NR: " 'Let us do it in the
Iraqi way.' "
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Length: 5:14
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With his voice giving out from the hours of
reporting and the sandstorm onslaught, Michael
gives another recap of the changes wrought by the
handover.
KYRA
PHILLIPS: Hopes and fears meeting head-on right now
in Iraq, on this day when U.S. troops complete their
pullback from Iraqi cities and towns. Insurgents
respond in deadly ways. In Kirkuk, at least 25 people
killed; at least twice that number hurt in the latest
bombing. Houses, shops destroyed. The bombing is just
the latest in a series over the last ten days that
have left hundreds of people dead in that country,
including four of our U.S. soldiers that were killed
yesterday.
Iraq's renewed sense of national pride coming with a
cost. Still, the American military believes Iraqi
police and soldiers can handle it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RAYMOND ODIERNO, COMMANDER, MULTI-NATIONAL
FORCES IN IRAQ: We've been out of the cities, a large
majority of the cities now, for the last eight
months. So, it's really only Mosul and the last
remnants that we've had in Baghdad that have pulled
out over the last few weeks. So we've actually been
implementing this in many parts of Baghdad for a long
time. And they understand what their mission is. They
understand what we expect them to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, things are playing out just like many
Iraqi and American politicians and military types had
predicted. We've got the story covered in Baghdad
with our Michael Ware and also CNN's Atia Abawi is in
Afghanistan. Some troops leaving Iraq will end up
there at some point on a new assignment.
Michael, let's go ahead and go to you first. What do
you think? Do U.S. troops there really think that
Iraq's police and military are ready for this?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra -- excuse
me. Kyra, that's a yes and a no answer. In a vacuum,
the Iraqi security forces simply are not yet up to
this fight. There's hundreds and thousands of them in
the Iraqi Army, the police, the national police. But
their loyalties can be at question. Their equipment
also may not be up to what they need.
And their procedures: despite endless hours of
American training, they insist on doing it the way
they prefer. And that's the way they knew under
Saddam.
So, yes, can they hold the line right now? They can.
General Ray Odierno is correct. But that's only
because 130,000 American combat troops are still here
on the ground.
Now, as you say, they've pulled out of the cities and
retreated to pre-designated bases outside of the
populated centers. They're not far away. But they
cannot operate on their own in the urban environment,
which, as you know, has been the heart of this war.
They're in a supporting role, the U.S. forces. They
must either ask for the Iraq's government permission
to act, or they have to wait for an invitation.
Nonetheless, it's their presence, their helicopters,
their air power, their heavy weaponry that's
underwriting or acting as the insurance for these
still rather nascent Iraqi security forces to hold
the line against this bombing campaign that's been
going for years.
This is being conducted not by the insurgency. The
insurgency's playing a political game. This is being
done by the extremists. In this case, these hideous
bombings like the one we've just seen that's killed
30 -- 30 -- and many of them women and children by al
Qaeda in Iraq and its allies, who are trying to
return Iraq to sectarian civil war.
Meanwhile, you have Iranian-backed extremists, Shia
militants, who are still lobbing missiles and rockets
on their U.S. embassy and the Green Zone. The Iraqi
security forces alone can't bring that to an end as
it stands, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And you bring up such a good point. You
talk about still this cultural difference of what you
have to fight a war that many of these Iraqis haven't
-- have never had to deal with before. I mean, you've
talked to Iraqis; I've talked to Iraqis. They've
said, you know, "We never knew how to deal with a
terrorist until this war started." So, what are the
Iraqis telling you? What are the members of the
police and the Iraqis you know that live there and
members of the military? I mean, do they think they
can handle this? Or are they scared to death to lose
U.S. troops, who are still training them?
WARE: Some feel positive, rightly or wrongly, they
can handle this. "Let us do it in the Iraqi way," is
what they say.
And, Kyra, I think you know as well as I do what they
mean by that. Either way, even those who are a bit
more realistic or a bit less callous, shall we say,
there's a point where they don't care. People are
just so happy that the U.S. phase of this war, the
U.S.-led phase, is over. No matter how you look at
it, to the Iraqis, it's been a foreign occupation.
That's now over. And if the price of that is they
have to face the militants alone, by and large,
despite the apprehension, they're ready to pay that
price, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Michael Ware, I know it's been a long day
and a long night for you. Appreciate you staying up
for us.
WARE: Yes.