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Michael recaps the current status of the war and the SOFA talks.
KIRAN
CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And as we showed you live at the
top of the show, President Bush is in London this
morning and he's talking with Prime Minister Gordon
Brown. One of the main topics on the table: Iraq.
President Bush spoke about England's presence on the
front lines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I
know there's a lot of discussion here in the British
press about -- well, you know, has he given enough
troops or not enough troops and all that business.
And as he trying to distance this, that and the
others, you know, typical.
But it's -- I just want to remind you that he has
left more troops in Iraq than initially anticipated.
And like me, we'll be making our decisions based upon
the conditions on the ground, the recommendation of
our commanders, without an artificial timetable set
by politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And CNN correspondent Michael Ware joins us
from Baghdad now.
So, he said again, as he's said before, about
decisions based on conditions on the ground. What are
those conditions right now, Michael?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well,
Kiran, right now in relative terms, the war in Iraq
is in better shape, clearly, than it was a year or
two years ago.
We're sort of at levels of violence pre the worst
days of Fallujah in 2004. That's undisputed. Civilian
deaths are down. Sectarian murders in Baghdad alone
are down by more than 90 percent. So, that's the
condition.
Yes, things are quieter on the surface. The real
question is, what did America have to do to achieve
this and what're going to be those implications:
tearing apart the social fabric of Iraq,
institutionalizing the sectarian cleansing, walling
off sectarian communities -- literally, we've got
blast barriers in the capital -- and then those
communities that did not have Iranian-backed militias
to protect them, America funded and supports
American-backed militias to protect those
communities.
We're also seeing the on-going American support of an
Iraqi government that does not support America. As
General Petraeus himself says, the President of Iraq
-- the reality of life -- is an agent of influence
for Iran. So, yes, the conditions on the ground do
look better if you look just at the thin veneer of
the surface, Kiran. Scratch a little bit deeper and
there's a lot more to be said.
CHETRY: In fact, I think some of those sentiments
were echoed by Iraq's Foreign Minister Zebari, who
talked to Wolf Blitzer yesterday. Let's hear a little
bit about what he said on "LATE EDITION."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOSHYAR ZEBARI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: Iraq has been
to hell many times and back. And now, we have the
right policies, the right personnel and we have a
committed government to accomplish its national
agenda. And the surge strategy has worked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: He said to accomplish its national agenda.
So, what is the next step of that final handover to
Iraqis when the U.S. troops can then come home?
WARE: Well, obviously, the big step right now is the
negotiations for an agreement between Washington and
Baghdad. The U.N. mandate, essentially the authority
for this war, runs out at the end of the year. The
clock is ticking. Baghdad and Washington are going
back and forth over the terms of these conditions.
The Iraqi government, however, is threatening to go
it alone. Pass their own legislation in their own
Congress to dictate to the next president how many
troops he can have, where they'll be, and what they
can do.
So, the next step is going to be about how much is
America prepared to give or sell away in return for a
troop homecoming or preservation of American
interests in the region. Right now, Iran has the
upper hand. Iran is the clear winner of the war so
far. You can pull out tomorrow as long as you're
ready to wear the consequences.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Michael Ware, great to get your perspective
as always from Baghdad this morning.
Thanks.