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Michael spends Saturday night at work... he speaks with Don Lemon about Iraq and Afghanistan and the political football that the wars have become.
DON LEMON:
The issues that matter to you in this historic
election. We have been breaking down ten of them over
ten days. Tonight: foreign policy. The next
commander-in-chief will command a country that is
still very much at war. Iraq and Afghanistan, two
battle fronts, two battles that have captured our
attention, fueled our debates, and shed our blood for
years now.
Barack Obama and John McCain. Two candidates, two
very different war strategies. Let's bring in a man
who has spent extensive time on the front lines in
Iraq and Afghanistan. It is our Michael Ware.
Michael, let's start with Iraq. We've been talking
about Iraq and the so-called surge. You say both
Barack Obama and John McCain are right and wrong
about Iraq. Explain yourself on that one.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well,
that's right, Don. I mean, in one sense, one of the
candidates makes what is by and large a fairly
accurate assessment of the situation on the ground
but then makes a bizarre or erroneous conclusion more
politically based than one based on facts. The other
candidate makes a conclusion without looking at the
true assessment. Now, let me explain that.
Senator McCain has been by and large fairly close to
the events and information in Iraq. And his
assessment of the battlefront for the past few years
has been very close to accurate. Where he's wrong is
dressing this up as a win in the traditional sense.
And where he's also wrong is plugging this thing that
we now call the surge. Intellectually, it's almost
demeaning to the senator for him to be saying the
surge is the miracle cure.
LEMON: Why do you say that?
WARE: Well, the surge is a political buzz word that
people here in America do understand, but the
successes -- and let's not deny it, there are
successes in Iraq, that's uncategorical. But those
successes have very little to do with the actual
surge. The surge was sending 30,000 reinforcements to
the capital of Baghdad. The events, the movements,
the momentum that has led to the fall in violence
that we're now seeing -- only 13 dead Americans last
month -- started two years ago and has nothing to do
with the troop reinforcements.
So, he's dumbing it down. Whereas Senator Obama is
looking at domestic concerns. Let's get our kids
home. Who doesn't want that? But what he's not
telling anyone is what that's going to cost you. And
how he's going to pay for it.
LEMON: You know -- and Michael, good points here. But
I also want to talk about Afghanistan, because we
have seen the fighting there build up. So if more
allied troops are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq, why
aren't we hearing more about Afghanistan, Michael?
WARE: Well, Afghanistan, in terms of the war, is the
redheaded stepchild. I mean, it's the one that has
been long forgotten. But I mean, I lived in
Afghanistan for a year after September 11th. I spent
most of my time in Kandahar, at one point being one
of the only westerners living in the city. That's the
home of the Taliban.
Now, in 2002, the Taliban would take me across the
Pakistani border into Pakistan, to their training
camps, their madrasas, their schools. It was clear
and evident then that the Taliban were resurgent.
We're now, what, six years later and people are
suddenly waking up as though it's a shock.
Now, the next president -- both are promising, we'll
deal with al-Qaeda, we'll deal with the Taliban.
Well, sending more troops there ain't going to do it,
because that border, that terrain, mountains, it's
the end of the Himalayas, swallows infantry divisions
whole.
The real key, and no one's talking about this, is the
Pakistani intelligence agency, Islamabad's version of
the CIA. They're the ones who have been helping al
Qaeda, helping the Taliban, certainly elements of
them, and that's the key to defeating them. And no
candidate has even mentioned their name.
LEMON: CNN's Michael Ware has been on the front lines
in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Michael, you're very
passionate about it. And we appreciate you coming in
here.
WARE: Yeah.
LEMON: On a Saturday night.
WARE: Yeah. I'd say I'd love being here on a Saturday
night, but I don't lie.
LEMON: Okay. Michael Ware, thank you. Again, we
appreciate it, sir.