US President George W. Bush today blamed a wave of violence in post-war Iraq on members of Saddam Hussein's deposed Baathist party and "foreign terrorists" and said he expected Syria and Iran to enforce border controls to stop infiltrators.
"The Baathists try to create chaos and fear because they realize that a free Iraq will deny them the excessive privileges they had under Saddam Hussein," Mr Bush said.
"The foreign terrorists are trying to create conditions of fear because they fear a free and peaceful state in the midst of a part of the world where terror has found recruits. That freedom is exactly what terrorists fear the most."