Aug. 20, 2007
Too Little, Too Late On Iran?
National Review Online: Putting Revolutionary Guard On Terror List Is Welcome, But Not Enough
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Two reactions are appropriate to the Bush administration’s decision to place Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. First, one should cheer. Second, one should ask how much longer it will take the president to resolve the contradiction at the heart of his Iran policy.
One should cheer because the Revolutionary Guard is among the world’s most effective forces for barbarity and chaos. Separate from Iran’s regular military, it espouses the revolution-exporting ideology of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei (the latter of whom possesses ultimate control of its actions). It has killed Americans gladly, as at the Khobar Towers. Its current specialty is killing American soldiers in Iraq, through Iraqi proxies, with armor-piercing bombs. These things alone do not make it a terrorist group in the precise sense of that term, but its arming and financing of Hezbollah certainly does. Likewise the massacres of civilians that its aid to Iraqi militants has made possible.
To designate the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist entity, then, is to acknowledge reality. Yet there is something decidedly unrealistic in the idea that the Revolutionary Guard can be separated from the Iranian government as a whole. (The distinctions got even more jesuitical when it emerged that the State Department might not designate the entire Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, but simply its Quds Force, composed of special covert units.) There is no getting around the fact that the Revolutionary Guard — including the Quds Force — expresses the will of Iran’s highest rulers. If what it does counts as terrorism, they count as terrorists.
Given their history of working mayhem in the Middle East and beyond (recall, for example, their handiwork in Argentina in 1994), this is an obvious enough fact, and the State Department designation will do little to make it more obvious. It will also do little to hurt Iran — the designation would freeze any assets the Revolutionary Guard had in the U.S., but, as you might imagine, it prefers to bank elsewhere.
What the designation does do is lay bare the contradiction in President Bush’s Iran policy. After September 11, in a moment of great strategic clarity, Bush said that the U.S. would not distinguish between terrorists and the governments that harbored them. Yet his administration has approached Iran — the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism — as though it were a legitimate government, capable of being persuaded to adopt positions agreeable to liberal democracies.
On Iran’s nuclear program, Bush has deferred first to Europe and then to Condoleezza Rice’s State Department in allowing years of negotiating, followed by a few more years of negotiating, followed by (wait for it) more negotiating.
Worse than do nothing, this strategy created an illusion that the world was seriously confronting Iran when just the opposite was true. The two Security Council resolutions against the Islamic Republic were so weak as to be meaningless, except in distracting attention from alternative courses of action (e.g., effective sanctions or military force). Iran’s leaders have grown more brazen at every turn — kidnappings of foreign soldiers and proxy wars are now par for the course — yet the Bush administration has remained unable to forge a credible policy.
What one should hope now is that the administration, in its waning days, is making a course correction. The squeamishness with which much of Europe opposes the designation suggests that it fears just this. For a variety of reasons — economic interest, anti-Americanism, and reflexive pacifism chief among them — it would prefer to avoid any bad blood with the Islamic Republic. Most of the U.S. State Department feels likewise. But the simple truth is that, unless Iran’s regime gives up both its terrorist ideology and its weapons, we will never be safe. The president has taken an important — albeit partial and overdue — step toward facing that unpleasant reality.
By the editors of National Review Online
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online.




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See all 54 CommentsWHEN ARE WE GOING TO ATTACK THE SAUDIS?
15 OF 19 HIJACKERS WHERE FROM THERE ALONG WITH BIN LADEN?
IRAN IS ISRAELI ENEMY NOT AMERICAS
These people consistently demonstrate a Hitlerian sociopath''s disconnection from the human costs of their obscene musings.
I hope that the writers and editors of this article, and their loved ones are the first to go to Iran and fire upon humans, they will have no right to sorrow for any losses incurred..
It''s amusing that the writer here (no one seems willing to take "credit" for this article for some reason) say that "to designate the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist entity, then, is to acknowledge reality."
Please. Like the idealogues at NRO have any clue what "reality" is. The only reality the NRO is willing to acknowledge is one that fits in with their warped and deluded neo-con agenda.
We are now selling arms to Saudi Arabia and Israel, and given both countries'' inhabitants money lust, these weapons will find their way to so called "terrorist" organizations within an amazingly short time.
If the NRO thinks they can handle reality, then maybe they ought to address the question of why Bush went after Saddam rather than the Saudis if there were no terrorists in Iraq before he invaded (no terrorists according to the contributing analysts of the latest NIE).
Other issues the NRO need to stomach if they want to keep it real - how does that win the hearts and minds of Iraqis if the government has invited the guard on official visits, but the US has pulled rank in their sovereign country and taken the guard captive even though Iraq (and Afghanistan see Iran as an ally?
And how does that affect our relationship with Russia and China to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as terrorists if they are providing arms to them. As well, is Europe on board with the designation? Apparently nobody is but Bush and the NRO.
What''s the ''real'' deal with the NRO? Do Bush and his cronies invite you guys to the White House for tea and flattery - does he tell you how much ''smarter'', ''stronger'' and more ''patriotic'' you are then the ''masses'' right before he tells you what to write?
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The CIA goons deny direct funding of this terrorist group, but with all of the opium dollars flowing from the U.S. created bumper crop in Afghanistan, we can be certain that they can "find" money to support these kinds of terrorist activities.
So we have a Taliban associated drug dealer, working with the Bush global terrorist network, staging terrorist attacks in Iran, and executing members of Iran''s Revolutionary Guard. And now the Bush League wants to label the victims of these terrorist attacks as "TERRORISTS".
What a pathetic and ridiculous joke!
JAIL BUSH AND THE REST OF HIS MASS-MURDEROUS TORTURE-LOVING TERRORIST REGIME, WHILE THEY AWAIT TRIAL!!!
Re: Iranian Guard Labeled as TERRORISTS
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And the so-called "War on Terror" moves even further into the farce category.
We know from a previous ABC News report, that the U.S. has been backing a Pakistani terrorist group that has been waging cross-border terrorist attacks inside Iran. According to ABC, this group has been "secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005" (apparently ABC News is still doing some investigative reporting, unlike the relentless yellow-journalism of CBS Nooz).
A man who reportedly is associated with the Taliban, and with the drug trade leads this Pakistani-based terrorist group, the %u201CJundullah%u201D.
According to the report: "Regi (the leader) is essentially commanding a force of several hundred guerrilla fighters that stage attacks across the border into Iran on Iranian military officers, Iranian intelligence officers, kidnapping them, executing them on camera," Debat said.
"Most recently, Jundullah took credit for an attack in February that killed at least 11 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard riding on a bus in the Iranian city of Zahedan."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/abc_news_exclus.html
You are a very stupid person. I feel bad for you.
Re: "It makes better sense to attack Al Qada Iran with Army Special Forces in covert operations."
Wouldn''t the Ghost-Busters be a better choice to use in battling this imaginary group?
I realize that CBS Nooz did not compose this article (I hope), but they DID supply the accompanying video, in which this fool, Pam Falk, claims that "Iran has its nuclear weapons underground", which is a complete lie, since Iran does not have any nuclear weapons at all, at present, nor is there any evidence whatsoever that they are currently seeking them.
Therefore, I would like to mark this report as exhibit "J" in the case of CBS complicity in the fomentation of an illegal and suicidal war of aggression against Iran.
Perhaps if you little maggots actually had to fight the wars yourselves you wouldn''t be so quick to start these wars.
Antillo99,
Re: "Hey FeelFree, Bin Laden himself declared war on the U.S. from Iran. Stick with your leader''''s script."
Repeating and embellishing your stupidity is not likely to make it any more believable to anyone with even the most basic reasoning skills.
As I recall (correct me if Im wrong), fellows like J. Adams, Benj. Franklin, J. Jay, Jas. Madison and Thos. Jefferson never served. The Presidents who served in the Civil War before they were elected were awful Presidents for the most part, and the WW II vets who became Presidents ranged from mediocre to the all-time worst (Nixon).
What is your evidence that putting lawyers and politicians into uniform makes them better leaders?
Due for future consideration are the Papal Swiss Guards (because they were strange uniforms), the French Foreign Legion (because they don''t speak English, mostly), and members of the Knights of Columbus (because they carry long swords)!
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
Iran. Mr. Elbaradi from the IAE says Iran will have
nuclear capabilities in 5-10 yrs. I guess if you want the real news - you have to read a foreign newspaper......The U.S. newspapers are all spinning
the Bush propaganda so they can start their war with
Iran. They are a bunch of LIARS.......
There is no getting around the fact that the Revolutionary Guard %u2014 including the Quds Force %u2014 expresses the will of Iran%u2019s highest rulers.
Ha! Like the NRO would know a ''fact'' if it saw one. You maggots are nothing more than deluded, self-interested morons in the extreme. I honestly wish you were 1/10th as smart as you believe yourself to be.
Your warped and foolish agenda is hastening the decline of the United States. That anyone in the world regards your words to be worth more then your average homeless lunatic yelling in the street is a travesty.
Posted by notblue at 05:50 PM : Aug 20, 2007
I see. Y''know, so many of you righties just don''t know how to do irony or sarcasm properly. It almost always falls flat like this.
To be honest, your lack of intelligence just really shines through in this post; poorly written, poorly thought out and it''s without an ounce of cleverness you would like it to have.
Truth be told, I would imagine when/if the NRO staff bothers to read the comments here they''re probably a little embarrased to be supported by dullards like yourself.
They want to kill Americans? So what. NRO wants to kill Iranians. Is NRO a terrorist organization--YES!
Posted by JesusFace at 05:58 PM : Aug 20, 2007
+ report abuse
LOL Now if this isn''t the pot calling the kettle black, I''ve never seen it. Sparky NO NATION on this planet has a worst leader than this country right now. Let''s try to get THIS nation headed in the right direction before we look someplace else. Sieg Heil Bush!!
Posted by notblue at 05:50 PM : Aug 20, 2007
Not only are you a full blown fascist accusing everyone who doesn''t buy into the Bush War of choice to bring "Democracy" to Iraq, a Pascifist, but one that can''t read!! ROFLMAO I can''t see how you Losers can be whooped any better than you have already been but IF you want to COMPLETELY break our Military, I guess that''s what "Stay the Course" will do. God am I glad you clowns have NEVER had to lead a War effort before... all the other leaders were "LIBERALS". I can only imagine where we''d be with you One Party Rule Fascist in charge... we MOST certainly would have the swastika on our flag that''s CERTAIN!! Sieg Heil Y''all. ROFLMAO
For all the administrations blusterings, I have not seen one shred of real proof offered about their current accusations other than what they say about it gained through mysterious sources... which these days have the weight of helium... don''t you think some of us have learned through past experience with these bozos? For God''s sake, didn''t you guys even learn from your childrens fairy tales about "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"? No, I guess not.
Show us the stinkin'' proof! Just don''t babble on with the party line like we''re a bunch of blithering idiots. "Oh, it''s a secret.", my a$$!
How anyone can believe a word this administration says at this point is way beyond me and a testament to the absolute robotic stupidity of the right wing of this country. You people have done a lot more than drink the kool-aid, you guys are injecting it into your veins. I suppose it''s true that, as the old saying from my youth goes, "Reality is for people who can''t handle drugs." Pass it over to me boys, because this reality thing really sucks.
________________
The NRO can really spin the facts.
Thirteen Saudis and one Lebanese were indicted for the bombing. Hezbollah Al-Hejaz was responsible for the bombing and it operates in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
What ever happened to these terrorists? Did the Saudi government hand them over to the U.S.? I don''t think so...
bin Ladin was "congratulated" on the day of the attack and it''s likely that he had more to do with it than Iran.
This is all Eisenhower''s fault - Operation Ajax.
"Its current specialty is killing American soldiers in Iraq, through Iraqi proxies, with armor-piercing bombs"
Where is the proof for this? Ido realize the NRO very much depends on the general gullibility of Americans to believe what they say without question. But such inflamatory claims (and stated flatly as facts) should not be accepted without something to back it up. Again, where is the proof?
I think the NRO believes it''s fooled everyone into thinking the surge is working, so now it can move onto rallying the nation to support an attack on Iran. But unless Tehran stages something on par with Pearl Harbor it''s not going to happen. The nation is sick to death of war. And starting one war for flimsy, unproven reasons is enough for awhile.
Give it a rest you loathsome, war-loving vermin.
I realize that CBS Nooz did not compose this article (I hope), but they DID supply the accompanying video, in which this fool, Pam Falk, claims that "Iran has its nuclear weapons underground", which is a complete lie, since Iran does not have any nuclear weapons at all, at present, nor is there any evidence whatsoever that they are currently seeking them
Posted by FeelFree1 at 02:02 PM : Aug 20, 2007
if you believe that,which I doubt, then you are the fool
jankebenz,
The idiocy and cavalcade of misinformation from poopaganda rags like the National Review Online and the Weekly Standard appear to be tailor made for you.
Congratulations.
NONE OF THE MIDDLE IS A THREAT TO AMERICA ONLY ISRAEL SO WE MUST FIGHT IN THE MIDDLE EAST TO PROTECT ISRAEL.
THAT IS WHY WE ARE THERE BECAUSE ISRAEL RUNS AMERICAN POLITICIANS!
Iraqi Arms dealers are doing quite nicely - thanks GW Bush - great job - may he rot in hell.
"Iran has a stupid president!"
and
"The truth is that Iran is a terrorist nation because it does not believe in God!"
The truth is that we have a stupid president - and we have become a terrorist nation under that idiot.
And if God really told him to invade Iraq, then God must not like us very much.
"roger_inkart at, I couldn''''t agree more the left in this country has evolved into a bunch of "deluded self-interested morons in the extreme" finally a voice of reason here at leftwing central! There foolish self destructive pascifist agenda is hastening the decline ofthe United States! well said roger!"
lol - clearly, you are the "deluded self-interested moron".
By the way - it''s morons like you and your Republicanazi moron of a President that are destroying the United States.
Clearly, you don''t stop at anything in trying to make a dollar - even killing innocent civilians.
Republicanazis support the murder of innocent civilians.
"One must wonder, think and consider: can Islamic jihad fundamentalism be defeated without taking-on Iran? It''''s not likely. Iran will have to be faced in order to ensure freedom prevails!"
Are you telling us that to free people, we must first kill them?
Hmmm - sounds plausible - how about we start with all the hypocritical Christians in the United States?
Are you volunteering to go first?
The fantasy of neocons that they are somehow brave because they want to send other people to fight is laughable. They have convinced themselves that because they support the war in Iraq and invading Iran (for others to fight, now them), that has made them courageous and defenders of freedom while people against the war are cowards and appeasers. Well, it doesn''t take very much bravery to volunteer others to fight your war. Sometimes it takes more courage to not fight than to fight.
So all the smoke and mirrors offered up by the NRO propagandists is falling on deaf ears as all of the underlying premises behind their anti-Iran campaign have already been rejected. The American public is not going to allow this Bush regime to initiate world war in order to cleanse the demons they imagine so it''s time to move on to concretely working out how to withdraw from Iraq rather than wasting their breath trying to stoke up interest in attacking Iran. NRO would expend its effort better by talking about what kind of operations we should have in Afghanistan after president Obama or Clinton end our operations in Iraq...
It''s also "too late" for nearly 4000 US troops dying for the pointless and counter-productive Iraq War.
Imagine the millions of deaths caused by the "wonders never cease" NR if they ploughed head-on into the Iranian battlefield with their ideology that Iran is just a jump off from being a bag of nuts.
Hezbollah did a tremendous positive act to the world in 2006 - Mr Olmert has admitted that they - ISRAEL - were the culprits who started the escapade in Lebanon --in order to possibly get a foothold close to Iran to prepare for the step-over to enlarge their capacity to further the desires [by U.S. and Israel] to invade Iran. If Hezbollah had not been there to defend Lebanon, the step-over would have been possible plus Israel would accomplish their wonder list to achieve control of Lebanon.
Without most people recognizing it, that debacle probably saved millions of lives. Had the invasion of Iran been made possible, the results cannot be estimated but some strategists believe that over 1 million lives would have been snuffed out in the first 24 hours. Is that a game you desire to play --NR.
william j clemons
willclem@grics.net
International Brian Online: Putting Revolutionary Guard On Terror List Is Stupid, But Profitable If You''re Halliburton And Bechtel.
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