"Ramadi is referred to as the 'Meat Grinder.' And that’s really what it’s been."

This week I've been listening to some old Morning Sedition shows that I've kept on CD for posterity. What strikes me about these shows from late 2004 is a) just how much I still miss this damn show, the cancellation of which is perhaps Air America's biggest blunder to date, exceeding even the way they fired Mike Malloy; and b) how the conversations about the Iraq war could be taking place now.

One of the things I miss most about the show are the insights into the Iraq situation regularly provided by Time's Baghdad bureau chief, Michael Ware. Ware was always compelling to listen to, partly because he sounded incongruously like Steve Irwin, and partly because no matter what crap the Administration was dishing out, he could always cut through it.

Ware was on Wolfie Blitzer's Situation Room yesterday, and while John Amato doesn't have video up, he does have a transcript.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I mean, to be honest, I’m
quite stunned that people are so surprised by this report. I mean, the
situation has not deteriorated. It’s been like this for over a year,
perhaps even two.

I mean, it can still be reclaimed. I mean, it’s not always lost. And I
think people who suggest that fail to understand the true dynamic. But
certainly what the Marine general in charge of Al Anbar said tonight on
the conference call is he admitted for the first time that right now,
today, through the combination of the U.S. and/or Iraqi forces, he does
not have enough troops to win against the al Qaeda insurgency.


His mission is to train, he said. If his mission was to change and that
to be to win, then his metrics, his troop numbers would have to change.

This is not new. Al Qaeda has owned Al Anbar for quite some time. And
the soldiers out there are being left out there undermanned just to hold
the line. They’ve been screaming for more troops for at least a year
and a half — Wolf.

BLITZER: But it seems like the U.S. military has put a priority, as you
know, Michael, on getting the job done in Baghdad and the surrounding
areas of Baghdad. That’s where they are bringing reinforcements.
That’s where they are moving troops. And they are sort of relegating
the Anbar Province out in the west, which is a huge part of Iraq, to a
lesser priority.

Is that accurate?

WARE: That’s certainly what I’m being told by senior military
intelligence officials. They are saying that Al Anbar and Ramadi
(INAUDIBLE), like a saw, as long as we win Baghdad. But that’s very
shortsighted.

I mean, if this is the global war on terror, President Bush put Al Anbar
in the center of the war on terror. And they are undermanning it.

I mean, this is making al Qaeda stronger, not weaker. This is giving
them the oxygen they need to breathe...

More here.