Posted on 08/18/2007 8:24:12 PM PDT by Schnucki
WASHINGTON - An elite Iranian force likely to be designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Bush administration has close links to Iran's nuclear program and operates most of its surface-to-surface missiles, a leading analyst says.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, established during the 1979 Iranian revolution, has evolved into a powerful and influential organization that is believed to have custody over most or all of Iran's chemical, biological and radiological weapons, Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in a study to be published in late September.
The force has some 125,000 men, and has exported thousands of rockets to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and shipped arms to various Palestinian movements, including the Palestinian Authority, Cordesman writes in ``Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities.''
Some 5,000 of the group are assigned to unconventional warfare missions as well as special Quds, or Jerusalem, forces for operations overseas. They support the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and on the West Bank and Shiites in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Cordesman, a former director of intelligence assessments at the Pentagon.
Links to al-Qaida and other Sunni extremist groups have not been ``convincingly confirmed,'' he said.
The Bush administration appears to be moving toward designating the guard corps as a foreign terrorist organization. That would enhance a tougher line toward Iran.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I wish we would get serious about using nukes against these lunatics.
“I wish we would get serious about using nukes against these lunatics.”
Absolutely out of the question. We won’t even attack Iran with conventional weapons, much less with nukes. (We wouldn’t need nukes to do the job, anyway.)
I guess what I mean is that I’d like these pipsqueak dictators to at least BELIEVE that we have the will to use them.
They do a great job on unarmed civilians but not too good against the other guy when they have guns too. Amen.
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