Even as the war in Iraq continues, and despite the fact that there has been little political or military progress made in the country, United States policymakers have turned their eyes to another troubling nation in the region — Iran. Judging by the rhetoric and actions taken, our politicians have failed to learn from the disaster that is Iraq.
On Sept. 26, the U.S. Senate voted to urge President Bush to declare Iran's Republican Guard a foreign terrorist organization. The resolution passed with a 76-22 majority. This act was both unprecedented and extremely irresponsible.
Without a doubt, the United States should be wary of the current Iranian administration, especially considering its continued pursuit of nuclear power. Iran claims that they are not pursuing nuclear power for the purpose of a weapons program. In his speech at Columbia University, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that politicians who were after atomic bombs were "politically backwards; retarded." I'm not sure I would have put it quite so bluntly, but his remarks are accurate. However, no rational person can take anything Mr. Ahmadinejad says at face value, so international suspicion of Iran is understandable.
Furthermore, his well-documented statements on the Holocaust and his attitude toward the state of Israel make Iran an obvious threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East.
The threat from Iran is not a recent development. The United States and Iran have had an adversarial relationship since 1979, when the U.S.-supported government was overthrown by a revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini. The United States provided aid to Iraq in the 1980s during the Iraq-Iran war. Continuing the trend of mutual hostility, President Bush included Iran in the "axis of evil" in his State of the Union address in 2002. Also, the United States has long considered Iran a state sponsor of terrorism, with considerable evidence supporting this claim.
Clearly, America should be wary of Iranian intentions on a regional and global scale. However, despite this contentious relationship, the resolution passed by the Senate was completely negligent. The politicians who voted for the resolution looked to score some cheap points by trying to seem tough on terrorism. Instead, they took an unmistakable step toward advocating military action against Iran.
The U.S. Senate singled out the Iranian Republican Guard — believed to be the largest portion of the Iranian Army — as a terrorist organization in the resolution. Terrorist organizations have typically been non-state actors that threaten the safety and stability of legitimate — or, at the very least, sovereign — governments around the world. The Republican Guard is a section of the Iranian military, and, as such, a branch of the Iranian government. Like it or not, the current Iranian government is a sovereign entity. By calling a section of that sovereign entity a terrorist organization, the Senate effectively advocated military action against that government.
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, illustrated this point very well. "What do we do with terrorist organizations if they are involved against us?" he asked. "We attack them." Mr. Webb voted against the resolution, recognizing the resolution would be an irresponsible step toward advocating the use of military force against Iran.
There are some who advocate this course of action. Iran has clearly been a nuisance, and has usually opposed U.S. interests in the Middle East. Given that the United States is engaged in a global struggle against extremism — or whatever euphemism the Bush administration is using these days — we have a responsibility to hold Iran accountable for their support of terrorism. On the surface, this argument holds some water. The Taliban's support for al-Qaida led to the tragic events of Sept. 11, and we as a nation have an obligation to prevent anything as horrible as that from happening again.
These arguments put forth by war hawks might be more convincing if Iraq were not the debacle it has become. The complexity of the Middle East demands that U.S. policy in the region uses all the resources we have at our disposal before military action is taken.
The Senate was a crucial step toward the justification of military action against Iran. With the Middle East in the current condition that it is, the nonbinding resolution is a nearsighted act of political bravado that ultimately undermines U.S. interests in the region.
Supporters for calling the Republican Guard a terrorist organization point to evidence of the Iranian activity in Iraq. They argue that Iranian military action in Iraq is undermining the authority and stability of the Iraqi government, in an attempt to further Iranian interests in the country. I'm not saying that Iranian intervention in Iraq is justified, but it does sound a little familiar, doesn't it?
Corey Sheahan ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history and economics.
