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KIRAN
CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the next president will
face a number of critical decisions concerning
America's foreign policy. They include withdrawing
U.S. troops from Iraq. When will that happen? How
will it happen?
Plus, how to confront the growing threat from
insurgents fighting in Afghanistan and also, should
the U.S. directly engage Iran? Joe Biden's foreign
policy experience is expected to be a big boost to
Barack Obama.
CNN's Michael Ware is just back from Georgia, spent a
ton of time in Iraq as well, and he's with us now in
the studio.
Good to see you.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.
It's glad to be here.
CHETRY: Yes. I want to ask you about your thoughts on
Joe Biden and the fact that he's been a long-time
supporter of partitioning Iraq into three separate
autonomous regions.
WARE: Yes.
CHETRY: Is that something that could and would work?
WARE: Well, madness, really, to be honest. I mean, as
you see, when Senator Biden was -- his nomination was
announced, you found out that opposition to Senator
Biden's partition policy is one thing that unites the
three ethnic groups in Iraq. No one is for partition
unless, of course, you're an Iranian-backed political
party, because they'd love to have a self-governing
zone in the south that effectively would become an
extension of Iran. So really that would play into the
hands of Tehran. So, no, that's not an effective
strategy.
CHETRY: That's very interesting. When we talk about
this troop plan, Barack Obama is talking about a
withdrawal, saying we're talking about one to two
brigades, and that perhaps by 16 months we could be
out. Whereas John McCain is saying we do need to
still have a distinctive troop presence to fight
al-Qaeda, to train Iraqis, and to protect our
interests there. Which one would work better?
WARE: Well, I think only time will tell. And right
now, the agreement is being thrashed out in Baghdad
and Washington at the moment, settles on what is it,
2011, as a full withdrawal, with U.S. troops back in
their bases by June next year. So we're sort of
standing in the middle of those two policies at the
moment.
The real issue here that no one is facing -- and I
would love to hear from Senator Obama's team about
this -- you can withdraw. You can withdraw tomorrow.
You can withdraw in 16 months, whatever you want, as
long as you're ready to pay the price.
I want to hear people acknowledge, yes, we know what
the price of withdrawal is. Yes, we're willing to pay
for it, and this is how we're going to deal with the
long-term implications, because at the end of the day
what you're doing is giving Iraq to Iran.
And you're emboldening what President Bush called,
remember, the axis of evil. And don't forget, Iran
sponsored Hezbollah in Lebanon, who defeated the
Israeli Defense Force. They're now back -- after
helping America defeat the Taliban, intel reports say
they're now helping the Taliban.
So Iran is very much in the middle of everything and
that's the key foreign policy issue I want to hear
from the candidates. Here's the price tag for Iraq.
Are you ready to pay it?
CHETRY: Very interesting. It's always great to get
your perspective. Michael Ware, thanks for being with
us. We'll check in with you a little bit later as
well.
WARE: Thanks, Kiran.