TSR: "This is Maliki's last roll of the dice."


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Length: 3:20


WOLF BLITZER: Iraqi civilians also among the dead today -- 33 of them killed. Amid this violence, an assessment of Iraq's security that some are questioning.

And joining us now from Baghdad, our correspondent, Michael Ware. Michael, over the weekend, a statement coming from the prime minister's office, Nuri Al-Maliki saying the new security plan being implemented, in his words, has been "a dazzling success during its first days."

Do you see evidence of a dazzling success?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly not yet, Wolf, not with multiple car bombings still going off.

There has been a decline or a decrease in particular types of violence in particular areas. But to be able to be in a position to call this a dazzling success is far more ambitious of the prime minister, Nuri Al-Maliki, than even the American commander in control of Baghdad.

The commander of the 1st Calvary Division on the weekend noted the decrease, the lull in particularly sectarian violence. The numbers of tortured and executed bodies showing up on the streets of the capital each morning are certainly down.

But even the American general said it's way too early to tell if this is a trend.

Indeed, it fits into a pattern that we've seen many times before. As the general pointed out, whenever the U.S. military changes tactics, whenever there's a new step up, whenever anything changes, the enemy -- be it the Shia militias or the Sunni insurgents -- more often than not, sit back or they lay low and watch. They think, they adapt and then they change their tactics and strike back.

Certainly what we're seeing now is a war holding its breath -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Who's the audience, do you think, that Nuri Al-Maliki is addressing when he speaks of a "dazzling success?" Are they Iraqis? The international community? The American public? Who is he trying to impress?

WARE: Well, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki has a lot of people to please. And it's impossible to please everybody, clearly.

Now, he's obviously trying to address a domestic constituency that's been living with this violence for longer than they care to remember, and they just want it to end. They're looking for him to deliver on security.

Now, these people know that it just ain't so. They're still living it. The marketplaces are still being hit with car bombs.

Even though the number of bodies showing up each morning as a result of sectarian violence is down, the bombs are still going off. There's still the chatter of machine gun fire. There are still attacks going on here in the capital of Baghdad, but Nuri al-Maliki needs people to believe that things are more secure.

He also needs the Bush administration to believe this. As President Bush has outlined I think relatively clearly, this is Prime Minister Maliki's last roll of the dice. He very much needs to make it so. So he's got a lot audiences he's trying to keep happy here.

BLITZER: Michael Ware in Baghdad for us.

Michael, thanks.

WARE: Thank you, Wolf.