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ROBERTS: What do you think about that, Michael, that
we're not passing along to the American people the
fact that there is some progress in terms of the
number of deaths on the streets of Baghdad?
WARE: Well, in terms of the number of deaths from a
particularly kind of violence in Baghdad, that's
true.
JOHN ROBERTS: Eighteen
minutes now after the hour.
Senator McCain grabbing headlines this morning,
telling us in the past half hour that the surge in
Iraq is working and that neighborhoods are becoming
safer.
CNN's Michael Ware joins us now to do a little
reality check on what the senator is saying. Michael,
you've watched and you've monitored what the senator
has been saying over the past few days. Generally,
what is your take on it?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, overall,
in the broad thrust, the senator is correct to say
that the current strategy being employed, headed by
the new American commander of the war, General David
Petraeus, is, indeed, having an impact on the levels
of violence in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq,
particularly in terms of sectarian violence.
Basically, the civil war. And in many ways, Senator
McCain's Iraq policies have been amongst the
strongest in the political sphere in D.C.
Nonetheless, the senator went deep overboard when he
suggested fantastically that Americans could now dare
to stroll the streets of certain parts of Baghdad
and, indeed, that the top American commander, General
Petraeus, drives about the capital in a Humvee that
does not have weapons. So, he really put his
credibility on the line there. And we see this
morning with you, John, the senator backing away with
that, putting his campaign vehicle into high gear
reverse.
ROBERTS: Yeah, I mean, he definitely said that, well,
what I meant to say was that General Petraeus goes
out there in the neighborhoods of Baghdad, and he
also clarified his earlier comments on the Bill
Bennett radio show to say that, I'm not saying people
could walk around these neighborhoods without
protection.
But he did certainly insist that things are getting
better, and he blamed the media, in part, for not
portraying that picture.
Let me play a little bit of what he said to me this
morning and get you to response to it, Michael.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The fact is that the
neighborhoods are safer, and every indicator of that,
the number of bodies found, the number of deaths, the
fact is we are making progress. It's still dangerous,
it's still a long way to go, but the fact is that
things have improved. And much of that you do not get
to the American people, and that's just a fact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What do you think about that, Michael, that
we're not passing along to the American people the
fact that there is some progress in terms of the
number of deaths on the streets of Baghdad?
WARE: Well, in terms of the number of deaths from a
particularly kind of violence in Baghdad, that's
true. But even American commanders on the ground
distance themselves from what Senator McCain has said
about the broad-term implications of this.
Everybody knows that the insurgents and militias are
laying low. Yes, the military is putting stress on
them right now. But time and time again, they bounce
back. They displace, they move their violence
everywhere.
At the end of the day, nothing has really changed.
The fundamental dynamics of the war aren't being
addressed.
And we see today, with the release of a report for
West Point by retired General Barry McCaffrey, where
he spells out that Iraq is ripped by a low-grade
civil war. Three million Iraqis are displaced, they
don't trust their own prime minister. The government
isn't functioning.
The police are feared. The army, the Iraqi army, is
too small and underequipped.
U.S. support for the war has evaporated and will not
return. Current deployment of U.S. forces is not
sustainable.
He says, however, that the current strategy could
work, that it's still possible to achieve a stable
Iraq that doesn't have weapons of mass destruction
and doesn't harbor terrorists. But there's nothing
about democracy.
And correct me if I'm wrong. Wasn't that the central
strategy of the Bush administration plan for this
country, to be a shining beacon for the rest of the
Middle East?
ROBERTS: And Michael, McCaffrey backs you up as well,
saying you can't go out in the neighborhood in
Baghdad without an armed escort, as well.
Michael Ware, as always, from Baghdad, thanks. Good
to see you, buddy -- Soledad.