American Letter: President George Bush's plan to send more than 20,000 new troops to Iraq has drawn derision from Congress and a sullen response from a war-weary American public. Many in Washington suspect, however, that the president is planning an even greater escalation of the war by extending it to Iran and possibly Syria.
In his televised address on Wednesday, Mr Bush said that success in Iraq required "defending its territorial integrity and stabilising the region" in the face of extremist challenges.
"This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq," he said.
The president announced that he was sending a second aircraft-carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf and would "deploy Patriot air defence systems to reassure our friends and allies".
Some senators interpreted Mr Bush's remarks as a threat to pursue alleged terrorists into Iran and Syria. Others suggested that the military build-up in the Gulf was a precursor to US air attacks on Iran, perhaps in an effort to destroy Tehran's nuclear programme.
They point out that Iraqi insurgents have no missiles, ruling out a need for Patriot missiles to be used defensively, but that Iran had a relatively sophisticated arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles.
Senate foreign relations committee chairman Joseph Biden warned secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on Thursday that the president did not have the authority to send US troops into Iran.
"I believe the present authorisation granted the president to use force in Iraq does not cover that, and he does need congressional authority to do that. I just want to set that marker," he said.
Republican senator Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, said the administration's evasive response to questions about its intentions in Iran was reminiscent of Richard Nixon's denial that US troops were conducting raids into Cambodia to stop the flow of weapons to south Vietnam's communist insurgency.
"When our government lied to the American people and said we didn't cross the border going into Cambodia, in fact we did. I happen to know something about that . . . When you set in motion the kind of policy that the president is talking about here, it's very, very dangerous," Mr Hagel said.
Administration critics fear that US incursions into Iran could provoke an armed response from Tehran, sparking a broader conflict. US forces this week arrested and expelled six Iranian diplomats in northern Iraq for allegedly helping insurgents, the second such incident within three weeks.
During a not-for-quotation briefing with newspaper editors and television news anchors, including NBC's Tim Russert, before Wednesday's speech, Mr Bush suggested that a confrontation with Iran was looming.
"There's a strong sense in the upper echelons of the White House that Iran is going to surface relatively quickly as a major issue - in the country and the world - in a very acute way," Russert said.
The administration insists it is using all available diplomatic routes to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and has dismissed reports of military plans to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
On December 23rd, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran which the White House sees as a "ticking clock" that could lead to an international consensus that Iran's nuclear programme represents a danger to international peace. US officials are encouraging the International Atomic Energy Agency to take a tough approach in its report on Iran next month.
Former CIA and Bush administration national security council official Flynt Leverett said this week that the president's remarks this week represent a new stage in an effort to justify attacking Iran.
"The administration is laying the rhetorical and operational foundations for implementing a presidential decision to initiate military operations against Iran," he said.
In his briefing to editors this week, Mr Bush apparently said that if the American public knew what he knew about the threats against the US in the world, they would be as terrified as he is. In fact, many Americans are terrified already of the next step their president may take in the Middle East.
