AC: "This represents the
new focus, both militarily and politically, on
Afghanistan."
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Length: 5:35
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It's 5am in Baghdad, yet Michael is wide-awake
and raring to go. Anderson Cooper (anchoring from
Los Angeles) talks to him primarily about
Afghanistan and the new push by the Marines into
Helmand Province, a place that Michael knows well
from 2002, when he reported from there for
Time magazine.
They also talk about the Iraqi reaction to the
American pullback from the cities. Personally, I
think all that show of Iraqi nationalism is a good
thing -- if anything will pull the country
together, it is that kind of pride and feeling that
they are one country, not a bunch of warring
factions or sects or tribes.
ANDERSON
COOPER: Coming to you tonight from Los Angeles, where
we'll have more on the Michael Jackson investigation
shortly.
But there's breaking news tonight out of Afghanistan
to tell you about. U.S. troops have launched a major
operation against Taliban fighters in the Helmand
River Valley. It's in the southwest corner of the
country, a region that produces more opium than
anywhere else in the world. It is the first
large-scale test of the U.S. military's new
counterinsurgency strategy. Some 4,000 Marines are
involved.
Michael Ware joins me now from Baghdad. He's been
covering the pull-out of U.S. troops there, a turning
point this week in Iraq.
Michael, Afghanistan. Major operation, 4,000 American
troops, Marines pushing through southern Afghanistan.
How significant is this?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is
significant. I mean, this represents the new focus,
both militarily and politically, on Afghanistan.
But I can tell you, Anderson, I lived for a year in
Kandahar, which was the former capital of the
Taliban. This area where the troops are moving in
Helmand, I know it like the back of my hand. I was
running around there in 2002. This is ominous
terrain.
The Russians never took this territory. And I know
that going up the valley where these troops are now,
it's littered with the rusting hulks of Russian
armor. This is not going to be an easy place to
fight.
And I've seen some of this before. Some of this is
reminiscent in different parts of Afghanistan. I
remember way over in the east of the country going
and living with American Green Berets and some
Marines in very small outposts in some of the most
fiercest valleys on that part of the country. So in
some ways this is the old made new again.
But I can tell you one thing, Anderson. Like I said,
no one's ever taken this country off the hands of the
commanders there. There's going to be one heck of a
fight for this, Anderson.
COOPER: Well, 4,000 Marines, I give them good odds.
The British have been fighting there this past year.
It is a huge opium-growing area. Is this, though, a
change in U.S. strategy? They're not just moving in.
Their strategy right now is to move in and hold.
Right?
WARE: That's right. That's right. And that's classic
counterinsurgency, and we know that CENTCOM Commander
David Petraeus literally rewrote the American manual
on this kind of warfare. He applied it here in Iraq,
and they're reapplying it in Afghanistan.
But, for example, in areas along the Afghan border,
there has long been posts within Afghan villages,
where we've seen the troops doing precisely this. Not
just move in and clear but stick and stay. The hold
concept of the clear, hold, and build strategy of
counterinsurgency.
It's the first time we're seeing such a devoted
effort in this particular part of Afghanistan. I
think what we'll see is, as these troops move in now
in force, we'll now see them start to set up their
little bases. I would suspect they'll receive little
resistance initially. The insurgents there, the
Afghan fighters who fought against the Soviets in the
same valleys, I suspect will just be sitting back and
waiting and watching. And they'll wait for the little
posts to be established, and that's what they'll
start hitting, Anderson.
COOPER: Let's keep those Marines in our prayers
tonight. Michael, you're in Baghdad. It's been two
days since the U.S. pulled back troops out of major
cities. A big milestone. We've seen pictures of
Iraqis yesterday dancing in the streets. How have
they reacted and how are American troops reacting
right now?
WARE: Well, Anderson, this has really been a mixed
bag of emotions across the spectrum from Iraqi to
American. I mean, on the eve of this landmark
handover, which was -- which is the end of the
U.S.-led war in Iraq, there was tumultuous scenes
among the Iraqis.
I went to a park here in central Baghdad. Literally
hundreds of families picnicking, bands strolling
about the park like mariachis. Young men singing and
dancing, draped in Iraqi flags.
National television, state TV had a countdown timer
fonted in the corner of its screen, its anchors
draped in national flags. For them, this is like
popping the champagne cork on Iraqi nationality --
nationalism. They're such a fiercely proud people,
and whether it was well intended or not on our part,
they see this as the end of a foreign occupation, and
they've been celebrating it that way.
They declared it a national holiday, indeed, National
Sovereignty Day.
Among some in the American mission, that hasn't been
easy to take. I know that some of the officials who
were aggrieved that such a celebration, they felt,
belied the American sacrifice in this country. 4,324
American servicemen and servicewomen laid down their
lives. And some felt that not enough due was being
paid to that here in Iraq.
And I'd like to think that at least in America people
paused and stopped on that day to think about that
sacrifice, Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. It's a good point, Michael. We got a lot
of e-mails from viewers, kind of angry at seeing
those pictures, and saying they didn't see a lot of
Iraqis saying "thank you." And that's something they
would have liked to hear, certainly.
Michael Ware, appreciate the reporting from Baghdad
tonight. Michael, thanks.