Juan Cole: Because this man is looking for a pretext for another war.

Bush says http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-te.usiran27jan27,0,7623246.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines">US troops are authorized to "kill or capture" suspected Iranian intelligence agents operating in Iraq. Thousands of Iranians go in and out of Iraq as pilgrims to the Shiite holy sites, so personally I'm skeptical you can know which ones are spies. And, like, it wouldn't be good to kill the pilgrims. Might cast the US in a bad light with the Shiites and all that. I'd say this man is looking for a pretext for another war.

Plus, when you look at where US troops are being killed, it is in Sunni Arab al-Anbar Province, and Sunni Arab Salahuddin, Diyal, Mosul, and West Baghdad. Those Sunni guerrillas are not being helped by Iran. They are being helped by Sunnis in countries allied to the US.

And then, the US hold over 10,000 prisoners swept up on suspicion of insurgent activity in Iraq. What number of them is Iranians? Slim to none. More Syrians and Jordanians and Saudis by far than Iranians.

So if 99 percent of the problem is with the Sunni Arabs of Iraq, why all this big talk about Shiite Iran?

Because this man is looking for a pretext for another war.

Tehran, Jan 26 (Prensa Latina) Ayatollah Ali Akbar Rafsanyani stated on Friday there is a psychological war taking place against Iran, to threaten and terrify the Iranian people and weaken the economy and national production.

In light of the threats, he said Iran "would have to remain cohesive against these conspiracies" and act with sagacity and intelligence.

In his speech today at the University of Tehran before thousands of people, Rafsanyani recalled how, after the Revolution of 1979, the US soldiers had to leave Iran, despite their power and control.

He said that circumstances are quite different now, and Iran is stronger, more intelligent, and more conscious.

The ayatollah said that Washington is "trapped in Iraq and Afghanistan," where the population shows great signs of their rejection of the occupation troops.

"The US soldiers have made Iraq their worst enemy, because of their bad actions," he commented.