Length: 6:22
LARGE (73.8 MB)
-----
SMALL (7.6 MB)
The prepared piece about the AQI documents finally airs on Domestic. The breadth of information contained in the hard drives turned over to him by the members of the Awakening movement -- some of them former insurgents and AQI members -- is just astonishing. The overview provided here provides a sense of the true nature of the day-to-day cruelty and businesslike tyranny of the organization.
(I have added the original prepared piece, as aired on International, to the bottom of the page; there were slight changes made to the video when it aired on Domestic.)
CAMPBELL
BROWN: Now a CNN exclusive. It is the product of a
lot of hard work by 360's Michael Ware and his
Baghdad bureau colleagues. For the last two weeks
they've been digging through a mother lode of
documents and video from hard drives seized by U.S.
allied Iraqi militias.
The material opens a remarkable window on the inner
workings of al Qaeda in Iraq. It also tells the story
of its undoing.
A warning, though: as welcome as that story may be,
it is also terribly hard to watch.
Here's Michael's report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al
Qaeda gunmen brought this man here to die. Staged for
maximum impact, he's to be executed on this busy
market street. We don't know why. The al Qaeda
members who recorded this tape offer no explanation.
But the anticipation is agonizing, leading to a
moment we cannot show you.
(GUNSHOT)
WARE: A punishment for betraying al Qaeda? Or for
breaking their strict version of Islamic law? Either
way, it was public executions like this that would
help lead to the unraveling of al Qaeda in Iraq, and
al Qaeda knew it. Its leaders recognized their
greatest threat was not the U.S. military, but the
men in the crowds who witnessed the slaughters and
who would eventually turn against them.
In fact, in this secret memo three years ago, a
senior al Qaeda leader warned against a backlash for
the public executions. They were being carried out,
he wrote, "in the wrong way, in a semi-public way, so
a lot of families are threatening revenge, and this
is now a dangerous intelligence situation."
But U.S. intelligence did not pick up on this
weakness for more than a year. Most of these men were
once insurgents. Some even members of al Qaeda. But
now they're on the U.S. government payroll, paid to
assassinate al Qaeda.
All of these secrets come from here, the town of
Ramadi. Al Qaeda computer hard drives were discovered
here when one of these U.S.-backed militias overran
an al Qaeda headquarters. As for the al Qaeda
members, they showed them no mercy.
Eventually, the secret hard drives were passed along
to both the U.S. military and to CNN.
Until recently, this man, Abu Saif, was a senior al
Qaeda commander. He's now changed sides and confirms
these are genuine al Qaeda in Iraq documents.
Documents that reveal a network that's sophisticated,
well-organized, meticulously bureaucratic and
thorough.
Rear Admiral Patrick Driscoll is the U.S. military
spokesman in Iraq.
REAR ADMIRAL PATRICK DRISCOLL, SPOKESMAN,
MULTINATIONAL FORCE: Well, it's kind of unique what
you have, because you have a comprehensive snapshot
of al Qaeda at a time where it was a network or a
unit.
WARE: In one local headquarters alone, more than 80
execution videos were cataloged. Not for propaganda.
They were never made public. But as proof of killings
for al Qaeda's superiors.
DRISCOLL: I was kind of surprised when I saw the
degree of documentation for everything. Pay records,
those kind of things.
WARE: In addition to pay sheets, hit lists and
membership application forms, there are detailed
lists of prisoners held, tried and executed. And then
this: architectural schematics for storage bunkers on
a U.S. base, proof al Qaeda has infiltrators inside
America's compounds.
And despite the administration's insistence al Qaeda
in Iraq is dominated by outsiders, in the secret
correspondence obtained by CNN, the orders are given
by Iraqis. Non-Iraqi fighters are used mostly in
frontline roles, such as suicide bombings.
And these pages contain a complex strategy for
planning and executing a three-month wave of
simultaneous al Qaeda attacks.
DRISCOLL: When you're talking about an organization
that's a network of networks, it's pretty resilient.
And there are still determined elements in the al
Qaeda hierarchy that want to win in Iraq.
WARE: Win to restore their own harsh justice. Here,
al Qaeda gunmen punishing thieves, dangling them from
an overpass and shooting them from below. While al
Qaeda today no longer wields this power, the U.S.
military is wary of its return.
DRISCOLL: A threat of al Qaeda, if not watched
carefully, and not pursued aggressively, will come
back and be the largest threat.
WARE: Though al Qaeda in Iraq is now under pressure
as never before, these documents and videos warn its
threat is more organized and more menacing than many
ever imagined. After all, al Qaeda remembers when not
so long ago it was welcomed by waving children.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And Michael Ware joining us now live.
And Michael, how relevant do you think al Qaeda is in
Iraq today? Are they still a threat on any level?
WARE: Yes, they certainly are, Campbell.
Now, this war may really be a war of contests between
Washington and Tehran for influence here in Iraq and
in the region. But al Qaeda in Iraq is still very
much a player in that.
Al Qaeda only comprises a small part of the
insurgency. But we've seen over, say, the past ten
days, just for example, al Qaeda in Iraq was still
able to pull off six suicide bombings and three truck
bombings, in which, one of these attacks, American
soldiers were killed -- two American soldiers were
killed and 18 were wounded.
So very much al Qaeda is still out there. They're
operating much more as a covert, underground network,
unlike before, where they actually controlled large
parts of this country. But nonetheless, they still
remain resilient, and the U.S. military well knows
its capacity to come back from the brink -- Campbell.
BROWN: All right. Michael Ware for us tonight from
Baghdad. Michael, as always, thank you.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The
version that aired on Domestic on 6/12 had some
slight editing changes in the video portion, so I
have also saved the original version that aired on
International the day before:
Length: 4:23
LARGE (50.7 MB)
-----
SMALL (5.3 MB)