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Wolf shows Nic Robertson's piece from an embed with American and Iraqi troops, and then talks to Michael for a reality check: who owns the streets of Baghdad, Nuri al Maliki or Muqtada al Sadr?
WOLF
BLITZER: Fresh violence in Baghdad today as U.S. and
Iraqi troops go after Shiite militias who've been
raining rockets down on the heart of the capital.
Another U.S. soldier was killed and Iraqi officials
say at least 18 Iraqis died, nine of them, they say,
in a U.S. air strike. The U.S. military says none of
the casualties appear to be civilians.
CNN's Nic Robertson is with the troops in the
sprawling Baghdad slum known as Sadr City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As gunfire erupts,
American soldiers take cover.
CAPT. LOGAN VEATH, U.S. ARMY: Is he on the ground or
is he on the rooftop?
ROBERTSON: Captain Logan Veath must find the gunman,
stop the attack.
VEATH: We've got one or two shooters located, they've
PID'd them, or positively identified where they're
at. They're being signaled on the rooftops by a
couple guys with flags.
ROBERTSON: For the past ten days, U.S. and Iraqi
forces have been trying to take control of these
neighborhoods; neighborhoods militias have been using
to fire rockets at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's
allegedly secure green zone, militias turning the
people against the U.S. troops.
LT. COL. DAN BARNETT, U.S. ARMY: They turn us into
the guys that move forward and shot innocent women
and children deliberately. And that didn't happen.
ROBERTSON: U.S. forces can patrol barely one-fifth of
Sadr City because of Iraqi government restrictions.
About 800 yards, about half a mile up the road here
is the vast majority of Sadr City where U.S. troops
are only allowed to go on very rare occasions. It's
become, they say, an effective safe haven for the
militias, from where they're able to plan and prepare
their attacks.
But there's one more problem here. U.S. troops must
let Iraqi soldiers take the lead in fighting the
militias. Captain Veath must convince his Iraqi
counterpart to go after the gunmen and it's not going
well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told me he has little forces.
VEATH: Little forces? He's got as many people on the
ground as I do. There is no reason that you cannot do
this. We are behind you 100 percent. But you need to
move forward.
ROBERTSON: The gunmen are still shooting, the Iraqi
captain reluctant to lead.
VEATH: We can provide support, but we need you to
action it.
ROBERTSON: Just when it's all agreed...
VEATH: Now is not the time. It is to move out. I need
you to get your forces over to the mosque and to
isolate it.
ROBERTSON: They discover the Iraqi troops have gone
to lunch. Fortified with food, they head off around
the corner to take on the gunmen. The shooting
intensifies. Captain Veath follows, ready for backup.
Breaking into a store for cover, he loses contact
with the Iraqi captain.
VEATH: We're hearing a lot of volume of fire. I got
to figure out what's going on, if they're taking it
or if they're giving or receiving. Over.
ROBERTSON: Ten minutes later the Iraqi troops return.
Three soldiers are injured. They say they killed one
of the gunmen.
VEATH: I'm proud of your men and what they've
accomplished. I swear you have my -- our support.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Nic Robertson reporting for us from Sadr
City in Baghdad.
As the Democrats push for a withdrawal and John
McCain digs in on the war, let's get an Iraq reality
check. Joining us now, our own Michael Ware who has
been covering the war from the beginning in Iraq.
He's joining us now from New York.
Michael, thanks for coming in. Welcome back to the
United States.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Great pleasure to be
here.
BLITZER: Quick question, we just heard Nic's report
from Sadr City. Can the Iraqi forces loyal to the
prime minister Nuri al Maliki crush these Shiite
militias in Sadr City with U.S. military help?
WARE: Well, first, Wolf, I think you'd have to find
which of these Iraqi units actually have soldiers
loyal to Nuri al Maliki. Because let's bear in mind,
much like the government itself, the Iraqi security
forces are comprised of and drawn from the militias
themselves. Now, whilst you do have other recruits
who've just shown up for a paycheck, a the end of the
day, the troops on the ground are drawn from the
militias, are drawn from the political factions.
These are the building blocks of Iraqi political
power. And Nuri al Maliki, the prime minister,
doesn't have a militia and given that guns, the
barrel of the gun is still the currency of political
power in Iraq, Nuri al Maliki has little but words
and some influence. Real power rests elsewhere.
So it's no great surprise to see a commander not
wanting to go into battle. My first question would be
what's his name, where's he from, what's his sect,
and you can roughly figure out what militia he was
probably dragged from -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Who's more popular in Iraq among Iraqi
Shiites, would it be Nuri al Maliki the prime
minister or Muqtada al Sadr, the anti-America Shiite
cleric?
WARE: That's something very hard to gauge. But I can
tell you now my gut instinct would say that Muqtada
would have it hands down. Certainly he's got the more
vocal support. In so many ways Muqtada owns the Shia
street.
Now Nuri al Maliki is seen as someone who's tried but
failed to deliver on security, basic goods and
services, and any kind of stability. Now, Muqtada on
the other hand is seen as a rallying point. Now, his
militia command structure and his militia military
structure has been eroded away, chipped away
primarily by the Iranians. And from Muqtada's
militia, they've built new, harder-lined,
better-trained organizations called the Special
Groups who are directly linked to Lebanese Hezbollah.
So Muqtada is under political and militia attack as
they burrow out from within him. Nonetheless, he owns
the street. Who wields the mechanisms of power, Wolf?
BLITZER: We're going to be spending a lot of time
talking this week. Michael, thanks very
much.