Another Step Closer to War with Iran

Today Condeleeza Rice announced sanctions against Iran.  

The Washington Post reports:

The Bush administration plans to roll out an unprecedented package of unilateral sanctions against Iran today, including the long-awaited designations of its Revolutionary Guard Corps as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and of the elite Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism, according to senior administration officials.

The package, scheduled to be announced jointly by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., marks the first time that the United States has tried to isolate or punish another country's military. It is the broadest set of punitive measures imposed on Tehran since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy, the officials said.

I believe this is the problem with votes like the one Hillary Clinton made recently in DC.  

Bush and his administration are determined to escalate any possible disagreement with Iran.  

Administration officials say that they are imposing new sanctions to demonstrate a commitment to diplomacy, even amid increasing rumblings from neoconservatives outside the administration about possible military action.

Thats right- we are imposing economic sanctions because we have people like Dick Cheney who are making noises like they want to bomb Iran.  

In a speech Sunday, Vice President Cheney warned Tehran of "serious consequences" if it continues on its present course. "Our country and the entire international community cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its most aggressive ambitions," he said.

The United States hopes that allies in Europe and Asia will impose similar sanctions, because efforts to get a tough U.N. resolution have stalled as a result of Russian and Chinese opposition. "The international community's got to get a lot tougher if it's going to be resolved diplomatically," Rice said about Iran's suspected nuclear program.

Yesterday the British Government also announced more sanctions against Iran.

The British government will seek further sanctions against Iran over its atomic program, the prime minister said yesterday, as Iran's new nuclear negotiator had his first meeting with the European Union's foreign policy chief

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I am concerned that we will wind up in another war in Central Asia and the current 200 billion in spending will be a drop in the bucket.  I am not sure how we should proceed to deal with Iran, but I strongly doubt if this will be an effective step.  I hope those who voted against authorizing these sanctions will now speak up louder, since this bill seems to be authorizing these actions.