DAILY EXCEPTION

The US Treasury has slapped sanctions on specific companies associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in order to put further pressure on its nuclear program. This move is particularly appropriate given the record of the Guard’s brutal crackdown on civilians peacefully demonstrating against rigged elections. But what is good in Iran can be used elsewhere. Our biggest near term foreign policy challenge is not Iran, but Pakistan – a nuclear armed failing state that aids terrorists who attacks US troops in Afghanistan, and backs terrorists against India, which could trigger the world’s first nuclear war. Most people in Pakistan’s civilian establishment cannot be blamed for Pakistan’s actions. Control (and hence responsibility) for the country’s dangerous foreign policy lies with its military, and specifically its ISI intelligence services. So why not sanction individuals and companies associated with the ISI? We know that the very Generals who rant against the West at home have no problems personally owning homes in the West. Cracking down on these individuals may be a far more effective measure with Paksitan’s military decision makers than bribing them with more F16s.