
WOLF
BLITZER: Meanwhile, there's a new tactic in providing
a glimmer of hope for the U.S. military mission in
Iraq. The tactic is finding success where Iran's
government -- Iran's government apparently has
failed.
CNN's Michael Ware has an exclusive report from
Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Is this
blood here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WARE (on camera): The blood is from one of the
victims.
(voice-over): In yet another Baghdad torture
chamber...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The blood on this end.
WARE: ...signs of the horrors within. But in the
cooperation of these men, signs, too, of America's
new hope for victory. For it was these Iraqis who put
an end to the torture. A U.S.-backed militia with a
difference.
(on camera): This is extraordinary. What we've seen
happening in the Sunni community with Americans
supporting new Sunni militias to drive out Al Qaeda
and to stop Shia death squads we're now seeing in the
Shia community for the very first time.
(voice-over): These men are from that community --
Shia fighters in Central Baghdad now battling the
Shia Mahdi Army and death squads from other Shia
factions.
(on camera): This is from the American Department of
the Army.
(voice-over): And doing it all under contract to the
U.S. Army. Their leader, Abu Fahad (ph), able to
command 102 men and patrol the streets -- doing what
the Iraqi government is not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We find drugs and blood.
WARE (on camera): Really?
(voice-over): Bringing a sense of calm where there
was none and delivering reconciliation by protecting
families regardless of their religious sect -- which
cuts to the heart of America's dilemma in Iraq. U.S.
generals know military gains will be squandered
without true reconciliation. The solution is people
power, Abu Fahad tells me, with the bottom of the
pyramid, he says, forcing change at the top.
REAR ADM. GREG SMITH, U.S. NAVY: And that's, I think,
where the strength of Iraq it's going to find its
foundation, is in the people itself.
WARE: People's mistrust in Iraq's government is
widespread. Even Iraq's national security adviser
worries about his own parliament.
MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER:
There are a couple of member of council of
representatives who were very, very close to the
insurgency. And some of them, they were working
intimately and helping the terrorists in this
country.
WARE: Whatever the evidence, there's plenty of
suspicion. In November, a car bomb was found at this
prominent Sunni politician's home. His guards
arrested. Another Sunni M.P. was detained for almost
two months after a U.S. raid on an alleged insurgent
meeting, though his staff maintained it was only a
funeral. A third Sunni M.P. is now being hunted. He
vanished when charged with an assassination attempt
on a secular rival in which the target's two sons
died. And a fourth Sunni M.P. has left Iraq --
accused of kidnapping 150 Shia and a role in the
suicide bombing of parliament's cafeteria; claims he
denies, yet he remains vehemently anti-American,
branding the U.S. occupiers, the insurgency
legitimate.
On the other of parliament, this powerful Shia
politician fled to Iran this year, after CNN revealed
he bombed the U.S. embassy in Kuwait in 1983. U.S.
military intelligence officers suspect at least three
other Shia politicians are tied to Iran's elite
Revolutionary Guards Corps -- a unit the U.S.
government classifies as a terrorist organizations.
Local intel sources believe the number may actually
be as high as 21. But for America, even one could be
too many. U.S. patience is limited.
SMITH: And so much damage has been done to the trust
and confidence of the average Iraqi in governance, in
trusting the leadership.
WARE: Top U.S. officials are now taking a tougher
line to prod Iraq's administration to deliver. As
Admiral Smith warns, its window of opportunity could
be closing, with the Western world's support at
stake. Already, the U.S. is backing other players
beyond the government -- like militia leader Abu
Fahad.
Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
BLITZER: Solid reporting from Michael Ware -- an
exclusive report.
Let's go to Jack Cafferty.
He's got The Cafferty File in New York -- Jack.
CAFFERTY: That guy is amazing.
BLITZER: Yes. That was a good report.
CAFFERTY: I mean he should win like all the Pulitzer
Prizes and stuff for this work he does over there.
It's unbelievable.