WEBVTT 00:00.040 --> 00:02.262 Okay , we can go live to baquba now and 00:02.262 --> 00:04.373 to the commander of US forces there . 00:04.373 --> 00:06.750 Lieutenant Colonel thomas fisher . Good 00:06.750 --> 00:09.580 even to you . Lieutenant , Good evening , 00:09.590 --> 00:13.140 tim . Hi , you're in 00:13.140 --> 00:15.600 a kind of a forces in a pretty tough 00:15.600 --> 00:17.544 neighborhood over there . I mean , 00:17.544 --> 00:19.656 Vancouver's as you know ? Well , I've 00:19.656 --> 00:21.822 seen a lot of action . What is it like 00:21.822 --> 00:24.044 in Vancouver at the moment ? Because we 00:24.044 --> 00:26.044 hear a lot about Baghdad and people 00:26.044 --> 00:28.044 talk about an impending civil war . 00:28.044 --> 00:30.211 What's it like in the town you're in ? 00:30.211 --> 00:32.433 Well , things are pretty calm here . We 00:32.433 --> 00:34.433 had the crisis last night . But the 00:34.433 --> 00:36.267 Iraqi police and Fire Department 00:36.267 --> 00:38.433 responded immediately . Uh , my forces 00:38.433 --> 00:40.489 in addition to the Iraqi army forces 00:40.489 --> 00:42.656 that we work with here sent ambulances 00:42.656 --> 00:44.544 and doctors to the hospital . The 00:44.544 --> 00:46.711 Iraqis evacuated the casualties to the 00:46.711 --> 00:48.767 hospital where my doctors and medics 00:48.767 --> 00:50.767 were helping with the triage . They 00:50.767 --> 00:52.711 were evacuated uh , to some of our 00:52.711 --> 00:54.730 bases and they were provided some 00:54.730 --> 00:56.619 additional medical care that they 00:56.619 --> 00:58.841 couldn't hear . Things have been called 00:58.841 --> 01:00.730 today . We believe it was another 01:00.730 --> 01:02.730 attempt by the terrorists operating 01:02.730 --> 01:05.220 over here to spark violence between the 01:05.220 --> 01:07.387 different communities here . But we're 01:07.387 --> 01:09.720 not seeing anything like that currently . 01:10.040 --> 01:12.530 Yeah , that violence is driving people 01:12.530 --> 01:14.697 apart . I mean , you're trying to hold 01:14.697 --> 01:16.697 the ring . But the report out today 01:16.697 --> 01:18.863 from the Iraqis themselves saying that 01:18.863 --> 01:21.220 perhaps 55,000 to 65,000 people have 01:21.220 --> 01:23.442 moved in the last two or three months . 01:23.442 --> 01:25.664 She is moving from Sunni areas . Sunnis 01:25.664 --> 01:27.998 moving from Shia and therefore dividing ? 01:27.998 --> 01:30.109 Because once you start dividing , you 01:30.109 --> 01:32.276 start getting front line . Did you see 01:32.276 --> 01:34.498 any evidence of that in baquba ? I know 01:34.498 --> 01:36.760 it's a mostly Sunni town . I haven't 01:36.760 --> 01:38.871 seen any of that in the city itself . 01:38.880 --> 01:41.790 We have heard reports , various groups 01:41.800 --> 01:43.911 moving back and forth , but we're not 01:43.911 --> 01:45.911 sure how much of this is , uh , the 01:45.911 --> 01:48.350 displaced people that were moved around 01:48.350 --> 01:50.950 during Saddam's time resettling or it's 01:50.950 --> 01:53.110 just people moving to the big city 01:53.120 --> 01:55.120 where they may find some employment 01:55.340 --> 01:58.690 right now . The , uh , area here . 02:00.040 --> 02:03.740 Yeah . Uh , Cooper is approximately , 02:03.750 --> 02:07.690 uh , 45% year , 65% Sunni . But I can 02:07.690 --> 02:09.857 tell you that every one of them that I 02:09.857 --> 02:12.079 talked to think of themselves as Iraqis 02:12.079 --> 02:14.190 first , I've been hearing the reports 02:14.190 --> 02:16.357 of sectarian violence , Civil war . We 02:16.357 --> 02:18.523 haven't seen anything like that here . 02:18.523 --> 02:20.523 And I don't anticipate seeing along 02:20.540 --> 02:22.540 lines of gray and blue going at it 02:22.540 --> 02:26.130 anytime soon . Well , let's hope that 02:26.130 --> 02:28.074 was an expression will come into . 02:28.074 --> 02:30.297 Which is that what's your definition of 02:30.297 --> 02:32.750 the civil war and does Iraq fit into it ? 02:33.920 --> 02:36.560 Peter , In my professional opinion , I 02:36.560 --> 02:39.650 would say no , uh , civil war is when 02:39.650 --> 02:41.539 two different groups for whatever 02:41.539 --> 02:44.260 reasons , decided to try to conquer one 02:44.260 --> 02:46.038 another to take over additional 02:46.038 --> 02:48.149 territory . Uh , what we see is a lot 02:48.149 --> 02:51.720 of violence and in my opinion , a lot 02:51.720 --> 02:53.942 of it is mischaracterized . Typically , 02:53.942 --> 02:56.220 what you find is a dead body and I 02:56.220 --> 02:58.442 couldn't tell you if it was a Sunni who 02:58.442 --> 03:00.664 killed a Shia . I couldn't say it was a 03:00.664 --> 03:02.442 jabouri tribe , killed too many 03:02.442 --> 03:04.609 tribesmen . I couldn't tell you if the 03:04.609 --> 03:06.331 dead body was because he stole 03:06.331 --> 03:08.553 somebody's car . So there is a level of 03:08.553 --> 03:10.776 violence that the Iraqi security forces 03:10.776 --> 03:12.942 and the coalition forces are trying to 03:12.942 --> 03:14.998 get a grip on . I personally think a 03:14.998 --> 03:17.220 lot of this was driven by the fact that 03:17.220 --> 03:18.998 Saddam Hussein released all the 03:18.998 --> 03:21.053 criminals from prison . So there's a 03:21.053 --> 03:20.720 large task in front of the police 03:20.720 --> 03:22.776 department that's forming now try to 03:22.776 --> 03:24.998 get all those people put back into jail 03:24.998 --> 03:27.120 in addition to fighting the different 03:27.120 --> 03:29.231 factions that are trying to make sure 03:29.231 --> 03:32.050 that the Iraqis fail in this endeavor . 03:32.540 --> 03:34.762 Lieutenant Colonel , Lieutenant Colonel 03:34.762 --> 03:36.984 thomas Fisher , thanks so much for your 03:36.984 --> 03:36.260 time tonight .