Iraqi foreign minister wants 5 Iranians released

Bush points at Iran, Syria
Bush accused Iran and Syria of not doing enough to block terrorists from entering Iraq over their borders in his speech last week outlining his new strategy for Iraq. The U.S. has accused them of funneling arms and fighters to aid the insurgency.

In another indication of Iraqi efforts to reach out to their neighbors hostile toward the U.S., Iraqi President Jalal Talabani visited Syria on Sunday, becoming the first Iraqi president to travel to the country in nearly three decades. Mahmoud Othman, an Iraqi lawmaker close to Talabani, said the Syria trip was not intended as a snub to Bush. It had been planned for nearly a year, but its date was finalized about two weeks ago, he said from Baghdad.

The Iranian foreign minister said the United States was resorting to “hostility and conflict toward neighbors of Iraq” because it did not want to acknowledge it had failed to stabilize Iraq.

There is already a standoff between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s atomic program. Iran has rejected all allegations that it is trying to make nuclear arms.

The Iraqis and the Americans, meanwhile, prepared for a new joint security operation to secure Baghdad as it faces spiraling sectarian violence.

Bush said Wednesday that additional 21,500 U.S. troops will head to Iraq soon to try improve the security situation mainly in Baghdad and the western province of Anbar.

New violence in Iraq
In violence Sunday, at least 78 people were reported killed or found dead on Sunday, including 41 bullet-riddled bodies discovered in Baghdad. The U.S. military also said an American soldier died Saturday in an explosion in northern Iraq.

Separately, the Iraqi army arrested 50 suspected insurgents and seized nearly 2,000 rockets in a raid in a predominantly Shiite area 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Shaker said. The suspects were detained late Saturday.

The Iraqi army arrested 32 other suspected insurgents during house-to-house searches in Abu Ghraib, on the western outskirts of Baghdad, Shaker said. They also seized seven cars packed with light weapons and 40 barrels of chemicals that could be used in making explosives.

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