Hello Everyone:

Michael Ware did a very informative two part interview on CNN American Morning on Monday, August 25 giving an updated reality check out Iraq and the stakes there when it comes to Iran and their influence.

Here are the two short transcripts of Michael Ware's interviews where he says that "Iran is very much in the middle of everything," "the problem is Iran has all the cards in its favor. I mean, there's very little stick with which to beat Tehran," and "The bigger picture is they're looking for advantage to press on the nuclear regime. That's the big gain here for the Iranians. So, really, yes, you need a diplomatic answer, you got to engage with Iran but somehow America is going to find a big stick:"

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/25/ltm.01.html

AMERICAN MORNING

Democratic Convention Kick-Off; McCain-Obama Dead Heat in the Polls; Obama's Challenge to Win Clinton Supporters; Does Clinton's Move to Release Delegates a Sign of Party Unity?; What Obama-Biden Need to Do on Foreign Policy

Aired August 25, 2008 - 06:00 ET

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: "CNN's Michael Ware is just back from Georgia, spent a ton of time in Iraq as well, and he's with us now in the studio.

Good to see you.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. It's glad to be here.

CHETRY: Yes. I want to ask you about your thoughts on Joe Biden and the fact that he's been a long-time supporter of partitioning Iraq into three separate autonomous regions.

WARE: Yes.

CHETRY: Is that something that could and would work?

WARE: Well, madness really to be honest. I mean, as you see, when Senator Biden -- was his nomination was announced, it turned out that opposition to Senator Biden's partition policy is one thing that, you know it's the three ethnic groups in Iraq. No one is for partition unless, of course, you're an Iranian-backed political party, because I'd love to have a self-governing zone in the south that effectively would become an extension of Iran. That would really play into the hands of Tehran. So, no, that's not an effective strategy.

CHETRY: That's very interesting. When we talk about this troop plan, Barack Obama is talking about a withdrawal saying we're talking about one to two brigades, and that perhaps by 16 months we could be out. Whereas John McCain is saying we do need to still have a distinctive troop presence to fight al-Qaeda, to train Iraqis, and to protect our interests there. Which one would work better?

WARE: Well, I think only time will tell. And right now, the agreement is being threshed out in Baghdad and Washington at the moment, settles on what is it, 2011, as a full withdrawal, with U.S. troops back in their bases by June, next year. So we're sort of standing in the middle of those two policies at the moment.

The real issue here that no one is fighting and I would love to hear from Senator Obama's team about this. You can withdraw. You can withdraw tomorrow. You can withdraw in 16 months, whatever you want, as long as you're ready to pay the price.

I want to hear people acknowledge, yes, we know what the price of withdrawal is. Yes, we're willing to pay for it, and this is how we're going to deal with the long-term implications, because at the end of the day what you're doing is giving Iraq to Iran.

And you're emboldening what President Bush called, remember, the axis of evil. And don't forget, Iran sponsored Hezbollah and Lebanon, defeated the Israeli defense force. They're now back after helping America defeat the Taliban. Intel reports say they're now helping the Taliban.

So Iran is very much in the middle of everything and that's the key foreign policy issue I want to hear from the candidates. Here's the price tag for Iraq. Are you ready to pay it?

CHETRY: Very interesting. It's always good to get your perspective. Michael Ware, thanks for being with us. We'll check in with you a little bit later as well.

WARE: Thank you..."

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/25/ltm.03.html

AMERICAN MORNING

New CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll Has Senators Obama and McCain in a Dead Heat; Hillary Clinton Promising to Release Her Delegates on Wednesday; John McCain Launching New Attack Ads; Michelle Obama Speaks to Her Biggest Audience Yet

Aired August 25, 2008 - 08:00 ET

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: "CNN's Michael Ware knows the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, all too well, maybe we should say. He's back from the conflict as well in Georgia. Michael joins us now. Thanks for being with us, by the way.

I'd like to get your insight about the talk about Iraq and what to do with Iraq. And Joe Biden, when he was running for president back in 2006, he talked a lot about his plan, which was partitioning Iraq into three separate and autonomous regions. Would that work?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. It doesn't have the snowflakes change that kind of a solution. I mean, for a start that plays directly into Tehran's hands. I mean, one of the big issues that has been fought out in Iraq politically is that the hard-core Iranian- backed Shia parties are trying to create a self ruling zone in the south. That would basically become a little Iran. Now, in the north, you already have a self-governing state. The Kurds in Kurdistan and they don't listen to the central government. They got their own defense force. They got their own foreign ministry. That's enough of the drama. So to try and partition it off is just going to destabilize, not just the country but will further destabilize the region. And no one supports it. It isn't going anywhere.

CHETRY: Now, you know that McCain camp has actually hammered Barack Obama a lot for calling for this timetable. Now we have the Bush administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice there last week hammering out what essentially is a timetable.

WARE: Yes.

CHETRY: From the Bush administration. Has the thinking changed or is it almost a matter of sort of throwing in the towel in trying to fight that issue?

WARE: Well, I think they're trying to dress it up. I mean, whatever you want to call it - failure, defeat, stalled, whatever, the mission. Basically what they're doing is just saying, well, look, the (inaudible) U.S. troops, you know, are faring much, much better. The sectarian violence is way, way down. It all looks hunky-dory. So, OK, we're able to go, start winding back and calling it a win. That's smoke and mirrors.

Underlying all this of this is the fact that Iran has a much greater influence in that country and thereby increasing its influence in the region, anti-American influence than they did before the American invasion. There's enormous implications for this kind of withdrawal. You can do it, but just accept what it's going to cost you. And they tell us, what are you going to do about it?

CHETRY: Well, you talk about that in the last hour as well, that there has to be some sort of acknowledgment about Iranian influence. Is that a diplomatic - is that a window for a diplomatic solution or is that something that needs to have military might behind it and who might be better at trying to juggle that?

WARE: Well, there is no diplomacy with that military at the end of the day. (inaudible) politics find other means. I mean, the problem is Iran has all the cards in its favor. I mean, there's very little stick with which to beat Tehran. And, for example, for the last - since the end of last year, those American troops who have died in Iraq, most of them died at the hands of Iranian-backed militias, not Al Qaeda, not the Suni insurgency. And what's this all about? We don't need to destabilize Iraq nor is it to bog U.S. troops out. The bigger picture is they're looking for advantage to press on the nuclear regime. That's the big gain here for the Iranians. So, really, yes, you need a diplomatic answer, you got to engage with Iran but somehow America is going to find a big stick.

CHETRY: All right. Michael Ware, thanks so much for being with us.

WARE: It's great pleasure. Thank you, Kiran..."

I wish that Iraq and Iran's influence there were getting more news coverage right now because this will probably be among the top complex foreign policy issues which the next President will have to deal with!

I also wish that CNN made videos of all of Michael Ware's interviews because in my opinion he is one of the most informative, credible, and objective journalists in the business when it comes to reporting about international affairs and he is definitely worth listening to!

Here is the search link to access the videos that CNN has put up of some of Michael Ware's past reports and also to see any of his new reports which they decide to put on video in the future:

http://search.cnn.com/search?query=michael%20ware&type=video&sortBy=date&intl=false

Video results for "michael ware"

Mitch Dworkin

http://www.securingamerica.com/

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16039
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http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10756
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.

http://www.securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda!