Apparently, He Does Mean It

Bush approved raids on Iranians in Iraq

WASHINGTON - An order from President Bush authorized a series of U.S. raids against Iranians in Iraq as part of a broad military offensive, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday.

Bush issued the order several months ago, Rice told The New York Times as she prepared to visit the Middle East. She said the president acted "after a period of time in which we saw increasing activity" among Iranians in Iraq "and increasing lethality in what they were producing."

Five Iranians were detained by U.S.-led forces this week after a raid on an Iranian government liaison office in northern Iraq, a move that has frayed even further the relations between the two countries. The United States accuses Iran of helping provide roadside bombs that have killed American troops in Iraq, and a bitter standoff already exists over Tehran's nuclear program.

Rice, according to a story for the Saturday print editions of the Times, described the military effort against Iranians in Iraq as a defensive "force protection mission." Concerns that Iran was trying to further destabilize the country also motivated the raids, she told the newspaper.

"We think they are providing help to the militias as well, and maybe even the more violent element of these militias," she said.

The State Department said Friday that U.S.-led forces entered an Iranian building in Kurdish-controlled Irbil because information linked it to Revolutionary Guards and other Iranian elements engaging in violent activities in Iraq. There was no truth to reports that Iran was carrying out legitimate diplomatic activity at the site, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

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