AAM: "The men and women of
the Armed Forces aren't coming home anytime really
soon."
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Length: 3:09
LARGE (36.6 MB)
-----
SMALL (3.9 MB)
A second American Morning appearance, and
a discussion of the dangers faced by Iraqi troops
to keep a lid on the violence.
KIRAN
CHETRY: U.S. forces have officially turned over
control of cities and towns in Iraq to the country's
security forces. Iraq declared this a public holiday
calling it National Sovereignty Day.
Some celebrated during overnight hours with fireworks
and some singing and dancing in central Baghdad.
There wasn't a mass exodus today, though. U.S. troops
have been slowly pulling out. Most were gone by this
past weekend.
Our Michael Ware is tracking things live in Baghdad
this morning. And the other thing, you know, to say
that, you know, there's been this mass pullout, I
mean, we still have more than 100,000 troops in Iraq.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh,
yes, let's not delude ourselves. We're not seeing a
mass exodus of American troops. I mean,
unfortunately, the men and women of the Armed Forces
aren't coming home anytime really soon.
Under the agreement that was signed by the Bush
administration that started this war and effectively
established the end of this war, the U.S. has another
18 months to get the troops out. After that date, not
one single combat boot is to remain.
Under the plan as it stands by the Obama
administration, ideally that should be completed by
August of next year. I think we're going to have to
wait and see how that goes.
Those combat troops have retreated to a
pre-designated bases, a planned phased withdrawal
that began back in January. It took a long time. It's
all done now.
They underwrite the security just by their presence.
And, of course, they're going to have to continue
providing air support and firepower to the Iraqis.
Because on their own, this really wouldn't be an
entirely fair fight against the militant extremists,
particularly Al Qaeda, and particularly the extremely
well-trained Shia militants backed by Iran -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. There's also some brand new CNN/Opinion
Research poll out this morning. It shows that about
half of people think that violence will increase in
Iraq when we see U.S. troops leave. However, that
same study shows or poll, rather, shows that people
don't necessarily want us to go back into those urban
areas because of that uptick in violence. So is that
concern also there in Iraq about what's going to
happen once we're gone?
WARE: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And in many ways
people feel that the U.S. has gone, certainly in
terms of the street and certainly in terms of the
environment and what you can taste when you're in the
neighborhood because the U.S. forces simply aren't
there. And the people are celebrating that. Because
whether it was well intended or not, it was a foreign
occupation and they're delirious that that is
finished.
But the Iraqi people are well aware of the
capabilities and the limitations of their own
security forces. But given it's been a river of Iraqi
blood that's been spilt over these last seven years,
no one more than the Iraqis know the risks that
they're taking, nor does anyone know better than them
the price that they most likely will have to pay for
this sovereignty -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Michael Ware for us in Baghdad this morning.
Thanks.