American military forces in Iraq were authorized to pursue former members of Saddam Hussein's government and terrorists across Iraq's borders into Iran and Syria, according to a classified 2005 document that has been made public by an independent Web site.
In a section on crossing international borders, the document said the permission of the American defense secretary was required before American forces could cross into or fly over Iranian or Syrian territory. Such actions, the document suggested, would probably also require the approval of President George W. Bush.
But the document said that there were cases in which such approval was not required: when American forces were in hot pursuit of former members of Saddam's government or terrorists.
Now, what the document doesn't say is whether Iran or Syria knew about these rules or if they knew we might be coming across their border. While I personally don't see a problem, as long as we're not chasing these guys across a 50 mile stretch into Iran, I do wonder how often this has indeed happened?
As you can see on the map, Syria and Iran share a long stretch of border with Iraq, and it's easy to see that cross border clashes can, and now we know, DO happen from time to time. It's nice to know that our guys are asking for permission "time permitting", but if time doesn't, then they are still allowed to pursue someone who may be responsible for a lot of mischief or worse.
Travis
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