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August 16, 2007
The Strategic Importance Of President Bush's Action To Designate Al Quds Of The Iranian Revolutionary Guard A Terrorist Organization
As Douglas Farah notes today at FSM, yesterday's Washington Post brought the welcome news that the Bush administration is about to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist entity.
As Farah points out in his piece, the al Quds Force doesn't always operate with the full knowledge and consent of the central government, nor do its leaders appear to be accountable to either the central command of the Revolutionary Guard or the civilian government. The Force seems to be the interlocutor between the Iranian military apparatus and al Qaeda, a relationship that has waxed and waned over time, and despite the strong hatred that often exists between Shi'ite and Sunni groups, they can, on occasion, work together.
All in all, according to Farah, the decision of the U.S. government to designate Al Quds of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization is a good decision and one that should bring some benefit in slowing down the Iranian/Hezbollah terrorist apparatus. However, I'd go a step further in that the real strategic importance of President Bush's decision to label al Quds a terrorist organization just might be our best move to break an already shaky Iranian economy and bring sufficient hardship to the regime that they begin to rethink their nuclear ambitions. As the International Herald Tribune points out:
The U.S. move to blacklist Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror group is a new salvo in a broader effort to choke off funding to Iranian elements accused of developing nuclear weapons and fomenting violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East.Related: You Can't Win A War Or Repel An Attack By Ignoring ItAt the same time, it is intended to send a message to countries doing business in Iran that the United States is serious about isolating Tehran and is willing to slap sanctions on companies that continue to trade with Iran even if the United Nations is not.
... The impending move serves the administration's goal of ratcheting up pressure on Tehran, European and Asian companies with interests in Iran, and the U.N. Security Council, where a new sanctions resolution on the nuclear issue has languished under Chinese and Russian objections.
Posted by Abdul at August 16, 2007 12:34 AM
