Bush says failure in Iraq would ‘imperil’ Mideast

RENO, Nev. – President Bush warned Tuesday that the Middle East faces a bleak future if the United States fails in Iraq, evoking a “dark vision” of terrorist havens, disrupted energy supplies and a regional arms race triggered by a nuclear-armed Iran.

“The region would be dramatically transformed,” Bush said in a speech to the American Legion’s national convention, “in a way that could imperil the civilized world.”

In particularly muscular language, Bush cited recent evidence of Iranian weapons in Iraq and renewed his demand that the Iranian leadership halt its support for attacks on U.S. troops.

“Until it does, I will take the actions necessary to protect troops. I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran’s murderous activities.”

The speech was Bush’s second in a week seeking to lay out his strongest arguments for pursuing the course he has set in Iraq prior to September, when Congress will return to renew debate on the war and funding for military operations.

White House deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said Tuesday that Bush was neither enunciating a new policy toward Iran nor foreshadowing a military operation in Iran, which borders Iraq.

Stanzel cautioned reporters not to “read too much into” his remarks. However, the president did step up his rhetoric, renewing his emphasis on the threat that Iran could become a nuclear power and referring to Iran 22 times in the 45-minute speech.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that Bush “missed the mark yet again.” Reid said the country agrees on the need to fight extremists and help Iraq, but Bush was pursuing “a flawed strategy” that put troops in the midst of a civil war and “failed to deliver the political solution necessary for Iraq’s stability that he promised.”