TSR: " 'This is a day when
the will of Iraq has won.' "
Monday, June 29, 2009
Length: 2:57
LARGE (34.1 MB)
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SMALL (3.6 MB)
Suzanne Malveaux asks Michael whether the Iraqis
can sustain the more-or-less stable situation.
Yes...with 130,000 Americans backing them up. Hey,
it's a start... They may not yet be ready for the
training wheels to come off, but it is a start.
SUZANNE
MALVEAUX: It's now past midnight in Iraq and the much
anticipated deadline for U.S. forces to withdraw from
Iraqi towns and cities has arrived. The U.S.
commander in charge in Iraq tells CNN's John King
that he believes the country's military is up to the
new challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RAY ODIERNO, CMDR. MULTI NATIONAL FORCE IRAQ: I
do believe they're ready, John. They've been working
towards this for a long time. And security remains
good. We've seen constant improvement in the security
forces. We've seen constant improvement in
governance, and I believe this is the time for us to
move out of the cities and for them to take ultimate
responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Let's bring in our CNN's Michael Ware, who
is in Baghdad on the ground. Michael, is the general
right about this? What have you seen? Are they ready?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a yes
and there's a no answer to this. In a vacuum, in the
ultimate truth, no. No. Iraqi security forces as they
exist could not hold this stability together as we've
come to know it. What's important here is that the
general's right to the degree that, yes, they can do
it with 130,000 U.S. combat troops still here in this
country, albeit retreated to their pre-approved
bases. It's the U.S. forces who are still
underwriting the relative security we have now here
in Iraq. And it's the U.S. forces who provide what
the general calls enablers. Now, that's going to be
the helicopters, the heavy artillery, and the other
things that will allow the Iraqi security forces to
move forward.
But certainly, the responsibility now for running
this war, because, as of 40, 50 minutes ago, the
American-led war in Iraq is over. This is now the
Iraqi war in Iraq. Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki is
now in charge, and this evening, Iraq has celebrated.
There's been parties across the country. I was at one
at a park in central Baghdad. Hundreds of families,
Suzanne, gathered, picnicking. There was singing,
chanting, bands strolling about. There was even a
concert. And we've seen this in other cities, too.
State TV has been running a daily countdown to this
moment, and 16 seconds to midnight they started
ticking down literally to the handover. The anchors
were draped in Iraqi flags. And as the font said,
this is a day when the will of Iraq has won, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Michael Ware, our guy on the ground in
Baghdad, thank you so much, Michael.