MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the insurgency has many different faces, Lou. And what we're talking about here is the Shia insurgency. Essentially, the Shia militias and paramilitary forces, an alignment of which essentially make up the government.
Now, according to U.S. and British military intelligence, most of these groups, political factions and military factions, receive financial aid, military aid, weapons training, and liaison from Iran, particularly from Iran's Iranian revolutionary guard Quds force. So it's equivalent to the Green Berets.
Now, we've heard about them supplying the key components for the most devastating roadside bombs here in Iraq. I've spoken to British troops in the south who say their bases have been mortared by bombs that carry Iranian markings.
We have the chief of U.S. military intelligence talking about C-4 explosives that can be traced back to Iranian batches. And now we have what U.S. intelligence says is Iranian backing of Shia death squads.
Here, for example, Lou is the tail fin of an .81 millimeter mortar round. This landed just days ago in a Sunni neighborhood here in Baghdad. It was fired from a Shia area.
What's most interesting about this is that we don't know exactly where it came from, but what we can tell you is that it's date-stamped this year, 2006. It clearly, from its condition, has not been buried in the desert.
So at some point this has crossed Iraq's border. They're not making them here. So it's crossed the border and come into the hands of a Shia militia -- Lou.
DOBBS: Let me ask you, Michael, among the field commanders there with whom you've talked, how much frustration is there that the United States has not been able to first successfully interdict those kinds of shipments of material in support of the insurgency, as well as the personnel who are also being used, according to many reports? And to what degree is the fact that the militias remain armed -- is that within the control of the forces should the Iraqi government and the United States decide to disarm the militias?
WARE: Well, the United States and the Iraqi government, for what it is, and beyond the prime minister's office and the office of the national security adviser, one wonders what there is of this government. Because beyond that, it's essentially this alliance of militias.
As we said, intelligence claiming that many of them are backed by Iran anyway. The U.S. and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as has been said many times in the past, have not only called upon the militias to disband and disarm, but are now insisting upon it. Yet, we've seen no movement.
DOBBS: Right.
WARE: There is no incentive, Lou, for the militias to disarm and there's nothing to force them. Not even 140,000-plus American troops.
DOBBS: And the frustration among the field commanders, has there been any expressed by those field commanders about the inability to control either the borders or to interdict those supplies?
WARE: Absolutely. I mean, Iraq's borders on both the eastern and western fronts remain porous. Fighters and material keep pouring in from the west to support al Qaeda and the Sunni insurgents. The exact same can be said of the eastern border with Iran.
I've spent a lot of time on both borders. With the troop numbers here in the country now, it's simply impossible to seal these borders off.
I've had British intelligence officers tell me that when it comes to combating Iran, it's as though we are sleepwalking, one of them said. And essentially, the Sunnis claim that the Brits maintain an appearance of stability in the south by trading off, accommodating with these Iranian-backed militias so that attacks are few, yet the influence of Iran and its surrogates is great.
DOBBS: Michael, thank you very much. Very revealing, as always. Thank you.
Michael Ware from Baghdad.
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While Americans look for a way out of Iraq, Iran has its foot firmly in the door. It is muscling its way more into the picture. Now Iran has invited the leader of Iraq to a weekend meeting. Correspondent Michael Ware joins us now from Baghdad.
Michael, Iraq's president, Mr. Talabani is going to Tehran. Do you expect any significant, tangible results from that, especially when it comes to improving the security situation?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, THE SITUATION ROOM: Well, there's no specific agenda we have been told of. No one has an expectation of the -- delivery of any immediate prize by President Talabani.
However, from an American perspective, key among the list of things to discuss will be security. Indeed, U.S. intelligence and the American ambassador here, and the American commander on the ground here, have all repeatedly accused Iran of sending money, fighters, training, and weapons across the border.
We are seeing essentially Iran, through its surrogates, killing American and British troops. They are also supporting the major militias, which are the fundamental building blocks of the government that President Talabani represents.
These countries share a land border. They fought a long and bitter war. There is much for them to discuss. Foremost, will be security. Now, Iran has also offered to help with the rebuilding of the Iraqi army and the Iraqi intelligence service. America does not want that to happen. We will see if that comes up in President Talabani's discussions.
KING: Mike, I want to bring your attention to policy debate here in the United States. A number of competing proposals being kicked around as to what the United States should do to change its strategy. Almost every one of them say they have to do a better job after three and half, plus, years in Iraq of finding a way to improve the training of Iraqi security forces. Is any progress being made while the politicians and others back here in Washington debate what to do next?
WARE: No, not really, John. I mean, you only have so much to work with here in Iraq. As we know, most of the security forces, particularly the police and national police, former commando paramilitary units, are heavily infiltrated by the Shia militias. That's why we are seeing in Sunni areas to the west, police being recruited locally because Sunnis simply cannot trust their own men in uniform, if they come from the central government.
There's really very little here for the Americans to work with. We have seen an entire brigade of Iraqi national police taken off-line because of its complicity in death squad activity. That unit is now undergoing further training.
But overall, essentially, America needs to accept it has not been winning this war so far. In fact, its enemies, Al Qaeda and Iran, have been emboldened by this war. America needs to make a reassessment.
Firstly, of what is it trying to achieve. Any concept of establishing a bristling, shiny new democracy for the Middle East has to be cast aside. America needs to downscale its goals and that will help reshape what strategy applies and how many forces that's going to need and for how long. Essentially, America needs to accept it is not going get what it set out to do -- John.
KING: Correspondent Michael Ware for us in Baghdad. Michael, thank you very much.
WARE: Thank you, John.
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BARF!!!
If the President of Iran was sincerely concerned about the violence within Iraq, he would not be writing letters to the US population. Instead, he would be apologizing for the Iranian weapons that are some how getting into Iraq. He would also be investigating how his weapons have been getting into the hands of the 'Mahdi' army and other various Shia groups. What is happening over there ? At the very least he should be investigating to see if there are rogue elements within the Iranian military organization itself ? The fact that he is not, clearly illustrates where his true interests reside.