Opinion (Dilip Hiro): Iraq, Iran and the cords that bind

Several months before his declaration in a televised speech on January 10 that the Pentagon would go after the Iranian networks in Iraq, President Bush signed secret orders authorising military action to counter Iran's ambitions in Iraq and the broader Middle East.

This revelation came from Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, in her January 13 interview with the New York Times. She added that Bush issued the orders to implement "force protection", arguing that Iran was providing explosively formed penetrators (EFP), capable of penetrating tanks, to Iraqi terrorists to target US forces.

So far the Bush administration had produced no evidence to prove its allegation.

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