Washington – President Bush bluntly accused Iranian agents Wednesday of providing sophisticated explosives to kill U.S. troops in Iraq but said he did not know whether they were acting on orders of the Islamic republic’s leaders. He denied using the allegations as a pretext to go to war with Tehran.
As the House entered its second day of debate over the Iraq war, with a dozen Republicans speaking against Bush’s plans for Iraq, Bush tried to quiet talk that he was heading down the same road with Iran that he did with its neighbor four years ago.
At his first news conference since announcing plans to send more troops to Iraq, Bush said he sees fresh progress in Baghdad and warned Congress not to cut off money or set timetables for withdrawal.
The president spent much of the hour-long televised session addressing skepticism of his government’s assertions regarding Iran and fears of a widening regional conflict.
“The idea that somehow we’re manufacturing the idea that the Iranians are providing (explosives) is preposterous,” Bush said. Rejecting the idea he is creating a pretext for war, Bush said, “It means I’m trying to protect our troops.”
Bush also rejected suggestions that his administration has provided conflicting accounts of the Iranian leadership’s involvement in arming Iraqi extremists. On Sunday, U.S. military officials briefing reporters in Baghdad on the condition of anonymity said that the “highest levels” of Iran’s government were involved, but Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later said he would not say the Iranian government played a direct role.
“It is clear that Iranians are involved, and it is clear that materials from Iran are involved. But I would not say based on what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit,” Pace said.
“There’s no contradiction that the weapons are there and they were provided by the Quds force,” an Iranian paramilitary unit, Bush said.
He added: “We know that. And we also know that the Quds force is a part of the Iranian government. That’s a known. What we don’t know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds force to do what they did.”
The administration has long asserted Iran has been fomenting trouble in Iraq, but the issue has taken on new urgency in recent weeks as Bush dispatched an additional aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf and confirmed orders to capture or kill Iranian agents caught in Iraq.
The Iran issue has inflamed the already emotional debate on the House floor, as lawmakers consider a nonbinding resolution denouncing Bush’s decision to order 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq.
The president has largely stayed out of that debate in recognition that it seems certain to pass with even some Republican support and that it is only symbolic. But he signaled a willingness, even an eagerness, to fight any attempt to tangibly tie his hands.
“My hope … is that this nonbinding resolution doesn’t try to turn into a binding policy that prevents our troops from doing that which I have asked them to do,” Bush said. A few moments later, he added: “I’m going to make it very clear to the members of Congress, starting now, that they need to fund our troops and they need to make sure we have the flexibility necessary to get the job done.”
A dozen Republicans in the House chamber Wednesday set aside party allegiances and said they would lend their names to a resolution intended to rebuke Bush for his Iraq policy.
Rep. Howard Coble of North Carolina said Iraqis had their chance at freedom but chose civil war. Rep. Steven LaTourette of Ohio argued that the troop buildup is a tactic that has already failed. And Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. of Tennessee suggested that military contractors have profited mightily at the expense of the American treasury.
Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., who said he was simply passing along common-sense advice from his constituents, compared the Iraqi government to an ungrateful next-door neighbor.
“Imagine your next-door neighbor refuses to mow his lawn, and the weeds are all the way up to his waist, so you decide you’re going to mow his lawn for him every single week,” Keller said.
“The neighbor never says thank you, he hates you, and sometimes he takes out a gun and shoots you. Under these circumstances, do you keep mowing his lawn forever? Do you send even more of your family members over to mow his lawn?” he added. “Or do you say to that neighbor, ‘You better step it up and mow your own lawn, or there’s going to be serious consequences for you’?”
The House is scheduled to conclude the debate Friday. The Senate intends to consider a similar resolution when it returns from next week’s congressional recess. Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine urged Senate leaders late Wednesday to cancel the recess so the Iraq debate could proceed.
