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TJ HOLMES:
Well, Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq before it
started. He has ever since. But he may be heading
back to Iraq. Obama's campaign says the Democratic
front-runner is considering a visit before the
November elections. Republican John McCain, who
supports the war and the troop surge, has blasted
Obama for not visiting Iraq in more than two years
and for turning down McCain's offer of a joint visit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Glad to
hear that Senator Obama is now, quote, "considering"
a trip to Iraq. It's long overdue. It's been 871 days
since he was there. Senator Obama was driven to his
position by ideology, and not by the facts on the
ground. And he does not have the knowledge or
experience to make the judgments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, McCain has been to Iraq several times,
around as many as eight times he has made trips
there. But do VIPs on an orchestrated tour really get
the full story?
Well, joining us now CNN's Kyra Phillips in New York
and Michael Ware in Baghdad. Both of them have gotten
the full story. They're familiar with the true
picture on the ground there in Iraq. Thank you both
for being here.
Michael, I will start with you. Given how the VIPs
are treated, given the security they have, given the
limited areas they can go because of safety reasons,
how true of a picture can a VIP, can a senator, can
congressional delegations really get there in Iraq?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in many ways,
T.J., it's four words -- dog and pony show. I mean,
you've got to give anyone credit who comes here at
least trying to get the smell, the touch, the feel of
this place. But you need to understand, as a visiting
U.S. official, or even as a senior U.S. commander or
embassy staffer, you are getting a very, very
filtered version of the reality. The Green Zone and
American bases are far divorced from life on the
Iraqi street.
And as genuine as U.S. commanders like to be with
visiting delegations or anyone who is inquiring, they
themselves don't always have a handle on what's going
on.
Remember, we've had officials in this -- visiting
this country before told that the insurgency is in
its death throes. The American mission is turning how
many corners, that there is no civil war or that you
could walk the streets of Baghdad. All of which have
since proven to be false -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, Kyra, I will turn to you now. And given
the dog and pony show, as Michael there just
described, and I'm sure you can attest to some of
that as well, but can still something be learned?
Because when you're over there you talk to people on
the ground, who are in some of those tougher places.
So can you gain an education in that way, at least
talking to Iraqi soldiers, U.S. soldiers and Iraqi
citizens on the ground?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Michael hit it right on
the head. You know, these politicians, for the most
part, they zip in for a couple days. They have a
security entourage that's, you know, bigger than the
president, and they are shown certain things. They
cruise through the marketplace, and that's about it.
What these politicians have to do is, No. 1, sit down
with the Iraqi people. Go into these hawashans, these
abandoned warehouses where these middle-class Iraqis
have had to move because al Qaeda is forcing them out
of their neighborhoods, taking over their homes,
taking over their goods inside their homes. And now
they're living like homeless people. Sit down and
spend some time with those folks, hear what they have
to say.
And the Iraqi soldiers, this was amazing to me. So
many of these politicians, they go, they meet with
U.S. troops. But U.S. troops are under the command of
certain captains and generals and admirals. And you
know how it goes. They have public affairs officials.
They can only say certain things. But when I sat down
with Iraqi soldiers, it was totally uncensored. There
was nobody there standing over their shoulders
saying, OK, you can say this and you can't say this.
Take a listen of what some of the soldiers told me
when I was there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: If you could sit down with Obama what would
you tell him you need from him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I would ask
him to pay attention to the Middle East, and the
Iranian and American conflict that's happening on
Iraqi land. Our young people don't have simple things
like a job, electricity. We have oil, and we are poor
and jobless. We want new companies to trust Iraq and
invest in Iraq. We want jobs for our young people so
they don't join these terrorists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: That's the voice of the people. These are
the men and women who are on the frontline suffering,
and those are the people that the politicians need to
be talking to -- T.J.
HOLMES: And, Michael, back to you here, and one of
the criticisms we've been hearing over here about
Barack Obama, at least from Senator McCain, is that
he hasn't been there, Obama, hasn't been there since
'06. That was before the surge. If he would go now
and see how things were after the surge, then
possibly he'd have a different view. Do you believe
that is possible, that if Obama went now as opposed
to when he was there in '06, he would see something
differently, or like you said, it'd still be the same
old dog and pony show?
WARE: Well, it's still going to be, you know, a very
sterilized kind of visit. But I mean, let's look at
it from a different perspective. As you said
yourself, T.J., what, Senator McCain has been here
something like eight times. And Senator McCain gets
it glaringly wrong quite often as well. However, at
least you may get a much more of a bracing sense of
what's happening on the ground.
And where the advantage would be, would be those
off-the-cuff conversations. If indeed you could find
U.S. officials or soldiers who they bump into and
have a casual conversation. If there can be a frank
-- just for one frank moment, as rare as that might
be, could make the whole trip worthwhile. You
certainly can't rely on the Iraqi officials, because
they're going to tell the Americans just what they
think the Americans want to hear.
HOLMES: All right, and, Kyra, last thing to you here
quickly. We see these trips. How do the, I guess,
Iraqi soldiers, Iraqi citizens, as well as the
American soldiers, view these trips by VIPs? As you
all have said, they dip in and dip out for a couple
of days. Do they see people coming over to really
help, or see that they're coming over really to get
in front of cameras?
PHILLIPS: Well, you know what the soldiers think? The
soldiers think, OK, who is this American coming into
town with all this protection and all this security,
that's taking away from the streets that I'm supposed
to be here protecting?
So it's frustrating for them. And very rarely do they
ever get face time. I mean, Michael is so right. You
could call up Prime Minister Nuri al-Malaki, on a
conference call and probably get the same type of
conversation you would get if you met with him there
in the Green Zone. They've got to show up unannounced
and they've got to meet with the people that are
living this and fighting this war every single day.
Losing their lives, losing their loved ones, losing
their homes and losing part of their life every
single day.
HOLMES: Well, this back and forth, we -- no doubt
will continue between McCain and Obama. We'll see if
Obama does in fact head over to Iraq. But we know
he's not going to go with Senator John McCain.
Kyra Phillips, for us in New York. Also Michael Ware.
We appreciate you both. Appreciate both the expertise
you all can offer on this subject.
Thanks so much, guys.