TSR: "The Sunnis are
attacking the Shia; the Shia...lashing out at the
Americans."
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Length: 2:57
LARGE (34.2 MB)
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SMALL (3.6 MB)
Michael outlines the week's carnage for
Wolf.
WOLF
BLITZER: No letup in the rising wave of violence
across Baghdad. A car bomb exploded today at a
southwest Baghdad bus station, killing five more
people. The spike in deadly attacks comes as U.S.
troops work toward their mandated withdrawal from all
Iraqi urban areas by June 30th. That's next Tuesday.
Let's go to Baghdad.
CNN's Michael Ware is joining us now -- Michael,
what's really going on right now, as we get ready for
this complete withdrawal of US military forces by
next Tuesday?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as we're
preparing for this retreat of the forces into these
pre-designated bases -- and let's bear in mind, it's
already Friday here. So we're now down to four days
here on the ground before this significant handover
-- the end of the American-led war in Iraq and the
beginning of the Iraqi-led war. Well, all being --
all taking place against a backdrop of violence.
Now, you referred to a car bomb here in Baghdad.
Well, this evening there was another car bomb. This
one was in the northern city of Mosul. Fortunately,
it only killed one person. Now, the car bomb that you
talked about was at a bus station. Just six, seven
hours before that one detonated, another bomb
detonated in the same place, just meters away. So the
first one killed two, the second killed five people.
Just in Baghdad alone, we've had nine people die
today.
And let's not forget, nine U.S. soldiers have been
wounded today, as well, when their patrol was hit by
not one, but by two roadside bombs. We now have a
confirmed report from the U.S. military that another
U.S. patrol was hit by a roadside bomb. However,
there was only minor damage.
Iraqis are reporting yet another attack on Americans.
That, however, has yet to be confirmed.
All of the incidents involving the Americans,
interestingly enough, are in eastern Baghdad or
Shia-controlled areas. Conversely, all of the
bombings, the assassinations, the mortar attacks, the
shootings -- all of this slaughter against the Iraqi
civilians is happening by Sunnis in Shia areas.
So it's like the Sunnis are attacking the Shia. The
Shia, to some degree, have been lashing out at the
Americans.
The intent of all of this -- it's part of a
long-running campaign. There's Sunni extremist groups
who are looking to bring us back to the bloodbath of
the sectarian war. And it's heightening, it's
intensifying on the cusp of the handover of the
conflict here in Iraq -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael Ware, we'll check back with you
tomorrow.
Thanks very much.
The countdown continuing towards next Tuesday, when
all US combat missions in Iraqi cities must be over
with. The dangers, though, continue.