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TOM
FOREMAN: Take a look at this: for the first time in
years, Iraq is not the number one concern for voters.
The economy has overtaken the war as the most
important issue, even though more troops have been
lost in 2007 than in any other year. In the past few
months the news from Iraq has been if not good, at
least not as bad as we've been used to. So is Iraq
becoming something that's out of sight, out of mind?
For a look at what's really going on, CNN's Michael
Ware is back in Baghdad after some well-deserved time
covering another dangerous event, the World Rugby
Championships. And retired Brigadier General David
Grange joins us from Chicago. Michael, as we always
do, give us the situation on the ground first. Things
looking good? Bad? Otherwise?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have to say
it truly is a blessing, the Iraq that I have returned
to, whichever way you look at it. Yes, American and
Iraqi lives are still being lost, but they are at
levels phenomenally lower than they were a year ago.
There is considerably less violence. This is still a
war zone. There is still sectarian bloodshed, but at
least now, there is something of a lid to that and
that has to be celebrated as a success. The question
is, a success of what?
Now, clearly the military would like to attribute
this to the surge, the increase of 30,000 extra
forces here in the capital and of course, the
addition of that kind of military might has played a
part; but it hasn't achieved the end result that it
was advertised that it would, the political
reconciliation between the major parties. But what it
has done is it's given America time to build the
Sunni militias, these "concerned citizens'
organizations," these "awakening councils," where we
now see America with 67,000 insurgents on the U.S.
payroll.
These men that the administration called dead-enders
and criminals and Saddamists and rejectionists,
America is now paying. They are out there
slaughtering al Qaeda and they're out there forcing
this Iraqi government, which is Shia-dominated and --
according to U.S. intelligence -- with many ties to
Iran, to come to terms with the new American-created
reality, and that is that the Sunni must play a part.
"We have armed them. We are organizing them. You can
no longer ignore them."
FOREMAN: We have been watching this add up for
several weeks now, things getting steadily better and
yet, look at this poll, because it really is rather
shocking. In terms of opposing this war, 68 percent
of the people, an all-time high, are against the war
now even though things are going much better. General
Grange, what do you make of that?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST:
Well, I think it is a bit in vogue now, also, not to
approve the war with the political debates that are
ongoing. I think the danger here is that there is
some momentum with positive results, in this conflict
right now and it is not the time to forget about the
war and it is not a time to start pulling back too
rapidly, because when you have success, when you have
some measures of victory, you want to reinforce that
to keep the momentum, to keep the enemy off balance
and not let them breathe. So now is the time to
actually keep the pressure on to really achieve
victory.
FOREMAN: There does tend to be a tendency in our
business, General, for bad news to trump good news.
Do you sense that right now, that the stories moving
off of the front pages, because it is not bad news?
GRANGE: Absolutely. I mean, I do think that that's
prevalent that bad news is easier to report, more
exciting to report, is great for market, the media
market. It would be -- the balance is what you want.
It is very important now especially to the GIs still
in harm's way, to those allies that depend on us that
we do show the positive aspects when in fact they do
occur, which until this year, it hasn't been too much
of.
FOREMAN: Michael, if you still can keep that support
alive in this country right now, what do you think
the people on the ground there most need to
accomplish next, our soldiers and the Iraqis to keep
things moving in a positive direction?
WARE: Well, obviously, reconciliation is the main
thing, getting these incredibly scarred Sunni and
Shia communities to come back together and whilst we
might see that on the street level, even perhaps at
the neighborhood level, we are not seeing it now, and
we are not going to see it at the levels of the upper
political stratagem. That is not what's going to
happen. What we need to see is this momentum
continuing, but for me personally, the blinding
frustration of this enormously successful program
that America has initiated with the Sunnis by
bringing them in, befriending their old enemies, the
men who had been shooting at them is that the Sunnis
offered this four years ago.
It is almost as if we have now witnessed the end of
or coming to the end of a guerrilla war we never had
to have. 3,000 American lives and one wonders, did
they have to be lost? Either way, now that they are
finally doing this, that General Petraeus is doing
what others wouldn't, this needs to be consolidated
and this Iraqi government, which does not share
American agendas needs to know that America is
playing tough and it has to get on board and Iran
needs to know that suddenly, there is a buffer within
Iraq to curb their influence and obviously, this will
keep America's Arab allies happy. Essentially more of
the same. This is what we need.
FOREMAN: And General Grange, very quickly to you,
will this change at all the timetable of America
getting out of this war?
GRANGE: Well, I think it would, but again, I would
caution to be careful here. By rushing to withdraw
too rapidly when you have this type of success, will
give you another dip. You know, you get these spikes,
these valleys. You don't want that right now,
especially when we want to put pressure on Iran like
Michael said, when you want to keep things going and
show at the grass roots level where things are
working in the communities, in the tribes. To the
national government, get on with it. Your countrymen
are doing it. Now get on with it, because that has to
be done.
FOREMAN: And on that, we are done. General Grange,
thanks so much. Michael Ware, come join us
again.