Length: 4:05
LARGE (47.3 MB)
-----
SMALL (5.0 MB)
Michael talks some more about the Biden plan, as well as the new timetable agreement and Iran's advantage in Iraq.
KIRAN
CHETRY: There is a live look right now at Pepsi
Center. And tonight it's 5:00 p.m. Eastern time, 3:00
p.m. Mountain time that that place is going to be
rocking as the beginning of the Democratic National
Convention kicks off with a laundry list of speakers.
And they're going to be talking about Barack Obama
and of course his VP choice, Joe Biden.
Well, if Joe Biden brings anything to the democratic
ticket, certainly a wealth of experience especially
in foreign affairs. And Barack Obama will need that
if elected as he addresses some critical foreign
policy questions.
CNN's Michael Ware knows the situation in Iraq and
Afghanistan, all too well, maybe we should say.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, sadly, yeah.
CHETRY: He's back from the conflict as well in
Georgia. Michael joins us now. Thanks for being with
us, by the way.
I'd like to get your insight about the talk about
Iraq and what to do with Iraq. Now, Joe Biden, when
he was running for president back in 2006, he talked
a lot about his plan, which was partitioning Iraq
into three separate and autonomous regions. Would
that work?
WARE: No. It doesn't have a snowflake's chance, that
kind of a solution. I mean, for a start, that just
plays directly into Tehran's hands. I mean, one of
the big issues that's being fought out now in Iraq
politically is that the hard-core Iranian-backed Shia
parties are trying to create a self-ruling zone in
the south. That would basically become a Little Iran.
Now, in the north, you already have a self-governing
state. The Kurds own Kurdistan, and they don't listen
to the central government. They've got their own
defense force. They've got their own foreign
ministry. That's enough of a drama.
So to try and partition it off is just going to
destabilize, not just the country but will further
destabilize the region. And no one supports it. It
ain't going anywhere.
CHETRY: Now, you know, the McCain campaign has
actually hammered Barack Obama a lot for calling for
this timetable. Now we have the Bush administration,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice there last week
hammering out what essentially is a timetable.
WARE: Yeah.
CHETRY: From the Bush administration. Has the
thinking changed or is it almost a matter of sort of
throwing the towel in trying to fight that issue?
WARE: Well, I think they're trying to dress it up. I
mean, whether you want to call it failure, defeat,
stalled -- whatever, the mission. Basically what
they're doing is saying, well, look, the number of
deaths are down. U.S. troops, you know, are faring
much, much better. The sectarian violence is way, way
down. So that all looks hunky-dory. So, okay, we're
able to go, start winding back and call it a win. But
that's smoke and mirrors.
Underlying all this of this is the fact that Iran has
a much greater influence in that country and thereby
increasing its influence in the region, anti-American
influence, than they did before the American
invasion. There's enormous implications for this kind
of withdrawal. You can do it, but just accept what
it's going to cost you. And then tell us, what are
you going to do about it?
CHETRY: Well, you talk about that in the last hour as
well, that there has to be some sort of
acknowledgment about Iranian influence. Is that a
diplomatic -- is that a window for a diplomatic
solution or is that something that needs to have
military might behind it and who might be better at
trying to juggle that?
WARE: Well, there is no diplomacy without military
might, at the end of the day. You know, very
Clausewitzian: "War is just politics by another
means." I mean, the problem is Iran has all the cards
in its favor. I mean, there's very little stick with
which to beat Tehran. And, for example, for the last
-- since the end of last year, those American troops
who have died in Iraq, most of them died at the hands
of Iranian-backed militias, not al Qaeda, not the
Sunni insurgency. And what's this all about? Not only
is it to destabilize Iraq, not only is it to bog U.S.
troops down; the bigger picture is they're looking
for advantage to press on the nuclear issue. That's
the big gain here for the Iranians. So, really, yes,
you need a diplomatic answer, you've got to engage
with Iran; but somehow, America has got to find a big
stick.
CHETRY: All right. Michael Ware, thanks so much for
being with us.
WARE: It's a great pleasure. Thank you,
Kiran.