Bush Attempts to Link Iran with Growing Iraq War Chaos

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As President Bush began deploying more than 21,000 additional U.S. troops -- following through on his promised escalation of the Iraq war -- violence reached record levels with the bombing of a Baghdad market killing 135 people on Feb. 3rd. The bombing, the most deadly since the war began, and a death toll of 1,000 Iraqis in one week, underscored the growing chaos that has defined the U.S. occupation. Democrats in the U.S. Senate failed in their Feb. 5 attempt to pass a nonbinding resolution criticizing Bush's so-called troop surge, when Republicans blocked a motion to end debate.

While Baghdad burned, the president further raised tensions in the region when he announced that American soldiers are now under orders to capture or kill Iranian operatives inside Iraq that the administration claims are aiding Shiite militias targeting U.S. forces. This comes amid rising U.S. pressure on Iran to end their nuclear program and after Washington sent two aircraft carrier groups to the coast off Iran and arrested Iranian diplomats in Iraq. When an Iranian diplomat was abducted by men in Iraqi Army uniforms on Feb. 4, Iran warned that it held the United States responsible for his life.

Between the Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, who examines the effect of additional U.S. troops in Iraq and the attempt by the Bush administration to link the worsening conflict in Iraq with what they allege is interference by Iran.

Phyllis Bennis' forthcoming book Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer at Interlink Books