Bush Pledges Action Against Iranian Force Operating Inside Iraq

WASHINGTON — President Bush said Wednesday that Iranian special operations forces are providing sophisticated roadside bombs that are being used to kill and wound U.S. troops in Iraq, "and I intend to do something about it."

Bush said he doesn't know whether the elite Quds units are operating under orders from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has denied that Iran is backing the attacks.

"I can't say it more plainly: there are weapons in Iraq that are harming U.S. troops because of the Quds Force," Bush told reporters at the White House. "And I intend to do something about it. And I've asked our commanders to do something about it. And we're going to protect our troops."

Bush made the remarks during his first news conference of the year, with his approval rating this month matching an all-time low of 32 percent in a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll. It came a month after he announced that he would send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq - on top of the 132,000 already there - to help quell sectarian bloodshed in Baghdad and to crack down on al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups in western Iraq.

With House Democrats debating the troop increase and set to pass a non-binding resolution opposing it as early as Friday, Bush called on lawmakers to speak their conscience on the resolution but to think of the troops before taking a later vote on whether to continue to fund the Iraq war.

"I understand the Congress is going to express their opinion, and it's very clear where the Democrats are, and some Republicans," Bush said. "They didn't like the decision I made."

While he has yet to pressure lawmakers on this week's resolution, Bush said he would weigh in when it comes time to vote later this month on his request for $93.4 billion in supplemental defense spending to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The request includes $5.6 billion to pay for the troop increase. Some House and Senate members have threatened to offer amendments that would reject that spending as a way to voice opposition to what critics regard as an escalation of the four-year war.

"I am going to make it very clear to the members of Congress, starting now," Bush said. "They need to fund our troops and they need to make sure we have the flexibility necessary to get the job done."

The hour-long news conference was dominated by questions about Iraq and neighboring Iran. When he announced the troop increase on Jan. 10, Bush warned Iran and Syria that U.S. forces would "seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

Some members of Congress have pushed back against that remark, warning that Bush could be posturing ahead of planned attacks against Iran.

Bush rejected that assertion Wednesday with an emphatic "No." He said he lacks the authority to order such attacks and insisted that he would have to first consult Congress before launching strikes against Iran.

Bush has butted heads for months with Ahmadinejad over Iran's alleged efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. After praising diplomatic efforts that have secured a preliminary agreement through which North Korea would abandon its nuclear weapons program, Bush said he intends to press similar multilateral diplomacy with Tehran.

But he said he sees no benefit in one-on-one talks with Iran, as were recommended in December by a congressional study group headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Lee Hamilton.

"If I thought we could achieve success, I would sit down," said Bush. "But I don't think we can achieve success right now and, therefore, we'll want to work with other nations."

Some Bush critics have warned that the same kind of intelligence failures that preceded the war with Iraq - no stockpiles have been found of its alleged chemical and biological weapons - could be leading to a new confrontation with Iran.

Bush lashed out against such charges.

"The idea that somehow we're manufacturing the idea that the Iranians are providing IEDs (improvised explosive devices, or roadside bombs) is preposterous," said Bush. "My job is to protect our troops. And when we find devices that are in that country that are hurting our troops, we're going to do something about it, pure and simple."

Iran's Qud Forces are accused of helping to train, supply and finance anti-American insurgents inside Iraq. Bush said they are also providing some of the lethal roadside bombs being used by insurgents.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last month, the new U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David Petraeus, said roadside bombs are responsible for 70 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq, where more than 3,100 American troops have died and 23,530 have been wounded since Bush launched the war in March 2003.

Bush said he was briefed Wednesday morning by Petraeus, who told him that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared to be following through with his promise to provide roughly 10,000 more Iraqi troops to work alongside U.S. forces in Baghdad.