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Blog PostsSpecially Designated Global Terrorist Entities
By David Peterson at Aug 16, 2007 |
|
Here's a phrase that'll wow them come election time
in November 2008: "Specially Designated Global
Terrorist Entity." As in whenever Washington goes
to the trouble of designating X a "global terrorist
entity" -- the treatment it just gave the Lebanon-based Fatah al-Islam one week ago today -- X is a Global Terrorist Entity, or SDGTE, therefore. If not some time sooner: Should the regime decide to sic' its peerless military upon Iran, say. Isn't Iran guilty of "serially killing" America's soldiers inside Iraq? Aren't "we" -- to use the State Department's first-person plural form -- "confronting Iranian behavior across a variety of different fronts"? Hasn't a new Iron Curtain -- indeed, a "Green Curtain" -- descended across this oil-rich region of the world, "dividing the Middle East between Iran's friends and foes"? And hasn't it already been more than four years since Washington initiated a good bloodletting on another continent? Why then wait 12 or 14 months to launch the next one? The trigger-finger's getting pretty itchy.
If one checks the most recent edition of the State Department's list of "foreign terrorist organizations" (see "U.S. Designates Foreign Terrorist Organizations," April 30, 2007), one will see that neither Iran's Revolutionary Guard nor Iran's Al-Quds force (Does such a group even exist?) made their way onto either list, namely the "Foreign Terrorist Organization" list or the "Groups of Concern" list.
But, we now read, the Washington regime stands ready to promote one or both of Al-Quds and the Revolutionary Guard not only to its "Foreign Terrorist Organizations" list. (There are, I believe, 43 members on this list at the moment.) But also to the more important -- because so much more dramatic-sounding -- so much more PR-conscious -- "Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entities" list.
Imagine that.
"Executive Orders Issued by President George W. Bush," White House Office of the Press Secretary (Complete list of the published EOs)
"Executive Order on Terrorist Financing," White House Office of the Press Secretary, September 23, 2001
"Executive Order 13224," U.S. Department of State, Updated December 20, 2002
"Daily Press Briefing," Sean McCormack, U.S. Department of State, August 15, 2007Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Homepage)
FARS News Agency (Homepage)
Iranian Students News Agency (Homepage)
Islamic Republic News Agency (Homepage)"Iran president says no weapons for Taliban," Waheedullah Massoud, Agence France Presse, August 14, 2007
"U.S. Weighing Terrorist Label for Iran Guards," Helene Cooper, New York Times - IHT, August 14, 2007
"US moving to name Iran's Revolutionary Guard terror group," P. Parameswaran, Agence France Presse, August 15, 2007
"Revolutionary Guards: Iran's ideological army," Agence France Presse, August 15, 2007 (as posted to the Persian Journal website)
"U.S. tightens Iran clampdown with terror designation for guard corps," Matthew Lee, Associated Press, August 15, 2007
"Iranian Unit to Be Labeled 'Terrorist'," Robin Wright, Washington Post, August 15, 2007
"Iran's Revolutionary Guards 'a 'terror' group'," Toby Harnden, Daily Telegraph, August 16, 2007
"US may brand elite Iran guards terrorists," Demetri Sevastopulo and Gareth Smyth, Financial Times, August 16, 2007
"Iranian guards are terrorists, US to declare," Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, August 16, 2007
"Iran: Ineffectual, not tough," Editorial, The Guardian, August 16, 2007
"Naming the Guard," Editorial, New York Sun, August 16, 2007
"Terrorist Label for Iran Guard Reflects U.S. Impatience With U.N.," Helene Cooper and Nazila Fathi, New York Times - IHT, August 16, 2007
"Amateur Hour on Iran," Editorial, New York Times - IHT, August 16, 2007
"US envoy says Iraq report will sound warning on Iran," Ross Colvin, Reuters - AlertNet, August 16, 2007
"Revolutionary Guards branded 'terrorists' as US turns screw on Iran," Richard Beeston, The Times, August 16, 2007
"Can U.S. Force Iran's Hand Despite a Lack of Support?" Neil King Jr. and Glenn Simpson, Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2007 [$$$$$]
"As U.S. Steps Up Pressure on Iran, Aftereffects Worry Allies," Robin Wright, Washington Post, August 16, 2007
"Iranian Guard holdings extensive," David R. Sands, Washington Times, August 16, 2007
"Serial killers of Americans," Editorial, Washington Times, August 16, 2007
"US risks foreign-policy blunder with plans to slap terrorist label on Iran's military," Editorial, Daily Star, August 17, 2007
"US Actions Against Iran Raise War Risk, Many Fear," Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers, August 17, 2007 (as posted to Truthout)
"Cutting Off Terror's Money Supply," Robin Finn, New York Times, August 17, 2007
"Cheney, Lieberman, and the Iran War Conspiracy," Gareth Porter, AlterNet, August 18, 2007
"US steps closer to war with Iran," Kaveh L Afrasiabi, Asia Times, August 18, 2007
"U.S. general says Iranians crossing into Iraq to train militia fighters," Kim Gamel, Associated Press, August 18, 2007
"Prelude to an Attack on Iran," Robert Baer, Time Magazine, August 18, 2007
"Iranian agents training militias in Iraq-US general," Ross Colvin, Reuters, August 19, 2007
"Power, Influence Dictate Patterns of Violence in Central Iraq," Tim Kilbride, American Forces Press Service, August 20, 2007
"Kurds flee homes as Iran shells villages in Iraq," Michael Howard, The Guardian, August 20, 2007
"Iran Trains Militiamen Inside Iraq, U.S. Says," Megan Greenwell, Washington Post, August 20, 2007
"U.S. stays firm on sanctions against Iran," Brian Knowlton, New York Times - IHT, August 21, 2007
"Tougher on Iran," Editorial, Washington Post, August 21, 2007
Update (August 22): Get a load of this image (as shot by Jim Young of Reuters today in Kansas City, MO):
"The greatest weapon in the arsenal
of democracy is the desire for liberty
written into the human heart by our
Creator. So long as we remain true
to our ideals, we will defeat the ex-
tremists in Iraq and Afghanistan. We
will help those countries' peoples stand
up functioning democracies in the heart
of the broader Middle East. And when
that hard work is done and the critics of today recede from memory, the cause of freedom will be stronger, a vital region will be brighter, and the American people will be safer. Thank you, and God bless. (Applause.)" ("President Bush Attends Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention, Discusses War on Terror," White House Office of the Press Secretary, August 22, 2007.)
Looking over this image, I can't make up my mind whether the photographer worships his subject matter, or holds him in contempt? Based on the image alone, one can make both cases. -- What do you think?
"Don't know much about history," Matthew Yglesias, The Guardian, August 22, 2007
"Will U.S. be final victim of its global dance macabre?" Gul Jammas Hussain, Mehr News Agency, August 22, 2007
"Bush accused of twisting history over Iraq, Asia war links," P. Parameswaran, Agence France Presse, August 23, 2007
"The big muddy," Editorial, Baltimore Sun, August 23, 2007
"President Compares Vietnam, Iraq Wars," Farah Sotckman, Boston Globe, August 23, 2007
"Bush cites past wars for lessons on Iraq," Michael Tackett, Chicago Tribune, August 23, 2007
"Bush draws parallels between Iran and Vietnam," Richard Alleyne, Daily Telegraph, August 23, 2007
"George Bush: Iraq must not become Vietnam," Alex Spillius, Daily Telegraph, August 23, 2007
"Bush warns of Iraqi 'killing fields'," Edward Luce, Financial Times, August 23, 2007
"This is a war for credibility," Martin Woolacott, The Guardian, August 23, 2007
"How can this bloody failure be regarded as a good war?" Seumas Milne, The Guardian, August 23, 2007
"Iraq: The vanishing coalition," Leonard Doyle and Kim Sengupta, The Independent, August 23, 2007
"The Iraqis don't deserve us. So we betray them…," Robert Fisk, The Independent, August 23, 2007
"The retreat from Iraq," Adrian Hamilton, The Independent, August 23, 2007
"The Asian Example," Editorial, New York Sun, August 23, 2007
"Bush Declares That 'Free Iraq' Is within Reach," Jim Rutenberg et al., New York Times-IHT, August 23, 2007
"Historians Question Bush's Reading of Lessons of Vietnam War for Iraq," Thom Shanker, New York Times, August 23, 2007
"British forces' effort in Iraq criticised by US general," Hamish Macdonell, The Scotsman, August 23, 2007
"Bush invokes Vietnam to justify Iraq commitment," Tm Reid, The Times, August 23, 2007
"Iraq and Vietnam," Editorial, The Times, August 23, 2007
"Spectre of Vietnam looms large over the killing fields of Iraq," Gerard Baker, The Times, August 23, 2007
"An imprudent comparison that undermines the American case," Bronwen Maddox, The Times, August 23, 2007
"Quitting Iraq would have dire results, Bush warns," Paul Koring, Toronto Globe and Mail, August 23, 2007
"Bush: Remember Vietnam," Tim Harper, Toronto Star, August 23, 2007
"Discarded Troop Plan Gets a Second Look," Yochi J. Dreazen, Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2007 [$$$$$]
"Bush Ties Iraq Effort To Vietnam Lessons," John D. McKinnon, Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2007 [$$$$$]
"Bush Compares Iraq to Vietnam," Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post, August 23, 2007
You can't take the colonialism out of the colonialists
By Kissenger, Clark at Aug 23, 2007 10:12 AM
SK:
Great stuff (i.e., on the "Howard Doctrine" (1999) as well as "Minding the Timor Gap," Faisal Chaudhry, Dollars and Sense, July/August, 2006).
By any fair and reasonable sense of the term (e.g., according to the letter and the spirit of the UN Charter), a failed state, without question, is a state that preys upon other states and peoples.
Were we to adopt this principle as our guide, how different the comtemporary world does appear!
Moral: No. You can't take the colonialism out of the colonialists.
David Peterson
Chicago, USA
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Colonialism out of the colonialists?
By Kissenger, Clark at Aug 21, 2007 14:47 PM
Outright resumption of the 'White Man's Burden'--nowadays masquerading behind commonplaces like the dangers of a 'failed state' or a 'haven for terrorists' or susceptibility to 'outside influences' (read China)--is also a recurrent pattern.
Curious also how 'communal' strife and large oilfields (or other prized natural resources such as are to be had in, say, Congo) seem to go hand in hand with so many of these so-called UN operations.Or, as Kristin Ross put it (particularly apropos to the non-non-governmental organization founded by Kouchner):
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Reply to SK
By Kissenger, Clark at Aug 21, 2007 13:30 PM
SK:
Thanks. -- I have friends who'll love to take a look at this one:
Of course, about Operation Astute (Wonder where this name came from?), an Australian Defense Force spokesperson confirmed part of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's allegation, but not the whole of it. (I'll leave it up to imaginative readers to figure out exactly which parts.)
In the fabled "final analysis," what can one say about incidents such as this? That you may take the colonialists out of the colony. But that you can never take colonialism out of the colonialists?
David Peterson
Chicago, USA
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btw, here's what's going on
By Kissenger, Clark at Aug 21, 2007 10:52 AM
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Reply to SK
By Kissenger, Clark at Aug 21, 2007 10:06 AM
SK:
France's new Foreign Minister never met a civilized warmaker he didn't like.
About the UN Security Council's latest effort at taking-up the slack where the Americans are having a tough go at it, it's little remembered that the Council began adopting the first of many scramble-for-Iraq resolutions in late May, 2003, only some three weeks after the "Mission Accomplished" photo-op on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, cruising in the deep-blue sea off San Diego. You know. "In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world." (See, e.g., S/RES/1483, and then S/RES/1490, S/RES/1500, and S/RES/1511.)
In the 51 months since the photo-op, my favorite Council resolution remains S/RES/1546 (June 8, 2004), wherein the new puppet regime ("Interim Government") that had been installed by the military occupying power ("may God continue to bless America") inside the fabled "Green Zone" -- some place between Baghdad and Oz, I believe -- wrote to the occupying power and to the Security Council, pleading with the occupying power to remain the occupying power, if under a different name ("Multi-National Force for Iraq"), and with the Security Council's blessings (the whole point of S/RES/1546 -- see the June 5, 2004 letters reproduced in the Annex to this resolution.)
Given this history, S/RES/1770 reads like an afterthought.David Peterson
Chicago, USA
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How about creating a
By Kissenger, Clark at Aug 20, 2007 23:16 PM
How about creating a category labeled 'Specially Designated Huckster' for the benefit of those susceptible to targeted histrionics of the former?
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