MoDo's column today charts the obfuscations and delusions of the administration on Iraq, with typical scorn. She also cites Anderson Cooper's great get from earlier this week: Time Baghdad bureau chief Michael Ware contradicting Bush's reports on the Iraqi army's battle-ready capabilities, specifically with regarding to an assault at this year at Tal Afar. Said Ware:

"I was in that battle from the very beginning to the very end. I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaida. They were not leading. They were being led by the U.S. Green Beret Special Forces with them -- Green Berets who were following an American plan of attack, who were advancing with these Iraqi units as and when they were told to do so by the American battle planners. The Iraqis led nothing."

Said Time: Funnily enough, nothing that I could find on their website. Strange to have your own man break something big like that and not to claim it for your own. But I'm not a Time subscriber, and the headlines on their website aren't dated. So I could have missed it. Updates if I did. Update: I didn't. Confirmed by a Time spokesperson. Geez, dropped that ball, Time, didn't you?

Said MoDo: Surprisingly not the whole thing, according to the CNN transcript: "With the greatest respect to the President that is completely wrong and extraordinarily misleading" (emph. added). "Misleading" seems to be a theme re: the Iraq war; surprised that MoDo lopped off the end of that sentence.

Said Ware: Quite a lot, actually. Digging a little deeper, he actually flat-out said the administration was lying Monday on 360:

"Whoever from the White House is saying [that Iraqis are ready to defend themselves] is one of two things. Clearly, they have never been in Iraq. And, clearly, they have never been in a firefight with an Iraqi unit. Secondly, they're clearly lying, whether they know it or not."

Says Fishbowl: This column is interesting because it represents a Venn diagram of buzz in the union of MoDo and Anderson, and also a validation of sorts for Anderson, because it's great gets like this that make the difference between reporting on the news and actually going out and finding it. His reporting from New Orleans does that as well (see November 29th, where he learns from a beleaguered NOLA resident that Family Assistance Service phone number has been disconnected and the Coroner's office just plain doesn't answer. Unbelievable). It also strikes me as a bit of a black eye for Time, to be in a position to contradict the President on a speech he made about the Iraq war, and to let that opportunity go (I know CNN and Time are part of the same big ol' umbrella, but surely Time should have gotten on this, i.e. "Time Exclusive: President Bush "Wrong and misleading" on Iraqi defense capability" - I get bulletins from newsmags all the time, and that one I would have noticed). They do have an article by Ware from that week's Time, but it's already old news once the President speaks and isn't contradicted. But, between appearances on 360 and a high-profile shout-out from MoDo, perhaps Ware will emerge as a new pundit who isn't afraid to contradict the administration. UPDATE: A reader writes that Ware is a regular on CNN dating from the Aaron Brown days. Fair enough. This does seem like a higher-profile stance though.

Anyhow. Interesting column, interesting backstory. I predict we'll see more on the MoDo/Anderson/Michael Ware triangle this week.

W's Head in the Sand [NYT]
Anderson Cooper 360 Transcript, Nov. 30, 2005 [CNN]

Backstory:
Michael Ware: The View from the Front Lines [Time, Nov. 27, 2005]
Anderson Cooper 360 Transcript, Nov. 28, 2005 [CNN]

Excerpts from both of Ware's CNN appearances after the jump.

From CNN transcripts: Anderson Cooper and Michael Ware, Nov. 28/05

COOPER: You were just embedded with a group, the Blue Platoon, up in Ramadi. An amazing statistic I read in your article that is in "TIME" magazine this week, one in three members of this platoon have either been killed or wounded since July. That's a remarkable statistic, a terrible statistic.

What was it like being embedded with them?

WARE: It really is one of the great front lines that remains of the Iraq war.

Their convoys get hit by IEDs. They get rocket-propelled grenades. They came under coordinated simultaneous attack on five U.S. bases at once. I mean, that's what it is like out there for these guys. And that is what it's like to be with them. I mean, I got off a helicopter, and I walked straight into a city-wide firefight.

COOPER: You write in your article, "The insurgents' ability to preserve and regenerate their forces is a hallmark of the war."

I mean, there have been thousands of insurgent fatalities, but you're saying they're -- they're able to just regenerate?

WARE: We are roughly looking at 15,000 to 20,000 fighting men in the field on any one given day. Now, the significant thing is that that 15,000 or 20,000 that's in the field, it takes at least six or eight people behind that man to put him into that field.

So, the support base is quite considerable. The real thing is that that 15,000 never changes. Despite everything that the coalition does, everything the military does, taking out Fallujah, taking out Samarra, taking out Tal Afar, all the disruptions that it causes to the insurgents, that number stays at 15,000, 20,000.

COOPER: We are starting to hear from this White House talk that the Iraqis maybe are doing better than we had previously thought. Their -- their security forces, their military is -- is maybe more ready than we had thought.

There are a lot people that say, well, look, that's just politics. They're just trying to say that to set the timetable for withdrawal. From what you're seeing, from what you're hearing from the troops you have been embedded with, do they have confidence in -- in the Iraqis they're training?

WARE: Whoever from the White House is saying that is one of two things. Clearly, they have never been in Iraq. And, clearly, they have never been in a firefight with an Iraqi unit.

Secondly, they're clearly lying, whether they know it or not. I mean, a very senior U.S. military intelligence officer, one of the most high-ranking in the country, just in the last few days, said to me, these Iraqi forces will never be in a position to be able to crush this insurgency.

On the ground here, no one has no any real illusions about that. I have been in battle with almost every type of Iraqi security force there is, from police commandos, to special forces, to 36 Commando, to the elite counterterrorism force akin to the Delta.

I have been with Kurds and Shia and Sunni. And I'm telling you, if the Iraqi security forces are the exit strategy, then get ready to be here for a long time. And your troops know that. They work with them side by side every day.

Yes, there are advances. Yes, there are gains. But will this military that's emerging here ever be able to replace the American military in Iraq? No.

From CNN transcripts: Anderson Cooper and Michael Ware, Nov. 30/05

COOPER: So, Michael, the president made a point today to -- to come out and say that the Iraqis, the soldiers, the ones -- those who are being trained are better than they -- they have ever been doing before. What's your assessment?