AAM: "I suspect there may
be a high price for that sovereignty, but the Iraqis
are clearly ready to pay for it."
Monday, June 29, 2009
Length: 3:35
LARGE (41.5 MB)
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Michael talks to Kiran Chetry about the handover
and how Iraqis are feeling about it.
KIRAN
CHETRY: Nineteen minutes past the hour now. Welcome
back to the Most News in the Morning.
We're just 24 hours away from a major benchmark in
the more than six-year-old Iraq war. Tomorrow is the
deadline for U.S. troops to pull out of Iraq's major
cities and to turn security operations over to Iraqi
forces.
CNN's Michael Ware is live for us in Baghdad with
more on this benchmark. And what does it really mean
going forward for the U.S. military mission in Iraq,
Michael?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well,
Kiran, first and foremost, let's -- I mean, let's try
and get our heads around what exactly this means.
This is formally the end of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
America will no longer be in charge.
I mean, this is a war that the Bush administration
started. As President Obama calls it, the war of
choice. Well, in the dying days of the Bush
administration, they signed this international
agreement with Baghdad that dictated the timetable
for the ending of this war. And June 30, tomorrow, is
the first grand step.
Now what happens is that by that time, by tomorrow,
and it's been under way for six months, of course,
all U.S. troops will have pulled out of Iraq's cities
and bases, cities and towns, and they retreat to
pre-designated bases.
There'll still be a few Americans out there, advisers
embedded with Iraqi units. There'll be some partnered
patrols, and I'm sure we're going to see some joint
operations from time to time.
Bottom line, America is no longer in charge as of
tomorrow morning and that the Iraqis are in control
and America can only operate within the urban centers
at the invitation or with the permission of the Iraqi
government. In some ways, this is very much an end of
the American phase of the war, Kiran.
CHETRY: Interesting thing, this is happening at a
time where we've been seeing increased violence,
these suicide bombings, one of the deadliest taking
place within the last week. How do the civilians feel
about this? I mean, you have said so many times that
they just want to be safe. They want to be able to
feel like they can walk around their neighborhoods
and be safe, their kids can go to school, that they
can earn a living. So what are we dealing with in
terms of where that leaves the country?
WARE: Gee, you know, you'd think an answer -- a
question like that would have a simple answer. But as
always, this is Iraq, it's very complicated.
This has been a long running bombing campaign. Al
Qaeda in Iraq and its allies trying to bring Iraq
back to sectarian civil war.
Yes, they yearn for security. Yet, they're the
minority that wants the Americans to stay in the
streets. The vast majority of Iraqis are in a
celebratory mood.
State TV, Iraqi state TV currently is fonted with a
countdown to the handover. Tomorrow is a national
holiday. These people are celebrating that finally
foreign troops will be out of their streets, whether
those troops were well-intended or not. Foreign tanks
will be gone, that the Iraqis will finally be in
charge. I suspect there may be a high price for that
sovereignty, but the Iraqis are clearly ready to pay
for it, Kiran.
CHETRY: And tomorrow we'll get our first look at how
things are going. Michael Ware for us this morning
from Baghdad. Thanks so much.