CNN news 2011-12-27 加文本

cnn news 2011-12-27

BOBBY GHOSH, DEPUTY INTERNATIONAL EDITOR, TIME: There's plenty of reason to be alarmed, Wolf. There's a toxic soup of political intrigue and terrorist activity that's now sort of coming to a bubble in Baghdad as we speak. I mean, the decision of Prime Minister Maliki who represents the Shia party to go after a Sunni vice president almost before the U.S. military had finished switching off the lights as they left, that was -- politically, that absolutely smacked off some kind of vendetta, some almost Shia versus Sunni kind of vendetta.

And then today's bombings, although they may not be directly connected to that event, they contribute to a sense in Iraq that now that the Americans are gone, all kind of knives will be unsheathed and be stabbed in every which direction.

BLITZER: I can't tell you how nervous officials here in Washington. Based on my own reporting, we reported here in THE SITUATION ROOM yesterday that the CIA director, General David Petraeus, made a surprise visit to Iraq in recent days, trying to calm things down. General Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, a former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, he's there right now meeting with Nouri al-Maliki.

I don't think a lot of folks -- correct me if I'm wrong -- have a great deal of confidence in this Iraqi prime minister.

GHOSH: Well, they're not entirely sure what he stands for. He's been very evasive, very oily, about moving with the tide a little bit. But the thing is if the U.S. military or the giant U.S. embassy there was unaware that Maliki was going to go after this Sunni politician, then that represents a pretty big intelligence failure.

The Maliki cabinet is no good at keeping secrets. Everybody in Baghdad knows what's happening in what used to be the Green Zone. So, if this thing -- if Maliki's decision to go after the Sunni politician was unknown to the Americans, then that represents a different kind of problem. That means that despite this effort, despite having a huge embassy there, despite all this long standing relationship between the United States and the Iraqi government, we didn't know that such a big thing was coming down the pike.

BLITZER: And let's not forget, Bobby, and you spent a lot of time in Baghdad over the years, former "TIME" magazine bureau chief there, there are still, even though all U.S. troops are out, 17,000 Americans in Iraq, most of them in the Green Zone as you point out. About half of these 17,000 are diplomats or diplomatic support staff, the other half security contractors, civilians, highly paid civilians, there to protect the Americans.

I'm sure you're worried about them. I'm very worried about their security.

GHOSH: I'm worried about them. I'm also worried all the thousands, possibly, tens of thousands of Iraqis that over the years, have helped the Americans, whether it's the American military as translators and drivers and so on, or journalist organizations like yours and mine. Their lives are also at incredible risk.

And so, there's a lot of reason for us to be alarmed and keeping a very, very close eye on how things are going in Baghdad.

BLITZER: How close is this alliance between the government of Nouri al-Maliki, who as you say is himself a Shiite and the Iranian regime right next door?

GHOSH: Well, it's close -- it's not as close as people would make it out to be. Some commentators in Washington assume that Maliki is the puppet to Iran's puppet master. That's not true. It is true that many members of Maliki's government spent some time during their long exile under the Saddam Hussein years in Iran and there are certainly closer ties than there used to be.

But Maliki is also quite stubborn and very aware that the large majority of his own supporters, Shiite Iraqis, identify themselves first as Arabs and do not see themselves as an extension naturally, of Iran.

So, the relationship is a little better than it used to be, but this is not a master-servant relationship by any stretch of the imagination.

BLITZER: The White House issued a statement expressing deep concern, condolences for all of the dead people as a result of this wave of terror.

Also pointed out though that the vice president, Joe Biden, was on the phone with the Kurdish president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani. Joe Biden has played a key role in all of this. But here's the question to you, Bobby, how much influence now that all American forces are out of Iraq, does the Obama administration really have there?

GHOSH: Almost none. I think which is why Biden reached out to Talabani because now, the Kurds represent the U.S.'s best hope of having some sort of influence because it's a coalition government and nobody can really rule Iraq the way the politics is set up without the support of the Kurds. So, the Kurds almost are a proxy of the U.S., whichever administration, whichever government is in power, is in control in this country. We have to rely on the Kurds to help out.

But in terms of direct relationship, Joe Biden knows the clears in Iraq better than any American politician and even he has very little direct influence anymore.

BLITZER: And of all those three groups, the Sunnis, the Shiites, and the Kurds, the Kurds clearly the most pro-American of the bunch.