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Bush: Syria, Iran must protect bordersSuicide car bombing in Fallujah kills two Iraqis
(CNN) -- President Bush warned Iran and Syria not to let militants cross their borders into Iraq, as the death toll from car bombs there rose. Two Iraqis died when a car exploded Tuesday in Fallujah, an official with the coalition said, and on Monday a string of bombs killed more than 30 people. Bush used a news conference in the Rose Garden on Tuesday to urge Iran and Syria to cooperate. "We're working closely with those countries to let them know that we expect them to enforce borders, prevent people from coming across borders if, in fact, we catch them doing that," he told reporters. After Bush's comments, however, State Department officials made clear that there have been no direct government contacts with Iran. Officials explained that when the president said the U.S. is "working closely with" Iran, he meant that the Bush administration has been talking through third-party channels, such as the United Kingdom and other European countries, to pass the message to Iran that it must patrol its borders. "We have made our views very, very clear in our public statements, through third parties and, in the case of Syria, through direct diplomatic contact to neighbors, particularly of Iran and Syria, about the need to prevent people from coming in from neighboring countries, and that has been an issue that we've raised repeatedly," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke with Syrian President Bashar Assad two months ago about the need to stop foreign fighters from crossing the border. There have been no new calls, however. Climate of 'chaos and fear'Also Tuesday, President Bush said foreign terrorists and supporters of Saddam Hussein are trying to create a climate of "chaos and fear" in Iraq by launching suicide attacks that have killed dozens in the past two days. Bush decried Monday's bombing near the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Baghdad, saying "it's the same mentality that attacked us on September 11, 2001." (Full story) In the latest suicide attack in Iraq, two Iraqis were killed Tuesday in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, an official with the U.S.-led coalition said. The attack comes a day after a wave of suicide bombings in Baghdad on Monday, the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. More than 30 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in those bombings, which included a strike on the Red Cross and three Iraqi police stations, officials said. (Full story) A senior defense official said Tuesday that the Pentagon is dispatching an undisclosed number of additional military personnel to Iraq to try to improve the flow of intelligence to military commanders who are hunting for anti-U.S. fighters. The official said the move is designed to speed up the time it takes to process and analyze intelligence and pass it up the chain of command. The president said Tuesday: "Our strategy to rout them out -- which is to encourage better intelligence and get more Iraqis involved, and have our strike teams ready to move -- is the right strategy." Bush said the United States won't be intimidated and will fulfill its mission to establish a democratic state in Iraq. He said coalition forces were making progress in Iraq but said the country remained a dangerous place. "Iraq's dangerous because terrorists want us to leave, and we're not leaving," Bush said. In other violence Tuesday, three people were wounded in an explosion in the southern city of Basra, a British military spokesman said. A roadside improvised explosive device caused the blast. An Iraqi civilian was seriously injured, while a coalition soldier suffered limb injuries and a non-Iraqi civilian was wounded in the shoulder, said Alison Simmonds, a British squadron leader. Coalition officials also reported Tuesday that three U.S. soldiers were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack west of Mosul on Monday night. One of the attackers was killed. Other developments• Baghdad's deputy mayor was gunned down Sunday night, the Coalition Provisional Authority said Tuesday. Faris Abdul Razzaq al-Assam, who had just returned home from the Iraqi donors' conference in Spain, was killed in a drive-by shooting. Iraqi police are investigating what the coalition has called an assassination. CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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