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Campbell Brown asks Michael what, exactly, Senator Obama would learn from a new trip to Iraq. Well, if Michael sets the itinerary...
CAMPBELL
BROWN: And, as Candy said, Obama now says that he is
considering a trip to Iraq some time before the
November election. Well, what would he actually see
there, if anything?
CNN's Michael Ware is based in Baghdad.
Michael, based on your own experiences on the ground
in Iraq, do you think there's any value in Obama
coming there and spending time with the generals and
spending time with the troops?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Campbell,
certainly, for Obama, there is. It appears to me here
from this distance away in the midst of the war that
Obama's been politically cornered.
So, it's almost as if he has no choice but to come
here. And all credit to him, anyone who is prepared
to come here, any policy-maker who wants to at least
attempt to touch and feel this war, you have to give
that some respect.
But let's look at the reality. What is he really
going to get? What kind of a picture is he going to
be able to get hold of? At the end of the day,
probably not that much greater than the picture he
could have obtained from General Petraeus and
Ambassador Crocker in a private meeting when they
went to Capitol Hill to testify just a month ago.
He can speak to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the
head of the Iraqi government. Whatever Nouri
al-Maliki says to him is going to be what he thinks
Senator Obama or any other American official wants to
hear. That can be done by phone as well.
The value of coming here is just to get the aroma,
the taste, hopefully some sense of the desperate
atmospherics of this place, because it is certainly
true that Senator Obama, like Senator McCain on any
of his trips, will be seeing a very distorted picture
of Iraq -- Campbell.
BROWN: Well, that's what I was going to ask, because
the last time he was there was in 2006. If he does
visit again, do you think that he would see an actual
change compared to his last visit?
WARE: Well, again, this is a problematic issue. He
will see the airport of Baghdad. He will see the
inside of a Black Hawk helicopter as he flies to the
security of the Green Zone, which he's seen before.
He will see the inside of the U.S. Embassy or the
inside of any of the massive American military bases
around the country. Will that be new? No. Is that a
true Iraqi experience? Far from it.
But will he be able to gauge a perhaps more frank, a
more realistic, a more honest assessment from the
commanders here on the ground? Perhaps. I mean,
having known General David Petraeus since his first
tour here in 2003, just after the invasion, all the
way through to personally in Congress watching him
testify, I can tell you, David Petraeus is a straight
shooter.
And he will be very frank with Senator Obama or
Senator McCain or anyone else who visits. But, like I
said, they're not going to be able to live the
difference, to really taste it. And the most
important issue here now in Iraq is something that
you won't see from the air and you won't get from the
comforts of the U.S. Embassy. And that's the issue of
Iran and how much of a stake and how much of a grip
they have here. So, that change, he certainly won't
be able to perceive -- Campbell.
BROWN: A good point.
Michael Ware for us tonight -- Michael, as always,
thank you.