Facts on the Ground: No Spin Clusterfuck

CNN's Anderson Cooper and correspondent Michael Ware discussed the situation in Iraq -- and General Petraeus' congressional testimony -- last night:

COOPER: Michael Ware, Petraeus said that as many as 30,000 troops could leave by the beginning of next summer. It was sort of presented as though that was an operational decision.


In truth, it is really an operational necessity. The U.S. can't maintain these current troop levels, without putting even more strain on the -- on our already strained troops. Is that correct?




WARE: Yes, that is correct, Anderson. In fact, I'm struck by the way people are regarding General Petraeus' discussion of -- of those troop levels until July of next year. People are acting like he has just announced some sort of phased withdrawal. Well, no, not at all. That was the timeline for the so-called surge in the beginning.


Indeed, it wasn't a surge. It was a one-year escalation of U.S. forces. And the clock was due to run out on that escalation in the summer of next year anyway. So, that is not a revelation at all.

[...]

COOPER: Michael, I want to read you a question that columnist David Brooks asked in "The New York Times" last week. He said, "The crucial question now is, do these tribes represent proto-local governments, or are they simply regional bands arming themselves in anticipation of a cataclysmic civil war?"


What do you think the answer to that is?




WARE: Well, it's a little bit of both, Anderson.


Certainly, this is how, say, for example, western Al Anbar Province is being governed. It is from these tribes that come the chief of police, that come the local town major, and then eventually comes the provincial council. So, these are the fundamental building blocks of the local government.


At the same time, there is a -- there is a flavor of warlordism about this. And that is what America is now harnessing, not just to attack al Qaeda, but to curb what U.S. military intelligence says is the heavy Iranian militia influence inside the central government.




COOPER: And are these -- these tribal groups willing to work with the central government in Baghdad, the Sunni -- the Shia- dominated government, and vice versa? Is -- is the government of al- Maliki willing to work with -- with these Sunni tribes?




WARE: The answer is no on both counts, Anderson.


These guys made it very clear to us on this day and on other days when I have contact with other groups, they are opposed to the Maliki government and any government that they believe is beholden to Iranian influence, a belief shared by many within the U.S. mission. So, these are anti-government forces that America is supporting against the government it created. And, certainly, within the Iraqi government, they believe that this is America building Sunni militias to act as a counterbalance to their influence.