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John Roberts asks Michael about Ahmadinejah's visit and whether he's really just there to stir up trouble.
JOHN
ROBERTS: Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is on
the second day of his two-day trip to Iraq. He
arrived on Sunday and was greeted warmly by Iraq's
president, Jalal Talabani, as well as the prime
minister, Nouri al-Maliki. Ahmadinejad said he was
happy to be visiting without Saddam in power, and he
took aim at the United States, rejecting claims that
Iran is arming Shiite militias in Iran.
CNN's Michael Ware is live in Baghdad for us this
morning. Michael, there have long been good relations
between Iraq Shiite leaders in Iran. Now it looks
like Talabani, a Kurd, is also on board. Does this
whole visit signal a new alliance between Iraq and
Iran?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
Well, in fact, no. What it signals is the
consolidation of long-standing arrangements. Even the
Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani -- a Kurd from
northern Iraq -- his half of Kurdistan, which is
under his party's control, borders Iran. So he's long
had an association with the Iranians. And indeed,
this Iraqi government is dominated by Iraqi Shia,
many of whose parties are directly linked to Iran or
in fact, including the most powerful, was actually
created in Iran.
So President Ahmadinejad's tour here very much has a
triumphant air -- a victory over the executed
dictator Saddam Hussein, who waged a vicious
eight-year war against Iran in the '80s, and a
perceived victory against American influence. He's
here strutting, flaunting Iran's influence. Indeed,
just this morning in a press conference, he said that
the American presence in an Arab country is an insult
and a humiliation to the region, and the best thing
America could do is pack up and leave -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes, he seems bent on causing divisions
there as well. We said in the lead in here that he
rejected the idea that Iran is arming the Mahdi
militia, which is engaging in attacks against
America, and he couldn't help but take another swipe
at the United States. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (THROUGH
TRANSLATOR): You tell Mr. Bush accusing others will
not resolve America's problems in the region. The
time of accusing others has passed. They must accept
the realities of the region. The people of Iraq do
not want the Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So he's saying time and time again here,
Iraqis do not like Americans. They don't want the
Americans there. What kind of impact is that going to
have in Iraq?
WARE: Well, what he's doing is playing to a domestic
market both in Iran and here in Iraq. I mean, he's
hitting key buttons here and they will resonate to a
certain degree, particularly among the harder line
Shia community, the pockets within that community
that are very much attuned to that message.
Obviously, Iraq Sunnis are very cautious. They're
wary of Iranian influence and have sided with America
at last in the past year or so.
But at the end of the day, Iran has greater influence
in this country, certainly politically right now than
does America. Indeed, some of the top U.S. officials
in the mission here on the ground have conceded time
and time again to me that in the last six years the
big winner here has been Iran. And President
Ahmadinejad's visit is just to stamp that. It's to
showboat that. Indeed, if you compare his visits to
those of President Bush, President Bush's visits have
been fleeting and in secret and he's gone to U.S.
bases and harbored there. Whereas the Iranian
president walks the street and says I own this place,
more or less -- John.
ROBERTS: All right. Michael Ware for us this morning
from Baghdad. Michael, thanks.