Richard Tafoya
Feb 14th, 2007, 02:26 PM
LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ex-bush14feb15,0,7571426.story?coll=la-home-headlines
U.S. officials from President Bush to a top general in Baghdad said today that there was no clear evidence that top officials in Tehran had ordered deadly weapons to be sent to Iraq for use against Americans soldiers, backing away from claims made at a presentation by anonymous officials this week.
Critics in recent days have accused the administration of overstating claims of official Iranian involvement in Iraq's violence. On Sunday, U.S. military officials in Baghdad alleged that Iranian officials at the "highest level" of the government in Tehran, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, were behind the smuggling of a deadly type of weapon used against U.S. forces in Iraq.
But during news conferences today in Washington and the Iraqi capital, Bush and Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the chief military spokesman in Baghdad, appeared to step back from that claim.
"We know [the weapons] are there," Bush said at the White House. "We know they're provided by the Quds Force," he said, referring to an elite segment of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. "We know the Quds Force is part of the Iranian government.
"What we don't know is if senior levels of the Iranian government are behind these explosives."
During an hourlong news conference, Bush bristled at a question suggesting that the administration was manufacturing a case against Iran as a pretext for war.
"Preposterous," Bush said, adding that taking action against suppliers does not mean the administration is planning a war with Iran. "It means we are trying to protect our troops," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ex-bush14feb15,0,7571426.story?coll=la-home-headlines
U.S. officials from President Bush to a top general in Baghdad said today that there was no clear evidence that top officials in Tehran had ordered deadly weapons to be sent to Iraq for use against Americans soldiers, backing away from claims made at a presentation by anonymous officials this week.
Critics in recent days have accused the administration of overstating claims of official Iranian involvement in Iraq's violence. On Sunday, U.S. military officials in Baghdad alleged that Iranian officials at the "highest level" of the government in Tehran, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, were behind the smuggling of a deadly type of weapon used against U.S. forces in Iraq.
But during news conferences today in Washington and the Iraqi capital, Bush and Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the chief military spokesman in Baghdad, appeared to step back from that claim.
"We know [the weapons] are there," Bush said at the White House. "We know they're provided by the Quds Force," he said, referring to an elite segment of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. "We know the Quds Force is part of the Iranian government.
"What we don't know is if senior levels of the Iranian government are behind these explosives."
During an hourlong news conference, Bush bristled at a question suggesting that the administration was manufacturing a case against Iran as a pretext for war.
"Preposterous," Bush said, adding that taking action against suppliers does not mean the administration is planning a war with Iran. "It means we are trying to protect our troops," he said.