Raddatz Finds Increased Dangers on 12th Trip to Iraq

Feb. 7, 2007 — -- ABC's Martha Raddatz is in Iraq this week, traveling from Baghdad's Green Zone to a number of operating bases in Anbar Province, where Sunni militias and al Qaeda fighters have posed a formidable challenge to coalition troops.

The following is a conversation she had with Charles Gibson on "World News" about the differences she's noticed during her 12th trip to Iraq since 2003.

Charles Gibson: Martha [its] trip No. 12 for you over four years. What has particularly struck you as different this time?

Martha Raddatz: I think perhaps the pessimism of some soldiers. I haven't really seen that in the past. Now one officer explained it as pessimistic optimism, but I think they're very, very worried about the outcome here in Iraq.

I was also struck by the sense of personal safety, Charlie. I think a lot of soldiers don't think about it very often, a lot of journalists who have been here don't think about it very often, but this time the soldiers were talking about it a lot.

I was in … Fallujah and overheard six or seven soldiers talking about being blown out of their Humvee and they said, "Oh, and did you hear what happened to the other soldier." So I think that is definitely an atmosphere here. It seems very, very dangerous. More so then in past trips.

Gibson: [Is that] Exemplified by restrictions on not only where you could go but how you could go on this trip, even though you went many places?

Raddatz: Yeah, I mean, there's this terrible choice now. You can go by air and clearly insurgents are targeting aircraft, or you can go in convoys, which are also very, very dangerous. So the travel is extremely limited. People check their routes many times.

We went through Ramadi yesterday with one of the generals, and you could not believe the vehicles that we were riding in. There's a vehicle called a Cougar that they've recently adapted to the streets here, and that has handled IEDs very, very well. The general was driving in that vehicle and the Humvees are heavily armored. But still it's very dangerous.

I know there's been a lot of progress in some of these areas. They're particularly proud of it in al Anbar Province. I was in Ramadi about six months ago, and you could barely get through the place and we really didn't have any problems yesterday. But then, you look around, Charlie, and it's surrounded by concrete barriers, you have F-18s flying overhead, you have Cobra helicopters following you every step of the way.

So there may be progress, but in some ways they're looking through rose-colored glasses.

Moral Strong Among Soldiers

Gibson: I was going to ask, do the soldiers that you talked to feel as if they are doing good?

Raddatz: They sure do, Charlie. I mean, it's the one enduring thing I see here from time to time. I honestly think the moral of the soldiers and the Marines here is very good, but they also have to have it that way. They're in the middle of the war.

No one wants to talk about how they got here. They don't want to talk about the politics in Washington.They don't want to talk about any debates between the president and Congress. They say, "We're here. We just want to get the job done. We want to do the best we can."

[I] Had a sort of sad conversation with some officers last night who are just leaving Iraq after a year, and they said, "We tried our best. We didn't get everything done we wanted to get done, but we're proud of ourselves anyway."

Soldiers Fighting Different Wars

Gibson: The national intelligence estimate that was put out last week said there's really four wars going on here and I wonder if soldiers feel that the basic problem they face is attacks against them, or if they feel what they are in is in midst of Iraqis fighting one another?

Raddatz: Yesterday there was a briefing and I was made aware of how many times these soldiers have come back. Some of them were on their third deployment. And they were calling the enemy something they called it three years ago that they don't call the enemy anymore. They were calling it "anti Iraq forces." You could tell who'd been deployed more then once here by what they called the enemy.

They do think there's a sectarian war going on here. Obviously, but they worry about themselves as well. They know they are [a] target -- and they have been particular targets in the last several months. Just in two places we went to yesterday, both of those areas lost Marines yesterday. So they are acutely aware of being targeted, but they know Iraqis are fighting one another as well.

Gibson: Different reactions you get between enlisted men and officers?

Raddatz: No not much. In fact, I'm struck by how much everybody knows about this conflict from enlisted officers -- 19-year-old kids who can tell you about Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds and who's doing what to whom. They really know this area. They really know the intricacies of this war, the officers and enlisted and alike.

Gibson: You traveled I know heavily in Anbar Provence, which has been such a hotbed for so long. Is it any more peaceful then the last time … you saw it?

Raddatz: Well Ramadi a little bit, a sense of that in Ramadi now … which I first went to which is way up there on the Syrian boarder, first went to Al Quim in October 2003, and they are having a real problem with foreign fighters getting through the Syrian boarder. They still have that problem. Most of them enter legally, believe it or not, but it was much calmer in Al Quim. That's one of their success stories.

But again, they move these troops into places as soon as these troops move out the insurgents. Move back in and they will all admit that that has been a problem. They're hopeful that the 4,000 additional Marines they're calling for in Al Anbar will offer some relief to that, but no one has high hopes that they're going to tamp this down completely.

Gibson: Martha I know we're going to see a lot of your travels in coming days. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Raddatz: You bet, Charlie.