Marching to Iran, III

By Mary Anna Towler on February 14, 2007

Is he trying to scare the Iranians? Maybe not. But the president's sure scaring me.

At a news conference earlier today, President Bush was ramping up the rhetoric, insisting that the al-Quds Force, a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran, is supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents.

"I can't say it more plainly," Bush said. "There are weapons in Iraq that are harming US troops because of the Quds Force. As you know, I hope, the Quds Force is a part of the Iranian government. Whether Ahmadinejad ordered the Quds Force to do this, I don't think we know. But we do know that they're there."

And, he said, "I intend to do something about it."

Reporters tried to pin him down --- noting, for example, that Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace has said there isn't enough evidence that the Iranian government is involved. Bush would have none of it.

"We know they're there," he said. "We know they're provided by the Iranian government. I don't think we know who picked up the phone and said to the Quds Force ‘go do this,' but we know it's a vital part of the Iranian government."

"What matters is that we're responding," said Bush.

Now we wait to see what that response will be.