Posted on 08/15/2007 1:57:17 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The United States is to classify Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist group in a move that will escalate tensions between Teheran and Washington.
It will be the first time that the armed forces of a sovereign government had been placed on the US terrorist list and would enable the Bush administration to move aggressively to block funding and investigate anyone conducting business with the 125,000-strong unit.
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The Revolutionary Guard was formed in 1979 to protect the theocracy established after the Shah was deposed.
US officials have said it arms Shia groups in Iraq, most notably with bombs using explosively formed projectiles that have killed scores of British and American troops. Iranian weapons have also found their way into the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Its forces captured 15 British sailors and marines in March, sparking an international incident when they "confessed" to operating illegally in Iranian waters before they were released.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who sought to maximise publicity during the saga when he made a great show of handing back the servicemen, is a former revolutionary guard.
A debate within the Bush administration has focused on whether to declare the whole guard corps a terrorist group or whether to name only its Quds Force, believed to be most involved in fomenting violence in Iraq and also lending support to Hizbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Discussions are continuing but diplomatic sources said the initial US decision was to designate the entire guard corps.
This would trigger a series of automatic measures blocking bank accounts and freezing any assets controlled by the guard in the US.
"Anyone doing business with these people will have to re-evaluate their actions immediately," an American official told the Washington Post.
"It increases the risks of people who have until now ignored the growing list of sanctions against the Iranians.
"It makes clear to everyone who the IRGC and their related businesses really are. It removes the excuses for doing business with these people."
The corps' tentacles extend into almost every aspect of Iran's economy.
In a defiant speech following the US move, Yahya Rahim Safavi, commander of the guard corps, declared: "Our coast-to-sea missile systems can now reach the breadth and length of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea and no warships can pass in the Persian Gulf without being in range of our coast-to-sea missiles."
The Iranian foreign ministry dismissed the move as "worthless" propaganda.
But it represents a significant hardening of attitudes within the Bush administration after a year in which the diplomatic route favoured by the British Government has been pursued via the United Nations.
But elements within the White House, most notably Vice President Dick Cheney's office, have challenged whether this policy has worked and there has been increasingly hard-line American rhetoric about Iranian interference in Iraq.
Cheney allies outside the administration have called publicly for military action against Iraq to be considered to prevent Teheran building a nuclear weapon.
They argue that uranium enrichment has proceeded apace proving that United Nations sanctions are inadequate.
OK, Mr. President, now what do we do about “nations that harbor terrorists” as you once said?
News alert!
More “Guards” fun..
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1881647/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1881476/posts (good one)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1881372/posts
I’d like to know why we telegraph things like this to the entire world. If I were in charge of the finances of the Revolutionary Guards, I would move ALL funds in my charge outside the US immediately (if I hadn’t already done so).
Its like telegraphing our invasion of Iraq (twice). How many of our guys died because of that?
WTF ever happened to secrecy, to surprising the enemy?
I can’t help but think that the mullahs are convulsing with laughter right now at the U.S. Government for puffing up its feathers and slapping itself on the back over a simple change in wording, while they happily continue to ship explosives into Iraq to specifically kill American soldiers.
True enough. But the 4th Estate/5th column gets its information from sources inside our government. Why don’t we put the clamps down on such information releases until after the actions have begun (and I specifically mean to include charging government leakers with treason)? The problem is also at the top, for failing to do this.
There is a book (now available in paperback ):
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Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left
(Hardcover)
by David Horowitz
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And reviews:
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Editorial Reviews
Rich Lowry, Editor National Review
David Horowitz is synonymous with pyrotechnics. A historian and polemicist of the first order, he is paid the ultimate compliment --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Davis Hanson, Author, Ripples of Battle
An original look at those who want us to fail in the Middle East, both at home and abroad. The --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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See all Editorial Reviews
Fascinating Analysis of Leftist Goals, August 13, 2006
Reviewer: N. Sincerity - See all my reviews
A former 1960s radical, Horowitz is well-acquainted with the Leftist mindset. In this book, he strives to explain the modern alliance between left wing progressivists and radical Islamofascists. He argues that this alliance is based on a common desire to destroy Western capitalism. Leftist sympathy with Islamofascist ideas makes no sense from an intellectual point of view, given that countries ruled by radical Islamists are among the most racist, sexist, theocratic states in the world today. However, Leftists have recognized that they can benefit politically from destructive terrorist attacks on the Western world. A West under attack can be made to turn on its leaders in fear and desperation (as they did in Spain after the Madrid train bombings). Only once people reject current government structures can the Left execute its anti-capitalist revolution and build a new reality that mirrors the Leftist view of utopia.
The complete and utter idealogical hypocrisy of the Islamofascist-Leftist alliance is distressing, but as Horowitz reminds us,
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“Its like telegraphing our invasion of Iraq (twice)”
different situation - there is no way to move the kinds of equipment and men needed for those invasions without ‘telegraphing.’
As far as the IRG money goes, presumably Iran has been looking at this for quite some time and has long-since taken steps to move their money to friendlier places.
It is one thing to have to move lots of men and equipment - practically speaking, that cannot be kept secret. But that is on a strategic level. However, when we spoke - both times - of specific deadlines for Hussein to undertake certain acts, we telegraphed tactical information that probably cost lives. We were so afraid to act aggressively in our own interests both times that we had to ultra-legalistically dot every i and cross every t before we started shooting. Whatever happened to "As your President, I have ordered the following actions, which actions commenced 4 hours ago...."?
As far as the IRG money goes, presumably Iran has been looking at this for quite some time and has long-since taken steps to move their money to friendlier places.
Then what's the point of declaring the RG to be a terrorist organization? And even if you're right (and, presumably, the Iranians aren't stupid - evil, yes, but not stupid), STILL it is stupid to say "I'm fixin' to do X." Just do it, then talk about it later.
Among other evidence starting, see this post, which I posted today to show that in 2005 Iran declared it would use proxies in Iraq.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1881509/posts
Mr. Putin must be very disapointed...
Meanwhile the fools on the left continue to preach we must have a direct cozy warm discourse with these madmen.
Escalate tensions with a nation whose president ran the hostage-taking during the Carter admininstration... heh, the partisan media shills strike again. Thanks E.
Sure, its the perfect answer to the Moonbats of the Senate and House, who think our president needs an act of congress before moving aggressively to protect our troops in Iraq, from predatory ordnance bearing Iran's arsenal markings, inscribed upon them, as found and proven by U.S. military intelligence in the spring of 2007.
The rails are greased, let 'er slide!
In case you do not know who these fascist Islamics are, I post hereunder a photo of a cadre of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. We have seen their like before in the demesnes of a former Teutonic nation, an attempt at a 1000 year rule of the entire world, and the ideology was Mien Kamph, but today it is the Koran of the 12th Imam. They need to be destroyed, utterly, before they have a nuclear device:
Secondly, we must remind ourselves that this piece of political tripe caricatured below,has no ability or vision with which to prosecute such a dire mission for the benefit and protection of our nation and the free world:
The IRGC now is in control over most sectors, notably including those of petroleum and petrochemicals. This is done indirectly through IRGC companies and affiliates. The IRGC, known as Pasdaran, owns a huge conglomerate called Pasdaran Construction Jihad (PCJ), whose engineering and construction arm - Khatam al-Anbiya (Ghorb) - has become one of the biggest contractors in Iran. Ghorb now has billions of dollars worth of projects in the petroleum sector and in various other parts of the country’s economy. The IRGC controls Iran’s WMD and missile programme, much of which is directly run by PCJ.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/IRAN+-+Mahmoud+Ahmadi-Nejad.-a0162951371
fyi ...that pic is of hezbollah
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