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KIRAN
CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And now, here to offer his
perspective on this drawdown plan is CNN's Baghdad
correspondent Michael Ware. Thanks for being with us.
So we heard what Barbara Starr is telling us about
this drawdown of troops. Partially political?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Well, I
think so. I mean, the tone certainly suits. Is it
coincidence or is it by design? It's difficult to
say.
One thing is clear, though. The conditions on the
ground, which was always to be the prerequisite for a
drawdown, do justify some pulling out of U.S. troops.
I mean, let's look at it.
But all the measures that the U.S. military uses,
violence is down by between 40 to 80 percent.
Civilians who are dying at 4,000 a month 18 months
ago are now dying at 500 a month. U.S. troops in the
last May, 126 were killed. This May, 19.
So, the violence has come down. So, there is an
argument that, yes, you can start freeing up troops.
But as we keep saying, what no one is looking at is
what's the price for that success.
CHETRY: And what you've talked about every time
you're here...
WARE: Yes.
CHETRY: ... is the growing Iranian influence and that
once the U.S. troops leave, somebody is going to fill
that vacuum and void. Who will it be? Chances are
possibly Iran.
Is there any way to head that off? Meaning that, are
we just delaying the inevitable by not having -- by
keeping U.S. troops there?
WARE: In a sense, yes, it is delaying of the
inevitable. Although, however, I believe with the
ongoing presence of the U.S. troops will increasingly
become, it's not so much a force to keep violence
down, a force to strike al-Qaeda. It's going to be a
force to try and consolidate the Sunni's position, to
protect that Sunni interest, which is so important to
America's Arab allies.
Listen, by this point, Pentagon strategists, the
White House, the mission on the ground from the
embassy have all conceded in one way or another that
Iran has the upper hand, politically and certainly in
terms of their militias and paramilitaries. So it's
like given that people have come to that realization,
now it's making the best of a worse situation.
CHETRY: That's one of the things that Bob Woodward
talks about in his new book that he wrote, revising
what winning means and what success is in Iraq, and
something we'll be talking about with you over the
coming days.
Thanks for being with us, Michael.
WARE: Great pleasure.