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WOLF
BLITZER: So what changes will the president's
statement on the troops bring about actually on the
ground?
Let's bring in our own Michael Ware. He's here in
Washington. He's covered the war right from day one,
mostly in Iraq, but now here in Washington.
You had a chance to speak with General Petraeus. You
sat down with him earlier today. First of all, let me
get your reaction to what we just heard from General
Powell, that the U.S. military won't be able to
sustain, let's say 140,000 troops in Iraq, for a
whole lot of time given the other requirements in
Afghanistan and elsewhere.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously, I
don't have the global perspective or the at home
perspective of exactly the status of U.S. forces. But
I can tell you now, General Powell might be right.
The problem is in a year from now, you might still
need 140,000 troops. So you may end up finding
yourself between a rock and a hard place. One hopes
that you don't find yourself there.
Let's hope that Iraq is not in the situation that it
is in now, that the messy status quo that Senator
Obama was pitching for, perhaps even that might
emerge, because right now, there's no promise of
anything -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. You sat down with General
Petraeus earlier today here in Washington. I'm going
to play a little clip of this exchange you had with
him.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARE: You would know, as well, that many of your
intelligence agencies say Iranian agents have
influence stretched to the highest levels of the
Iraqi government. We've seen the interdiction by the
president of Iraq during the detentions of some of
the Quds Force operatives.
GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, MULTI-NATIONAL
FORCE-IRAQ: Yes. And the...
WARE: Does that concern you?
PETRAEUS: Again, it's a reality. And it is...
WARE: That there is that kind of infiltration in...
PETRAEUS: It's a reality. Again, look, as you pointed
out earlier -- but, again, for the listeners, your
audience -- these parties are products, many of them,
of time in Iran. It's where a number of the current
Iraqi leaders spent their time in exile, where they
went when pursued by Saddam's army or his thugs. So a
lot of that is understandable. And, again, it is a
reality. And it's something that just has to be dealt
with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Let's be precise, Michael, what that reality
is, based on the intelligence sources you're talking
about, because I've heard the same thing from others,
that among the highest levels of the Iraqi government
-- ministers in the cabinet and elsewhere -- what
they're suggesting is that a lot of these people, at
least some of these people are, what, agents of the
Iranian regime of President Ahmadinejad?
WARE: Absolutely. And certainly in terms of agents of
influence.
Now, do they follow Tehran's dictates?
Not necessarily. It's kind of like saying Muqtada
al-Sadr, the head of the Mahdi Army, he has a
relationship with the Iranians, but it's very
complex. He takes their money, but doesn't quite take
their orders.
So these are very complicated relationships. But,
yes, from the president of Iraq on down, the building
blocks of this so-called ally, the Iraqi government,
come from parties that have ongoing connections to
Iran. And it spreads throughout the political
structure. The head of the Constitution Committee,
the head of their Armed Services Committee, the head
of the Parliamentary Overwatch Committee, these are
all people from parties that were built in Iran,
sheltered by Iran or are funded by Iran. This is your
ally.
BLITZER: This is -- well, yes, it's a tough crowd out
there, Michael.
I know you're going to have a lot more of your
interview coming up later tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER
360."
Michael Ware is here in Washington. Good work today,
as usual.
Let's go to Jack Cafferty. He's got "The Cafferty
File."
That's pretty shocking stuff, Jack, when you think
about it, that some of these Iraqi leaders are really
agents of influence of the Iranian government.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, what's more shocking
is that Michael Ware is not the only one who knows
that. There are people in Washington in the
intelligence agencies, and probably in the White
House, that know it, too. And nothing's being done
about it. That's the real sad part.