Iran Takes 15 British Soldiers At Gunpoint

[RacerX]

Norton, you need to brush up on your International Relations before opening your teenaged mouth.

When this first happened, Britain released GPS coordinates showing the vessel was in Iraqi waters. Then Iran released their coordinates, which showed to vessel to ALSO be in Iraqi waters! Oops! They quickly released another set of (fake) coordinates:

"Jones Parry said the coordinates of the area where the Britons were seized show clearly that they were captured in Iraqi waters.
"The reported views of the Iranians early on confirmed that they were — even if the coordinates were different from ours — they were still in Iraqi waters," he said.
"When they realized the mistake, the Iranian coordinates were changed so that the vessel appeared — according to those coordinates — to be in Iranian waters," Jones Parry said.
"Even if ... a genuine mistake has been made about coordinates, there is no basis in customary international law to apprehend any vessel carrying out his business," he stressed."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/28/news/UN-GEN-UN-Britain-Iran.php

I'm gonna believe the British ambassador over Ahmadinejad any day.


Also, read this editorial:

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/viewpoints/editorials/070330iran.html

[YetAnotherOne]

It And we can not know which side's proof are true.

Actually we have a pretty good idea which side's assertions are never true. Thus by the process of elimination ....

[69buickman]

So Fett, you really think these guys are going to be set free? And also does anyone know of video footage of the hostages, like has any surfaced to either the British or U.S. governments to show proof that they are alive?

[RacerX]

69b, yeah, they've been shown on Iranian TV. Maybe we can look to what happened the last time Iran did this for some clues as to the outcome this time. I think something similar happened in 2004.

http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=DGUS,DGUS:2006-13,DGUS:en&q=iran+sailors

[RacerX]

Here's a great report with background & conclusion:

http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=635&language_id=1

"The latest incident harks back to a similar incident in 2004 when Iran held eight British sailors captive for three days who were subjected to mock executions as well as paraded blindfolded and forced to apologize on television before their release. In 2004, Iran's president was Mohammed Khatami, considered a moderate and a pragmatist. With the current political dispensation in Tehran being led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the situation appears all the more ominous."

...

"The present crisis between the United Kingdom and Iran may finish soon once the Iranians have squeezed whatever propaganda benefit they can from the squabble. Diplomatic contacts between the two sides are already underway and may yield some result once a face-saving formula is found for both sides."

[Tashtego]

It speaks volumes about the Iranian character that they see this episode as somehow redeeming. It also strikes me as a real sign of weakness. Hostage taking is for the weak and degraded generally.
Imagine if the UK started publishing anti-Iranian propoganda with the kind of effort they put in against the Germans. There is so much material to work with.

[fett]

So Fett, you really think these guys are going to be set free? And also does anyone know of video footage of the hostages, like has any surfaced to either the British or U.S. governments to show proof that they are alive?

Of course, they will be released. Why would Iran want to kill them or hold them for any length of time? They may be crazy but they are not stupid. As for the video "Confessions", military people are told to "Play Along" to avoid any drastic measures. The Brits know that.

[Cleveland Metal]

As much as we've done over there. I'm sorta surprised they would do that. Wonder how they really figure that we won't give a few day ultimatum and then launch about 30 Tomahawks into Tehran...

Shame that is about the only thing they truly understand in their mindset. Basically, it needs to be bully our guys, get bullied 100 times over...

[Snoogans]

I like to think that there's an RN Trident boat somewhere in the Persian Gulf, and the Captain's got his finger hoverin' over the "Fuck y'all" button.

[Norton]

Of course, they will be released. Why would Iran want to kill them or hold them for any length of time? They may be crazy but they are not stupid. As for the video "Confessions", military people are told to "Play Along" to avoid any drastic measures. The Brits know that.

Theyre definitely gonna be set free.killing them would be way stupid.And plus,why would you kill 15 people,while you can nuke a whole city?

[StukaJU87]

If my old man were alive, I would be hearing him say, "We should bomb the shit out of them." My father never meant nukes when he used that phrase. He meant good old fashioned, around the clock carpet bombing. The kind of bombing that says, "We can keep this up for way longer than you can take it.....and we will".

I am not saying I would agree with that, I am just saying that I could imagine him saying it.

[Mike]

I believe this whole war is useless. People are depending on negotiating for fighting. It's more of a large arguement than a war, per se. Nobody has the want for a war, which is why I think we should pull out all of the troops and let the middle east settle it's problems by itself. There's no need for us to be in there if we aren't really doing anything anymore. We got it to a certain point of stability, but it hasn't escalated for awhile.

[Norton]

I believe this whole war is useless. People are depending on negotiating for fighting. It's more of a large arguement than a war, per se. Nobody has the want for a war, which is why I think we should pull out all of the troops and let the middle east settle it's problems by itself. There's no need for us to be in there if we aren't really doing anything anymore. We got it to a certain point of stability, but it hasn't escalated for awhile.

I think he will attack Iran.He's just waiting for a good excuse.

[Sukisyn]

well, pulling out and letting them work it out among themselves sounds good and all but unfortunately we really can't ... why? In a word "oil" Until we come up with a viable alternate fuel source we are going to be involved there for quite some time.

[Mike]

Good point. But that's the only "real" reason we are there.