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Michael sums up the day's events for Wolf. No evidence of a pullout, and in fact he adds that the incident with the tanks plowing through the police cars was actually an advancing of the Russian lines.
WOLF
BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to Michael Ware. He's
our man on the scene right now. He's watching what is
happening on the ground.
Michael, the Pentagon is suggesting they see
absolutely no evidence that the Russians are
withdrawing their combat forces from Georgia. In
fact, they see a digging-in of these Russian troops
in Georgia, despite the cease-fire agreement. You're
on the scene for us. What are you seeing and hearing?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I spent
all day today running around the eastern front of
this wall here in Georgia. So, that's essentially the
area of Georgia proper, just below South Ossetia.
Now, I will tell you what I saw. In the town of Gori,
when I got in there, it's all but vacant of the local
population, except for the old and the infirm and a
few scant families. Now, what those people were
telling me was that, whilst the city remains under
Russian domination, there appeared to be less Russian
troops than the day before.
However, in other positions around the city that I
have personally witnessed, I saw Russian troops
digging in literally, either gouging trenches into
the hillsides, sandbagging positions, cutting fresh
foliage to camouflage armor. And, indeed, the
incident that the Georgian president referred to,
where Russian armor bashed through a roadblock of
Georgian police vehicles, I was there, and I
witnessed that.
At the same time, I also had a Russian soldier tell
me that he and his men were tired. They didn't want
war. They just wanted to go home. Yet, at the same
time, oddly, given what the Georgian president says
about internment camps, I can't speak to that. I have
no evidence of that. But I can tell you, on the front
line today, all day, there was discussions of a
hostage exchange of some ill-defined nature.
So, it's a very complicated, very foggy picture out
there. But I can tell you that, as of dusk, when we
left this evening, despite Russian soldiers on the
checkpoints saying they had orders that they would be
pulling back when the sun went down, as we were
leaving the front line, those forces remained in
place.
Indeed, the incident involving the police cars was in
fact a Russian advance of several kilometers and that
the Russians in certain positions had, indeed, been
digging in throughout the day -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And we are showing our viewers those
pictures, amazing pictures, of a Russian tank simply
crushing these Georgian police vehicles, smaller
vehicles, as they're going through, as if they're
nothing. That's what you were referring to.
But, Michael, the charge -- and it's a very serious
charge -- made by President Saakashvili that the
Russians are engaged in -- quote -- "ethnic
cleansing," have you seen any evidence to back that
up?
WARE: No, I haven't yet, Wolf. And I'm not sure that
any has yet emerged.
I can tell you, though, that the entire area is
virtually evacuated of Georgians. Now, obviously,
tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of ethnic
Georgians fled the region in the face of not only the
advance of the Russian army, but in the face of the
activities of South Ossetian irregulars or
paramilitaries. Now, they're the ones that the locals
fear most. They're the ones that the locals claim
have been the most brutal. Now, so we do know that
there's definitely a pall of fear hanging over what
remains of the Georgian population in that area,
that, as I said, the area has been evacuated through
flight or some other means or reason, and that the
Russian troops remain there, and that there's a lot
of questions yet to be answered -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael Ware, be careful over there. Good to
have you on the scene for all of us here at CNN.
Michael Ware is in Georgia.
Let's go to Jack. He's got "The Cafferty File."
I don't know about you, Jack, but I think I and all
of our viewers are happy that Michael Ware -- I don't
know if he's happy, but we're happy that he's
watching this story for us.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, he's pretty good at
that stuff.