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WOLF
BLITZER: And joining us now, our correspondent in
Baghdad, Michael Ware -- Michael, what do you make of
this to-do that's going on here, whether or not
Barack Obama should actually go to Baghdad, see
what's going on?
Senator McCain saying, you know, he should go over
there and talk to Iraqis, talk to U.S. military and
diplomatic leadership over there.
What's your sense of this whole uproar?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, to me,
honestly, Wolf, it seems like a bit of a storm in a
teacup. I mean I have to say from the outset, I'll
give respect to any U.S. decision-maker who wants to
come and see at least what it is they can see, no
matter how narrow that prism is.
However, I'll issue a word of caution, too. I mean
Senator McCain has been here, what, more than half a
dozen times. And we've seen him get assessments of
Iraq terribly wrong. So I wouldn't be hanging my hat
on the fact that your opponent has only been here
once.
And let's not forget: what do American officials get
to see?
Well, they get to see the rooftops of a lot of Iraqi
houses as they chopper over them or across vast
expanses of desert. They get to see rooms in the
inside of U.S. bases and the Green Zone, both of
which are divorced from reality. And they'll get
inundated with military briefings.
Now, in these briefings, in the past, officials have
been told the insurgency was in its death throes,
there was no civil war, that Iranian influence wasn't
that big a problem, that al Qaeda had been defeated.
I mean, you really aren't going to get much of a real
picture. It's almost by definition impossible.
And General Petraeus, the commander in the war here,
doesn't pull any punches. So you almost could gain as
much from having a private chat with him when he was
last on Capitol Hill.
Nonetheless, I say, respect to anyone who wants to
come here and try. But, really, don't raise your
expectations -- Wolf.
BLITZER: You've been there now, what, for some five
years.
What would a U.S. leader -- a major senator or
presidential candidate or a president, for that
matter, really need to do to go over to Iraq and get
a sense -- a real understanding and appreciation of
what's going on?
A, how long would they have to stay, and how would
they be able to do it?
WARE: Well, obviously that's going to be very, very
difficult. And I guess, in many ways, they've got to
rely on their deputies and lieutenants, because any
answer you get is not going to be one without a
filter. They're going to be -- they're going to be
shaped in one way or another.
Any Iraqi official you talk to is going to play the
same old game. They're going to tell the Americans
what they think the Americans want to hear. And
American commanders have to impress, as well. I
mean-- and they'll give as frank an assessment as
they can. But so often we've seen, even the American
commanders have made miscalculations during this war.
And let's not forget, I mean, the strictures of a
U.S. official coming here, they're such a grand
target.
Now, let's compare that to the visit of the Iranian
president, Ahmadinejad. He announces a visit weeks in
advance, didn't come in secret. He drove from the
airport, didn't chopper. He stayed outside the Green
Zone overnight and he walked the streets of Baghdad.
And he didn't have 100 American troops around him,
like Senator McCain.
So it's going to be extraordinarily difficult for
them to ever get a real picture. Perhaps, for example
some other people -- I'd be more than willing. I'd
challenge either candidate who comes here to sit down
and give me 20 minutes. And I speak to the
insurgents, I speak to the militias, I speak to the
Iranians, and I speak to the Iraqi officials in their
private moments.
Let's have a shot at it -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Maybe they'll just do that.
Michael, thanks very much.
WARE: Thank you, Wolf.