Iranian Unit to Be Labeled ‘Terrorist’
U.S. Moving Against Revolutionary GuardThe United States has decided to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country’s 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group’s business operations and finances.
The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials have described as its growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against Tehran, as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of U.N. resolutions against Iran’s nuclear program, officials said.
The designation of the Revolutionary Guard will be made under Executive Order 13224, which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. It authorizes the United States to identify individuals, businesses, charities and extremist groups engaged in terrorist activities. The Revolutionary Guard would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said — a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.
The order allows the United States to block the assets of terrorists and to disrupt operations by foreign businesses that "provide support, services or assistance to, or otherwise associate with, terrorists."
After years of the Bush Administration’s pronouncements about the Middle East, I’m afraid my only response is "Show me." "Show me" your evidence that Iran is doing what you say they are doing. Don’t expect me to believe what you say. Show me your evidence. Prove that your provocation and pugilism is justified. Then explain how what you suggest is a reasonable response capable of altering the problem. If you’re not willing to show me, show the Congress your evidence.
This Administration has no credibility to the majority of people in this country and the rest of the world but continues to be treated by most of the media as if it had and therefore says to itself I can. Whenever I go to a store where they sell tvs, waiting rooms in hospitals, Sam’s Club etc. they have the channel on Fox News. Circuit City had all there television sets on Fox News, a hundred sets all at once. The corporate world wants us to stay tuned to Fox News. I went to the beach with my twin sister and brother in law (who lost his high paying job 5 years and hasn’t been able to pay his bills with his low paying job) yesterday. While sitting next to them, my sister said that she had heard that in one of Merv Griffins last interviews that he had said that Jimmy Carter was the worst president in his lifetime. I know better than to respond to statements she makes about politics but I bite my tongue and thought that she still doesn’t get and never will because Fox News is always blasting from her TV. I wanted to scream and say George W beats everyone for the worst. F—ing Historians are already saying that he will win that dubious distinction by a large margin. I don’t think Carter was a good president but at least he’s a good man. I certainly can’t say that about Bush. God help us if we go to war with Iran because they have a real army with real WMDs.