| Ander Nieuws week 34 / nieuwe oorlog 2007 |
Bush 'ups the ante' with harsh words against military unit
The Ottawa Citizen
August 16, 2007
By Sheldon Alberts
A U.S. decision to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization fuelled speculation yesterday that the White House is laying the groundwork for air strikes against the hardline Islamic nation before President George W. Bush leaves office.
Foreign policy analysts were surprised yesterday by the reported White House decision, which would mark the first time in history that the U.S. has formally declared the armed forces of a sovereign nation to be terrorists.
"The United States has chosen to up the ante against Iran. This is a warning, or an indicator, that a major policy shift is unfolding within the Bush administration," said retired U.S. air force colonel Sam Gardiner, an Iran policy specialist and former war games planner at the National War College.
"From a policy perspective, it's huge. Never in the history of warfare has another country declared another's armed forces to be a separate instrument from the state."
In Crawford, Texas, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said "it would be inappropriate for me to comment on any possible actions" the U.S. is planning to curb the activities of the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military force that operates outside Iran's regular army.
But several high-ranking U.S. officials said Mr. Bush has already made a decision to sign an executive order classifying the Revolutionary Guard a "specially designated global terrorist" group that threatens the U.S.
The administration could formally announce the move as early as next month ahead of United Nations Security Council meetings in New York, when the U.S. will seek tougher sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.
The U.S. military has also repeatedly accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard, particularly its covert al-Quds Force, of supplying weapons to aid Shia insurgents fighting American troops in Iraq.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard "is well-known to be engaged in" terrorist activities and the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"We are confronting Iran's behaviour in arming and providing material support to those groups that are going after our troops," Mr. McCormack said.
The Revolutionary Guard operates its own naval, land and air forces independently from Iran's regular armed forces, but has expanded its domestic operations recently to include commercial ventures ranging from oil production to infrastructure projects.
The expected designation of the Revolutionary Guard would allow the U.S. to freeze any financial assets the force has with U.S. companies, but a larger goal is to ramp up pressure on international firms to cut ties with Iran.
The plan is reportedly the brainchild of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and is thought to be aimed at showing Bush administration hawks -- particularly Vice-President Dick Cheney -- that the State Department is ready to take a more unilateral, confrontational approach with Iran if diplomacy fails.
A formal designation of Iran's Revolutionary Guard as terrorists could also provide Mr. Bush political cover should he decide on future military strikes inside Iran, allowing the White House to contend attacks were approved under the post-9/11 congressional authorization for war against terror groups.
"If the U.S. had decided on the Cheney option, this is what we would do as a way of preparing for it," Mr. Gardiner said in an interview. "The new Cheney option includes air strikes against terrorist training camps inside Iran."
Officials in Tehran initially scoffed at news of Washington's plan.
"Such a report is in the framework of the propaganda and psychological activity of the American administration against the Islamic Republic of Iran," a senior Iranian official told IRNA, the country's official news agency.
Some analysts said the U.S. move to escalate tensions with Iran could backfire, making it more difficult to reach a negotiated agreement on disputes over nuclear energy and Iranian involvement in Iraq.
Rather than being cowed into backing down, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is just as likely to respond by stepping up anti-U.S. activities in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Gardiner believes.
"There are some within the (Bush) administration who believe the only reason the Iranians are not behaving is that they don't believe we are serious," he said. "The problem is that it misunderstands the Iranians. The Iranians understand we are serious, but are not going to be pushed around."
Even as news of the new U.S. tactic emerged, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced his force's missiles are now capable of striking targets throughout the Persian Gulf.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, the Guard's commander-in-chief, warned no rival warships could pass through the region's waters without risk of being struck by Iranian weapons.
"Our coast-to-sea missile systems can now reach the breadth and length of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea," Mr. Safavi said in a speech, according to Iran's Fars news agency.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007
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