NR: "Essentially, they're
an insurance policy."
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Length: 5:29
LARGE (63.6 MB)
-----
SMALL (6.7 MB)
Michael's prepared piece on the handover,
followed by a Q&A with Fredricka Whitfield
about the new role for US troops still in Iraq.
FREDRICKA
WHITFIELD: All right, Tuesday's the deadline for most
American troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities. the
move, pushed by the Iraqi government, comes at a time
of stepped-up violence in Baghdad and other cities.
CNN's Michael Ware is in Baghdad.
MICHAEL WARE (voice-over): After so much of this --
American troops in blazing combat -- the American-led
war in Iraq is coming to an end. Despite successful
elections and the people's return to a vaguely normal
life, this is how the US withdrawal is beginning to
look: a bombing in a Baghdad market where 72 people
out shopping were killed. Or here, this mosque in the
north, where a suicide truckbomber killed 80. Or in
this Baghdad market for used motorbikes, with 15 more
slain. In less than a week, more than 200 Iraqis have
been butchered across the country, prompting the
government to warn people to stay away from crowded
locations.
For one thing is almost certain: these attacks will
continue, as al Qaeda and its allies attempt to bomb
Iraq back into sectarian civil war. A war it will be
up to Iraq's prime minister to prevent, for this no
longer will be America's war. By June 30, all US
forces will have retreated to their bases outside of
Iraq cities and towns. After six long, brutal years,
they're now reduced to a supporting role at the
behest of the Iraqis.
Though 130,000 troops will remain, they'll be unable
to launch operations of their own within the cities,
nor even detain suspected enemy combatants without
the permission or invitation of the government of
Iraq. That leaves some Iraqis fearful, like Hannah
Abdul Hassan, who says the handover fills her with
horror. "My message to the US military and their
commander as they're going to move away from us," she
says, "is that we want you to still keep your eye on
us."
But most Iraqis are glad to see the Americans out of
their neighborhoods. State TV is fonted with a
countdown marking time to the handover, and June 30
has been declared a national holiday.
"I feel the same as most Iraqis feel," says [name
unclear]. "I will feel my freedom and my liberation
when I don't see an American stopping an Iraqi on the
street just 20 or 30 meters ahead of me."
The soldier's departure from those streets, though a
few soldiers will remain to advise the Iraqis of work
and occasional joint operations, is dictated by an
agreement signed in the dying days of the Bush
administration, an agreement that surrenders the
United States' ability to wage the war it began.
And as much as Iraqi emotions will be mixed, June 30
will be a day bittersweet for Americans. Though the
first step in bringing their troops home, something
the agreement gives them only 18 more months to do,
it's an event that intones the memory of the American
blood that's been spilt. Already, some US officials
are aggrieved by the notion of an Iraqi national
holiday, feeling such celebration belies the 4,300
troops who have died on Iraqi soil. Those deaths a
bloody legacy the US will leave forever in Iraq, but
it's a legacy that will be measured against the kind
of Iraq America will eventually leave behind.
WHITFIELD: And Michael Ware now joins us live from
Baghdad. So, Michael, you talk about there are
expressed mixed-concerns among Iraqis but what about
among US troops? You did mention mixed emotions but
how much are they conveying to you?
WARE: Well, obviously it's a very difficult time for
everybody here, Fredricka, and the US troops -- I
mean, this is a time of enormous change. I mean,
130.000 American combat troops are still here but
their role now is very, very different. That's a big
transition. They can't go out and hunt for the bad
guys, so to speak, as they used to, and as fighting
men and women--
WHITFIELD: It sounds more like a humanitarian mission
now, right?
WARE: Well, no, not exactly, because they're not
really delivering aid, they're not bringing sacks of
wheat and flour. They're not so much into the
school-building business as they once were. The
hearts-and-minds campaign has now taken a different
tack and we're seeing the return of groups like
UNICEF and the UN has been re-imprinting its stamp
here after it was chased out of Iraq by a massive
bombing against it back in 2003. What they're here
for, according to their commanders, is stability
operations. Essentially, they're an insurance policy
-- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Michael Ware,
then, from Baghdad. Appreciate that, and of course we
look forward to your continuing reporting as we now
approach that Tuesday withdrawal.