"You can pull out tomorrow as long as you're ready to wear the consequences."

[Frenchy]

Michael Ware is CNN's Baghdad corespondent. The The interview is accompanied with video. He did one this morning on Obama's talk with the Iraqi foreign minister, but it's not on his site as of yet. He really took Obama to task, IMO.




AAM: "You can pull out tomorrow as long as you're ready to wear the consequences."

Monday, June 16, 2008

Length: 3:45

LARGE (43.5 MB) ----- SMALL (4.5 MB)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And as we showed you live at the top of the show, President Bush is in London this morning and he's talking with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. One of the main topics on the table: Iraq. President Bush spoke about England's presence on the front lines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know there's a lot of discussion here in the British press about -- well, you know, has he given enough troops or not enough troops and all that business. And as he trying to distance this, that and the others, you know, typical.

But it's -- I just want to remind you that he has left more troops in Iraq than initially anticipated. And like me, we'll be making our decisions based upon the conditions on the ground, the recommendation of our commanders, without an artificial timetable set by politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: And CNN correspondent Michael Ware joins us from Baghdad now.

So, he said again, as he's said before, about decisions based on conditions on the ground. What are those conditions right now, Michael?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, right now in relative terms, the war in Iraq is in better shape, clearly, than it was a year or two years ago.

We're sort of at levels of violence pre the worst days of Fallujah in 2004. That's undisputed. Civilian deaths are down. Sectarian murders in Baghdad alone are down by more than 90 percent. So, that's the condition.

Yes, things are quieter on the surface. The real question is, what did America have to do to achieve this and what're going to be those implications: tearing apart the social fabric of Iraq, institutionalizing the sectarian cleansing, walling off sectarian communities -- literally, we've got blast barriers in the capital -- and then those communities that did not have Iranian-backed militias to protect them, America funded and supports American-backed militias to protect those communities.

We're also seeing the on-going American support of an Iraqi government that does not support America. As General Petraeus himself says, the President of Iraq -- the reality of life -- is an agent of influence for Iran. So, yes, the conditions on the ground do look better if you look just at the thin veneer of the surface, Kiran. Scratch a little bit deeper and there's a lot more to be said.

CHETRY: In fact, I think some of those sentiments were echoed by Iraq's Foreign Minister Zebari, who talked to Wolf Blitzer yesterday. Let's hear a little bit about what he said on "LATE EDITION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOSHYAR ZEBARI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: Iraq has been to hell many times and back. And now, we have the right policies, the right personnel and we have a committed government to accomplish its national agenda. And the surge strategy has worked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: He said to accomplish its national agenda. So, what is the next step of that final handover to Iraqis when the U.S. troops can then come home?

WARE: Well, obviously, the big step right now is the negotiations for an agreement between Washington and Baghdad. The U.N. mandate, essentially the authority for this war, runs out at the end of the year. The clock is ticking. Baghdad and Washington are going back and forth over the terms of these conditions.

The Iraqi government, however, is threatening to go it alone. Pass their own legislation in their own Congress to dictate to the next president how many troops he can have, where they'll be, and what they can do.

So, the next step is going to be about how much is America prepared to give or sell away in return for a troop homecoming or preservation of American interests in the region. Right now, Iran has the upper hand. Iran is the clear winner of the war so far. You can pull out tomorrow as long as you're ready to wear the consequences.

Kiran?

CHETRY: Michael Ware, great to get your perspective as always from Baghdad this morning. Thanks.

[Frenchy]

INSIDE THE INSURGENCY

[What is the general ideology of the foreign insurgents in Iraq?]
... It's the jihad. Idealistically, they're striving to create or to return to the ultimate Islamic caliphate, where borders dissolve and nation-states cease to exist, and it's one great Muslim world stretching from Spain through North Africa, the Middle East, all the way down to Indonesia and into parts of Asia. It's ruled by the caliph, and it's lived accorded to Sharia principles.
Now, that's the ultimate aim. However, just maintaining a perpetual state of jihad elevates you and your community closer to God. That alone is an end in itself.

More here...
FRONTLINE: the insurgency: interviews: michael ware | PBS

[Judge]

Wow - does this guy ever get out of the green zone? His Anti-americanist tone is asinine...

Just look at Malki's (sp?) trip to Iran - where they pressured him to quit trying to negotiate a continued American presence - he plainly refused and tied the continuation of American troops to Iraq's safety and independence, hinting that they didn't want to be an Iranian puppet.

In addition, to further demostrate the attitudes of Iraqi's toward Americans, note the visit the other day of Sheikh Ahmed al-Rishawi to Washington D.C.He is the brother of Sheikh Abdul Sattar, who founded the anti-al-Qaeda Sahwa al-Iraq (Iraq Awakening), and the group's current and able leader since his brother's death. You damn sure won't read about it on PBS....

And guess what our Sunni allies in Iraq want to do:

The leader of the tribal confederation that has fought to expel Al Qaeda from most of Iraq's Anbar province is offering his men to help gin up a rebellion against Osama bin Laden's organization along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

In an interview, Sheik Ahmad al-Rishawi told The New York Sun that in April he prepared a 47-page study on Afghanistan and its tribes for the deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in Kabul, Christopher Dell. When asked if he would send military advisers to Afghanistan to assist American troops fighting there, he said, "I have no problem with this, if they ask me, I will do it."

The success of the Anbari tribal rebellion known as the awakening spurred Multinational Forces Iraq to try to emulate the model throughout Iraq, including with the predominately Shiite tribes in the south of the country.



The MSM sucks in this country. I've never seen more hatred of this country and it's successes.

Originally Posted by Frenchy

INSIDE THE INSURGENCY

Originally Posted by Frenchy

[What is the general ideology of the foreign insurgents in Iraq?]
... It's the jihad. Idealistically, they're striving to create or to return to the ultimate Islamic caliphate, where borders dissolve and nation-states cease to exist, and it's one great Muslim world stretching from Spain through North Africa, the Middle East, all the way down to Indonesia and into parts of Asia. It's ruled by the caliph, and it's lived accorded to Sharia principles.
Now, that's the ultimate aim. However, just maintaining a perpetual state of jihad elevates you and your community closer to God. That alone is an end in itself.

More here...
FRONTLINE: the insurgency: interviews: michael ware | PBS

[Frenchy]

Well...He's been there since before the invasion, so the "Green Zone" wasn't an option.

Ware is unique among Western journalists for his extensive contacts within the insurgency. He is TIME Magazine's Baghdad bureau chief and has covered the war from the very beginning, entering Iraq before the invasion. Throughout his time there, he kept a personal video record of his travels. In this interview, he talks about the evolving nature of the insurgency and the tensions and growing conflict between the Baathist/nationalist Iraqi insurgents and foreign jihadis, particularly Zarqawi's Al Qaeda in Iraq forces. He also talks about the Iranian connection, why Fallujah was a turning point for the insurgency and the extraordinary risks that he has had to take in his reporting. This is an edited transcript of an interview conducted over several days in the fall of 2005.

But he doesn't agree with you, so he must be anti-American.
You are soooo predictable, Judge!

[Judge]

Pffftt.... ware has lived in the green zone for much of the time, the other time he was off with his buds in the insurgency... he's the guy that was tipped off about a sniping attack on US troops so he set up his cameras and filmed the murder of a US solider then aired it all over CNN in a valiant propaganda attempt. This is the guy you admire - who stood by and let an American be murdered for his propaganda. You should be proud.


CNN and Ware have an agenda. It is the same agenda as Al Qaeda, Iraqi insurgents, Iranian hostage-takers, Syrian anarchists, Hezbollah commandos, suicide bombers, subway bombers, skyscraper bombers, NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, CSPAN, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Murtha, John Kerry, Joe Biden et al. Defeat for America. They own it. They participate in it. They would celebrate it as their victory. And I guess as yours.

Originally Posted by Frenchy

Well...He's been there since before the invasion, so the "Green Zone" wasn't an option.



But he doesn't agree with you, so he must be anti-American.
You are soooo predictable, Judge!

[Frenchy]

Wow...It never ends with you?...Does it.

This is the guy you admire - who stood by and let an American be murdered for his propaganda. You should be proud.

So I celebrate the death of our troops? How do you live with yourself?

[Judge]

You were the one defending this guy and saying that anyone who disagrees with me is anti-american.

The logical extension of that is that in your defense of the smuck, that you support him and his views. That's a clear and unambiguous implication. If you don't or didn't know about him then say so. His views are clearly anti-american - and he supports the murder of US troops. To hell with him.

Originally Posted by Frenchy

Wow...It never ends with you?...Does it.



So I celebrate the death of our troops? How do you live with yourself?

[AZXD]

Perhaps I'm just a little slow this morning, but I do not see any defense of the author going on

I do see another label of Anti-American being handed out because someones views are not in line with someone elses.

Awesome
"His Anti-americanist tone is asinine..."

The writing style makes him an a$$. Got it!

[Judge]

No you don't...

His sanctioning of a murder of a US soldier for his propaganda purposes makes him an ass and anti-american. I dunno what it takes for you to describe someone as such, but that's sufficient for me, and I believe most reasonable people.

His writing style, imakes him a propagandist for his buddies in AQ, which also makes him an ass, and what should be a dead ass....

Originally Posted by AZXD

Perhaps I'm just a little slow this morning, but I do not see any defense of the author going on

I do see another label of Anti-American being handed out because someones views are not in line with someone elses.

Awesome
"His Anti-americanist tone is asinine..."

The writing style makes him an a$$. Got it!

[Frenchy]

he's the guy that was tipped off about a sniping attack on US troops so he set up his cameras and filmed the murder of a US solider then aired it all over CNN in a valiant propaganda attempt.

Can you corroborate this?