War: Terror label 'paves way for air strikes'

The American empire as envisioned by Bush

Déja vu all over again. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to compare and contrast the rhetoric about Iran to the rhetoric surrounding Iraq in the run up to what many consider one of America's greatest fuck-ups.

You'll never get honesty out of the Bush administration. That's a given. They say they have no intention of attacking Iran. Yeah, right. Just like they had no intention of attacking Iraq.

If you live in Lichtenstein, you might well feel nervous too. Empires are not built overnight and Bush has limited time to build his.

The White House's plans to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation are intended to give the Bush administration cover if it launches military strikes o­n the Islamic republic, according to a prominent former CIA officer.

Robert Baer, who was a high-ranking operative in the Middle East, said last week that senior government officials had told him the administration was preparing for air strikes o­n the guards' bases and probably also o­n Iran's nuclear facilities within the next six months.

The US is expected to list the guards as a terror group in the coming weeks. Washington accuses them of backing attacks o­n American and British forces in Iraq, as well as supporting the Hezbollah faction in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

The designation will make it easier to target international financial transactions by the guards' lucrative business operations, which The Sunday Telegraph disclosed last week had made multi-millionaires of many senior commanders. It will also bolster American calls for tougher sanctions o­n Iran over its illicit nuclear programme at the United Nations next month.

But among President George W Bush's closest advisers, there is a fierce debate about whether to take unilateral military action independently of any UN security council moves.

While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set o­n diplomacy, Vice-President Dick Cheney is understood to favour air strikes.

The justification for any attack, according to Mr Baer, would be claims - denied by Iran - that the guards are responsible for the sophisticated armour-penetrating improvised explosive devices that are exacting a heavy toll o­n US forces in Iraq.

Mr Baer said: "The feeling in the administration is that we should have taken care of the guards a long, long time ago. We won't see American troops cross the border. If this is going to happen, it is going to happen very quickly and it is going to surprise a lot of people."

The White House has publicly insisted there are no preparations for military action against Iran. [emphasis mine]

No preparations for military action against Iran? What a crock of shit. That would be total incompetency if true. Come to think of it, perhaps they aren't drawing up plans. It fits their style.

Courtesy link to Intellectual Thought (whole article reproduced here).