bush's strategy

JUST AFTER BUSH SPEECH
US Raids Iranian Consulate in Iraq
January 11, 2007 cgh/ap/reuters

As US President George W. Bush was promising to stem Iranian support for the Iraqi insurgency, US soldiers were raiding the Iranian consulate in Irbil, Iraq. The Iranians aren't happy.

Just hours after United States President George W. Bush presented his new strategy for Iraq to the American public, US forces raided the Iranian consulate in the northern Iraq city of Irbil and arrested five employees, according to a report by the Iranian news agency IRNA.


JUST AFTER BUSH SPEECH
US Raids Iranian Consulate in Iraq
January 11, 2007 cgh/ap/reuters

As US President George W. Bush was promising to stem Iranian support for the Iraqi insurgency, US soldiers were raiding the Iranian consulate in Irbil, Iraq. The Iranians aren't happy.

Just hours after United States President George W. Bush presented his new strategy for Iraq to the American public, US forces raided the Iranian consulate in the northern Iraq city of Irbil and arrested five employees, according to a report by the Iranian news agency IRNA.

The soldiers raided the building in the wee hours of Thursday morning local time and confiscated computers and documents in addition to the detentions. The US military issued a statement indicating that it had arrested six people in the Irbil region, but did not specifically mention the consulate raid. But a Shiite official in Baghdad confirmed the raid to AP, though he requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.

"Around 5:00 a.m., after disarming the guards, they broke into the office without giving any explanation and arrested five employees," IRNA reported. Iran has sent a letter of protest to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry according to the report.

It is the second time in the past month that the United States has staged a raid on Iranian interests in Iraq. In December, the US military in Baghdad arrested a number of Iranians, including diplomats, accusing them of planning attacks against Iraqi forces.

Bush indicated in his speech that he wants to eliminate the "flow of support" from Iran and Syria to insurgents inside Iraq and suspects Tehran of providing arms to Shiite radicals. In November, the Iraq Study Group -- led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former US Representative Lee Hamilton -- recommended that the Bush Administration talk directly with both Iran and Syria. Bush has largely turned his back on those recommendations.

In his speech on Wednesday evening in Washington, Bush announced he intends to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq in a last-ditch effort to improve the disastrous security situation in the country.cgh/ap/reuters