Sanctions are not diplomacy and assertions aren’t evidence
Here come the sanctions for Iran.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 — The Bush administration will announce a long-debated policy of new sanctions against Iran on Thursday, accusing the elite Quds division of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting terrorism, administration officials said Wednesday night.
The administration also plans to accuse the entire Revolutionary Guard Corps of proliferating weapons of mass destruction, the officials said. While the United States has long labeled Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, the decision to single out the Guard reflects increased frustration in the administration with the slow pace of diplomatic negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Both designations will put into play unilateral sanctions intended to impede the Revolutionary Guard and those who do business with it. This is the first time that the United States has taken such steps against the armed forces of any sovereign government.
At the moment, there exists no evidence - none - that the Iranian military has WMDs. How does one proliferate something that doesn’t exist?
“This is a very powerful set of measures designed to send a message to Iran that there will be a cost to what they do,” an official told the Post, which was the first to report the development. “We decided on them because we have seen no change in Iranian behavior. Our diplomacy needs to be stronger and more effective.”
The Iranian government’s actively negotiating with the IAEA about its nuclear power developments. Our ’stronger’ and ‘more effective’ diplomacy involves a hijacking of their assets, without the approval of any other governments.
The military forces may wield some real economic power but again, this action is predicated on what they might do, not on any WMDs existing today.
Among those I expect to hear supporting this move? Oliver North. Former President Bush. Men who sold Iran TOW missiles after they released American embassy hostages. Of that, there’s evidence.
October 25th, 2007 at 4:54 am
While the United States has long labeled Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism
Isn’t this like a giant pot calling a small kettle black?
October 25th, 2007 at 6:27 am
U.S. to impose new sanctions on Iran…
The Bush administration plans to roll out an unprecedented package of unilateral sanctions against I…
October 25th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Yes it is, Dean. We’ve been sponsoring a lot of it lately, especially in Iraq, Gitmo and the secret prisons in our gulag.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
After viewing NIGHTLINE’s program on Iran, I was impressed with the people
interviewed who expressed unanimously their support of their own country and
were suspicious of our country’s motives in accusations against Iran.
It is unbelievable that our citizens are rushing to accept what at best is speculation
and at worst is more war-mongering. Doesn’t anyone recall the lead-up to our
diseaster in Iraq? Same script, same star, hopefully not the same outcome.
Negotiation is not a bad word. Provocation is a bad word. Let’s not go there!