If you haven't heard of Michael Ware, here's what you need to know. He is the last "known" Westerner to have been on Haifa Street in Baghdad after al-Qaeda declared ownership of that part of town. I put known in quotes because maybe other Westerners have been there since, but they haven't lived to tell the tale. As a reporter for Time and CNN, he has detailed who the real players in Iraq are and what their goals are. He is credible and very passionate about his experiences in Iraq. He is no bullshitter. Not a chance.
Anderson Cooper had an in-depth interview with Michael Ware on January 30th. Here is the transcript. Ware's claim is that there are 4 wars being fought in Iraq: The War with Insurgents; The War with Al Qaeda; The Civil War; The Covert War with Iran. Read it and weep over the idiocy of Cheney and the Neocons.
Here are some highlights:
In the beginning of the interview Ware is asked about what progress has been made in the years of the American occupation.
COOPER: Supporters of the war -- Vice President Cheney says that there are successes and they point to the democratic elections that have been held.
WARE: Right. On the surface, yes, they are successes. There's one of the most progressive constitutions in the Arab world in place in Iraq.
But what's the reality? What's the effect? What's it like for the ordinary Iraqi on the street? And their common retort is, if this is democracy, then we'd rather have the old ways. I mean, this is your freedom? I mean, look at their lives. I mean, look at how their daily life is racked with violence. People are being ethnically cleansed from their neighborhoods. You can't send your children to school for fear of crossing ethnic lines. Bodies are showing up in the streets every day. Death squads are roaming the streets at night.
And for Sunnis, these death squads come in the dead of night in legitimate police or army uniforms showing legitimate identification saying, you must come with us.
Cooper refers to 2003 and Bush's declaration of Mission Accomplished. Here's Ware's take:
COOPER: The second war in Iraq, the rise of al Qaeda, the growth of the importance of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. May 1st, 2003, President Bush stands on that aircraft carrier, mission accomplished. What's actually happening on the ground?
WARE: OK. This is the story of al Qaeda in Iraq. If you remember, before the invasion, there was what the administration says, the presence of an al Qaeda element in the country. Now, that had nothing to do with Saddam. What they were talking about was this group called Ansar al-Islam, that was holed up here in the north, in the Kurdish region.
So what we saw even then during the invasion was two wars, the war against Saddam's regime and a much, much smaller attack against an al Qaeda element in the north.
Now, I was there in the north. I was in the battle with U.S. Green Berets and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, essentially the Kurdish militia that the Green Berets used to go into this mountain stronghold of this al Qaeda linked group and drive them out.
I was there with the Green Berets as we all watched these fighters walk over the mountains into the safety of Iran. I was even there as a Green Beret was reporting back on his radio, they're exfilling, they're retreating, they're escaping to Iran.
So while the administration is saying here's al Qaeda and it's being wiped out, no, the body of this group had been preserved. And we've since seen them and many others reemerge.
Cooper then gets around to asking about the third war in Iraq:
COOPER: This third war you talk about, this civil war in Iraq really is a victory for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It's what he wanted all along.
WARE: Absolutely. As he spelled out from the very, very beginning, what he believed was that if we attack the Shia, they will be forced to respond. Then this sleeping giant, the Sunni sect of Islam, will be forced to rise up. He believed that was the key to the way forward.
So essentially, he created the civil war that not only now exists in Iraq, but is dominating the political and military landscape. This is Zarqawi's legacy.
Now for Iran:
COOPER: The fourth war that's going on in Iraq, the proxy war against Iran, how did Iran get involved?
WARE: Yes. What we saw with many of these networks and these organizations that were in Iran is that they were kept in place and they moved into Iraq. And with them came what's essentially Iranian green beret advisers. You had Iranian form of CIA advisers. All coming with them. To guide, direct, to channel them.
And even elements within Iraq, like Muqtada al-Sadr, the rebel anti-American cleric and his Mehdi army militia, Muqtada and his militia were very different to these others. They never fled Iraq. They didn't go into Iran. They remained in Iraq. Now, in the beginning, that was a great rallying cry for Muqtada. He was able to represent himself as a true nationalist -- I stayed while these people left. I suffered with you. That was very persuasive. That drew a lot of people to his cause.
But over time, we've seen Iran not only court Muqtada, but then militarily support him. We've seen a flow of money, a flow of arms and a flow of training back and forth.
Read the entire transcript. Michael Ware is, I repeat, not a bullshitter. As I write, I have NBC on and "Scrubs" is being broadcast. There's actually dialogue about the Iraq Occupation in the show. Great comedy! (snark)