Jul 2007

AC: "...but are you willing to endure what will follow?"

2007_0731_AC

Michael is on an embed in Diyala province, and since they can't turn on any lights, he did a nightvision interview with Anderson, discussing comments VP Cheney made earlier today to Larry King about Iraq. Numbers on a page vs. blood in the streets...

Length: 8:07

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ABC Breakfast Radio (AUS) -- 10:03

Michael discusses the Iraqi national soccer team's semi-final win and how it affected the locals.

ABC Breakfast Radio (AUS)


The write-up from their website:

In Iraq a rare moment of joy and national pride was shattered in a matter of hours when bombs exploded in Baghdad, ripping through crowds celebrating the country's win against South Korea in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.

More than 50 soccer fans were killed and many more injured in two separate suicide attacks.

It seems nothing, not even the makeup of the Iraqi soccer team of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish players, can stop the insurgents' drive to destroy what was a rare display of national unity.

Michael Ware is CNN's correspondent in Baghdad, from where he joins us now.

TSR: " "You'll fix one problem and create five more.' "


2007_0727_TSR

Wolf asks Michael about Saudia Arabia's involvement in Iraq.

Length: 3:42

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TSR: "al Qaeda in Iraq makes up probably about 1 percent."

2007_0724_TSR

Michael gives some more insight on the president's speech earlier today and also makes some great observations about Iran.

Length: 4:06

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YWT: "It seems like al Qaeda 101. It's very rudimentary."

2007_0724_YWT

Michael reacts to the president's speech that sought to inform us that al Qaeda in Iraq is actually ... al Qaeda ... in Iraq! Wow, who'd'a thunk!?

Length: 3:46

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AC: "...living in a dangerous fantasy."

2007_0720_AC

Time magazine has a cover story this week about various scenarios of US troop withdrawal from Iraq. Anderson speaks with Time's Michael Duffy about the article, and also gets reaction from "our" Michael.

Length: 5:38

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NR: "You're going to see a Lebanon-style situation..."

2007_0720_NR

The full report was shown again; this is just the live interview afterwards.

Length: 1:17

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AAM: "This is the ugly side of this war."

2007_0720_AAMa 2007_0720_AAMb

Two follow-ups to the report Michael did last night about the Anbar "solution."

Length: 2:54 / 3:30

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AC: "Enemies of the U.S., now supported by the U.S."

2007_0719_AC

Michael has a blistering report about abuses being carried out by the Sunni militias we have empowered to fight al Qaeda in al Anbar province. They are basically just dragging people out and executing them, we have no way of knowing whether or not those targeted are really al Qaeda. Some incredible footage in this report, highlighting a very scary situation.

Length: 10:44

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LDT: "The question is just what impact this arrest will make."

2007_0718_LDT


Michael does a brief recorded piece about the arrest two weeks ago of the top Iraqi member of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Length: 1:49

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Dateline (AUS): "We are seeing it metastasizing, constantly morphing, reinventing itself."

2007_0718_DatelineAUS

Michael appeared on an Australian television program last night, discussing the surge and the forecast for success and failure.

(The size of the clip is the same as the source.)

Length: 4:10

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AC: "They're creating entire generation of jihadists that did not exist."

2007_0717_AC

Anderson has a panel discussion with Michael, Peter Bergen, and General David Grange about the NIE and the conclusions/spin that is being put on the information.

Length: 8:08

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TSR: "The NIE is about three years too late."

2007_0717_TSR

Wolf asks Michael about the NIE that was released today. You have to be suspicious when the gov't suddenly "announces" things that have been reported on for not just months but years. One can only hope that they are holding better/newer/fresher info than that...

Length: 5:51

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YWT: "This is the blooding ground."

2007_0717_YWT

Jim Clancy talks to Michael about the release of the NIE report

Length: 4:39

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TWAW: "They're fighting for their own concept of success."

2007_0714_TWAW

Tom Foreman asks Michael about how committed the Iraqi political leaders are to the concept of a unified Iraq.

Length: 4:41

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AAM: More on the proposed redeployment

2007_0713_AAMa 2007_0713_AAMb

Michael discusses the proposed troop pullout with John Roberts and Kiran Chetry.

Length: 4:23 / 2:53

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AC: "They're just not sharing the same interests that America does on these issues."

2007_0712_AC

Anderson asks Michael to respond to tonight's vote by Congress to pull the troops out by April. Also, a glimpse of how the military commanders are felling about the politics, and an explanation as to how those damned statistics in the report card can look so good and mean so little.

Length: 5:44

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LDT: "Iraq is a failing state, riven by sectarian and other agendas..."

2007_0712_LDT

A recorded piece in which Michael sums up the problems with the "report card."

Length: 1:47

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TSR: "These insurgents are not bound by the same rules as the American military."

2007_0712_TSR

Michael talks to Wolf about the trade-off we've made in order to achieve even the marginal positives in Iraq: empowering the Sunnis to form their own death squads to counter the Iranian-backed Shia ones. I fear that the "excessive force" captured on those videotapes will make the LAPD look like rambunctious 4-year-olds...

Length: 4:08

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AC: "It's just not in their interests to see the situation settle down."

2007_0710_AC

Anderson talks to Jamie McIntyre and Michael about the upcoming report on the Iraqi benchmarks, and why they aren't being met.

Length: 6:35

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PZN: "...wreaked by violence and defined by bloodshed."

2007_0710_PZN

Michael talks to Paula about the benchmarks and progress.

Length: 3:29

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TSR: Reality check on the benchmarks

2007_0710_TSR

Michael talks to Wolf about two of the benchmarks and whether they are achievable: providing Iraqi brigades to Baghdad and reducing the level of sectarian violence. Also, Jack Cafferty defines "tough guy."

Length: 3:56

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AC: " 'Just get America out of the way and let us loose.' "

2007_0709_AC

Anderson asks Michael about the AP report that the Iraqi government will not meet any of the benchmarks that were supposed to be reached as a sign of progress. No surprise there, since we're still trying to impose democracy on a group of people who really don't want it. But boy, we are giving those militias some first-rate training, aren't we?

Length: 4:18

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YWT: "There's already a militia war."

2007_0709_YWT

Hala Gorani talks to Michael about today's latest: Muqtada is back in Iran, one of the VPs advises Iraqi civilians to arm and defend themselves, and al Qaeda is warning Iran to back off.

Length: 5:20

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TWAW: "...what else do we really expect them to say?"

2007_0707_TWAW

Tom Foreman hosts a panel discussion with Michael, Jamie McIntyre, and Gen. David Grange about the week's events in Iraq and the ongoing debate as to whether to give the surge until September before deciding whether or not to pull the plug.

Length: 8:16

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TSR: "One of the true great legacies of the war in Iraq"

2007_0703_TSR

Suzanne Malveaux asks Michael about the Iraq connection to the UK terrorism attacks and -- here's a shock -- Iranian public denials of interference in Iraq.

Length: 4:31

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NR: Iran puts a bounty on American soldiers in Iraq

2007_0703_NR

Newsroom runs a prepared piece (which also aired on Your World Today) with another update on the "Iran in Iraq" story. Our military has learned that the Quds Force is giving a reward to any Iraqis who kill US troops.

(To paraphrase what Jon Stewart recently said "to" Ahmadinejad, you know... we're trying to keep President Bombsalot and Vice President Vader from nuking you guys, but you sure aren't helping!)

Length: 3:41

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TSR: "the hazy ether of the cloak and dagger world of this war"

2007_0702_TSR

Suzanne Malveaux talks to Michael about the ramifications of Hezbollah in Iraq and how the Bad Guys are working hard to influence the numbers that General Petraeus will be reporting to Congress in September.

Length: 4:53

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NR: Update of the Hezbollah story

2007_0702_NR

Michael updates the VO report that aired yesterday, adding today's confirmation of the story from the US military.

Length: 5:31

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AAM: Much more on the exclusive

2007_0702_AAMa 2007_0702_AAMb

2007_0702_AAMc

Three more reports -- two live, one recorded -- on the exclusive report from yesterday. The US military confirms the story, there's more details on what and when and who, and more detailed speculation on the why.

Length: 4:10 / 3:13 / 2:21

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NR: Exclusive report: Senior Hezbollah Bomb-maker Arrested in Iraq

2007_0701_NRa 2007_0701_NRb

Michael breaks an incredible story -- a senior Hezbollah bomb-maker was caught up in a military sweep in Iraq in March. He masked his identity for weeks by pretending to be deaf and mute, but has now been positively identified.

First is a stand-up report where Michael outlines the facts of the case; second is a prepared report with further detail.

Michael also wrote up the story for CNN.com; that article is reproduced
here.

Length: 3:13 / 5:14

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CNN.com: Officials: Captured Hezbollah agent helped plan deadly Karbala raid

Officials: Captured Hezbollah agent helped plan deadly Karbala raid

From Michael Ware
CNN

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