In "major" Iran speech Edwards confuses the Iranian Revolutionary Guard with a "militia".

[MethuenProgressive]

http://johnedwards.com/news/speeches/20071105-a-new-strategy-for-iran/

In order to declare the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization -- something we've never done before for a government-run militia -- Bush was supported by the Senate.

To learn more about the IRG:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9371072
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7064353.stm

(Will someone please send these links to Johnny?)

[babylonsister]

1. Pick one:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/militia

militia~

1. a body of citizens enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but serving full time only in emergencies.

2. a body of citizen soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers.

3. all able-bodied males considered by law eligible for military service.

4. a body of citizens organized in a paramilitary group and typically regarding themselves as defenders of individual rights against the presumed interference of the federal government.

[Basileus Basileon]

5. None of those are appropriate.

The IRG contains the Basij, which is a militia. However, it also includes regular forces, including air and naval forces, and the al-Quds special forces, and is under the direct control of the Ministry of Defense. The closest American analogue would be a cross between the USMC and the National Guard.

[MethuenProgressive]

22. Your examples prove Edwards misleads when dismissing the IRG as mere militia.

Thank you for your research!

[Tellurian]

26. As if the majority of American know what a Neocon is..

Doesn't Edwards have the gonads to call them what the people who got us into this War are commonly known as; REPUBLICANS?

[bvar22]

29. You are willfully misleading.

Edwards called them a "government-run militia" not merely a militia.
BIG difference, and comes closer to describing the mixed nature of the IRG.

You are grasping at straws.

[JohnLocke]

2. Nice try, but it is a militia.

"Shortly after the Islamic revolution, the new regime formed an impromptu militia known as the Revolutionary Guards (Persian: Pasdaran-e Enqelab), or simply as the Pasdaran..."
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-233700/intelligence#796197.hook

"After the revolution, like many of his peers, he joined the Revolutionary Guards, a religious militia group formed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini."
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9437580/Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad#916887.hook

If you want to be technical it seems that the Basij (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basij), which is a component of the the Revolutionary Guards, are most often referred to as a "militia," but it seems reasonable to term the Guards as a whole to be a militia.

"The IRG is separate from, and parallel to, the other arm of the Iran's military, which is called Artesh (another Persian word for army). IRG is equipped with its own ground forces, navy, air force, intelligence, and special forces. It also controls Basij force, which has a potential strength of eleven million, although Basij is a volunteer-based force, and consists of 90,000 regular soldiers and 300,000 reservists." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_the_Guardians_of_the_Islamic_Revolution)

State military force that exists alongside another state military force = militia.

[Basileus Basileon]

4. Your first two links refer to the organization as it was over 20 years ago.

The Basij are a militia. The IRG is not. It is a branch of the military under full state control. By your reasoning, there, the Marines would be considered an "American militia."

[JohnLocke]

7. False analogy, and more recent links

The Basij is a part of the IRG!

The sanctions announced today by America's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are ostensibly aimed at starving resources available to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG), the 125,000-strong paramilitary force controlled by the Islamic hierarchy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/25/wiran225.xml

Semantic point.

[Basileus Basileon]

9. The Basij is part of the IRG. Yes. And the Basij is a militia.

However, the IRG is not a militia. Look, I have hair. My hair is brown. But I am not brown. Only my hair is. Calling me a "brown person" is simply inaccurate.

The IRG is state-run. It is staffed, with the exception of the Basij, by professional soldiers who have undergone formal training. It possesses aircraft and ships. At one point it was a militia, but it certainly is not any longer.

From CFR: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or Pasdaran in Farsi, was formed by former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It was originally created as a “people’s army” similar to the U.S. National Guard; commanders report directly to the supreme leader, Iran’s top decision-maker. Iran’s president appoints military leaders of the guard but has little influence on day-to-day operations. Current forces consist of naval, air, and ground components, and total roughly 125,000 fighters.

The Revolutionary Guards’ primary role is internal security, but experts say the force assists Iran’s regular army, which has about 350,000 soldiers, with external defenses. Border skirmishes during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s helped transform the guard into a conventional fighting force organized in a command authority similar to Western armies

http://www.cfr.org/publication/14324/

[MethuenProgressive]

23. A "militia" of 11 Million, with navy, air force, intelligence, and special forces.

From your own post:
"The IRG is separate from, and parallel to, the other arm of the Iran's military, which is called Artesh (another Persian word for army). IRG is equipped with its own ground forces, navy, air force, intelligence, and special forces. It also controls Basij force, which has a potential strength of eleven million, although Basij is a volunteer-based force, and consists of 90,000 regular soldiers and 300,000 reservists."
Thanks for your research!

[Bluebear]

3. "Johnny". How droll.

[Clark2008]

16. Except that's his given name...

Johnny Reid Edwards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edwards

[MethuenProgressive]

21. It's his given name. bluebear. Johnny, not John.

:shrug: You support someone, and yet don't even know his name?

[Bluebear]

24. Yes, I am a big stupid dope, I never knew that about him.

" :shrug: "

[Basileus Basileon]

25. I didn't know that either, but it seems you're correct.

Huh. Kind of makes me like him more.

[Basileus Basileon]

6. That's kind of a weak attack.

He's wrong, but does it matter? He's right that we've never done that to a state-run force of any sort. So what if his wording was inelegant?

[cuke]

11. But we have done in to entire nations

Would Edwards be happier if we went with tradition and designated the entire nation of Iran a terrorist nation?

This "first time ever" argument is bs

[Basileus Basileon]

15. It's misleading, but true.

(Personally, I don't think K-L was that bad an idea. I would have been happiest if it had a "by the way, this doesn't mean war with Iran is okay" clause, but as it stood it wasn't that bad.)

[Tellurian]

28. Edwards whole speech is BS.. Why are we settling for so little..Edwards is feeble minded

"And suddenly, instead of reacting to 9/11 by working to protect America from terrorists, they saw a political opportunity to promote their right-wing ideological agenda and demonize anyone who disagreed with them."

yeah we know, Johnny! You not only C0-Sponsored the Iraq War Resolution and voted for it, YOU posted your FULL support for this War on Bush's White House website. Like the true wimp you really are. Afraid of a little "demonizing" are ya? Save Johnny's little hiney from a whooping?

"Here's what you have to know about these neocons"

"preventive war" -- which would soon become part of his argument for war in Iraq."


It was never a "PREVENTATIVE WAR" It was a "Pre-emptive Strike" on a Sovereign Nation!


"The bottom line is simple -- no combat troops; no combat missions; no combat, period. Not sometime to be determined, not by 2013. By the end of my first year as president, by the end of 2009."

More Bull Sh*t.. from a Bull shitter, sh*tting all over our country to save his little hiney!


"I believe every candidate for president owes the American people a clear and specific plan for ending the Iraq War, and I have done my part."

"You've done your part alright". YOU'VE NEVER HAD THE GOOD CONSCIENCE TO VISIT THE TROOPS, NOT ONCE, SINCE YOU STARTED THIS WAR!

"What's more, Senator Clinton wants to keep combat troops in Iraq to perform combat missions in Iraq. She will extend the war. I will end the war. Only in Washington would anybody believe that you can end the war and continue combat. On a matter as serious as Iraq, we need honesty and real answers -- not more double-talk."

Senator Clinton has consulted with the Joint Chiefs asking for a deployment plan and consulted with esteemed Generals such as Wesley Clark you moron! He has advised her as to what is involved in withdrawing troops from a full scale War. Experts say, It will take more than a year to do it safely in a volatile region such as Iraq.

"And all of this is occurring in a very dangerous context -- when we badly need leadership that will stand up to the president. The neocons are once again preparing for war. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently told reporters that the administration has prepared "contingency plans" for attacks. George Bush has been rolling out reckless rhetoric, saying that "World War III" is just around the corner with Iran. And just over a week ago, Bush and Cheney declared the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization and a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction."

Look under your bed, Johnny Boy, the Bogey man is there waiting for you. He's going to grab you by that big toe of yours and drag you down to that Big Black Hole you helped create in our economy!

"We have seen this movie before. And it doesn't end well -- in fact, as we all know too well, in Iraq, it hasn't ended at all."

Who in the world do you think you're talking too, a bunch of 8th graders turning in a paper on what they did over summer vacation?

"So let me be clear."

I don't think you are capable of being "clear" about anything! Storybook time is over, John. Lights Out!

[geek tragedy]

8. Splitting hairs. This is weak tea. n/t

[rurallib]

10. Geez, I was there - it was a great (presidential even) speech

However I guess making what some consider a small error totally disqualifies Edwards for President. Please keep us informed of all small errors of all our candidates so we can choke each other and open the door for the next Bushie wannabe.
Good Job. Keep it up.
For those who wish to ignore these swipes at small errors, let me say this was a great speech. Again I felt like I was a witness to history, as I had felt at a previous Edwards speech this summer.
Living in Iowa has given me a front row to the campaign. I have seen them all save Gravel and Kucinich up close and personal. It has taken a long time and much analysis to settle on Edwards. I love Dodd, Richardson and Obama, but Edwards has been the policy leader pretty much from the start.
With Edwards and to a lesser degree, Obama, I feel like I am in the presence of greatness at one of their speeches.

[FrenchieCat]

12. It's not the "small" errors that Edwards makes that disqualifies him.....

it's the gigantic ones that he has made that will hurt him in the end.

[rurallib]

13. I may hate myself for this but - such as?

[Clark2008]

17. Edwards is a policy leader?

:rofl:

In what? Hair styles? Houses?

Seriously, Edwards won't do a thing until there's polling info on it - ask Nancy Pelosi - and now he thinks he needs to apologize for his entire Senate career.

Hardly a leader that one.

[Basileus Basileon]

19. Perhaps referring to his co-sponsorship of IWR? nt

[MethuenProgressive]

30. "small error"? Confusing a huge powerful force with a mere militia?

From the BBC profile:

...it has since become a major military, political and economic force in Iran, with close ties to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former member.

The force is estimated to have 125,000 active troops, boasts its own ground forces, navy and air force, and oversees Iran's strategic weapons.

It also controls the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force and the powerful bonyads, or charitable foundations, which run a considerable part of the Iranian economy.

The Revolutionary Guards' power and influence are such that the US government has designated it a "proliferator of weapons of mass destruction" and its elite overseas operations arm, the Quds Force, a "supporter of terrorism".

[Clark2008]

14. That's rather a technicality..

But, in your defense, you don't need to convince me that John Edwards doesn't have much of a grasp on foreign policy.

Do people think he does?

[zulchzulu]

18. Did he roll his "r's" correctly when saying "Guard"?

That adds a lot of credibility...

:crazy:

[Hieronymus]

20. I'll take Edwards' word over yours any day.

[josh_edwards07]

27. I really enjoyed the Senator's speech

I think he's on point correct

[Celeborn Skywalker]

31. No.

Edwards is right and you are wrong. Deal with it.