US President George W. Bush on Thursday accused Iran, Syria and Lebanon's Hezbollah of playing a nefarious role in the carnage gripping Iraq and warned that an early US withdrawal would only "frighten Arab allies." For this reason, Bush said Thursday he was sending US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East next month to consult Arab allies on the conflict.Bush spoke after an interim White House report found the Iraqi government had made only mixed progress in meeting political goals. It said conditions were still dangerous and challenging, six months after Bush ordered a US troop buildup. "The fight in Iraq is part of a broader struggle that's unfolding across the region," Bush said. "The same regime in Iran that is pursuing nuclear weapons and threatening to wipe Israel off the map is also providing sophisticated IEDs [improvised-explosive device] to extremists in Iraq who are using them to kill American soldiers. The same Hezbollah terrorists who are waging war against the forces of democracy in Lebanon are training extremists to do the same against coalition forces in Iraq.
"The same Syrian regime that provides support and sanctuary for Islamic jihad and Hamas has refused to close its airport in Damascus to suicide bombers headed to Iraq," Bush said. "All these extremist groups would be emboldened by a precipitous American withdrawal, which would confuse and frighten friends and allies in the region," he said, adding that Arab nations have "a stake in a stable Iraq."
He said that the "war against extremists and radicals is not only evident in Iraq, but it's evident in Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and Afghanistan."