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2007-03-24 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran: British sailors 'bargaining chips'
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Posted by Frank G 2007-03-24 12:41|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 I certainly hope that the CIA is able to sneak some good PSYOPS about this into the British press. It could start by suggesting that the sailors are being tortured, then move on to the other brutalities committed by the regime both to their own people and foreigners; and in their own territory and in other countries.

It would be a slow and gradual process to both convince the Brits that they need a better military, and to take a stronger posture against Iran.
Posted by Anonymoose 2007-03-24 13:29||   2007-03-24 13:29|| Front Page Top

#2 
I would raise then call.

Posted by Master of Obvious 2007-03-24 14:17||   2007-03-24 14:17|| Front Page Top

#3 I just saw Fox news footage of British soldiers walking with their hands behind their heads - are you fuc*in' kidding me? The Brits are putting up with this crap??
Posted by cajunbelle 2007-03-24 14:24||   2007-03-24 14:24|| Front Page Top

#4 I just saw Fox news footage of British soldiers walking with their hands behind their heads
Makin em do the purp walk; arrested for being infidel. Boy does Britain look weak.

Come on Tony have your troops mass the border and invite your American allies to join. (It's time you asked for a real favor instead of asking us to kiss up the UN). Time to draw a line in the sand, and if it's crossed, turn the sand to glass.
Posted by regular joe 2007-03-24 14:50||   2007-03-24 14:50|| Front Page Top

#5 If I were Britain, I wouldn't be talking. I would be sending every nuke submarine I had into waters adjacent to Iran, then I would deliver an ultimatum - either my sailors were returned IMMEDIATELY and UNHARMED, or several Iranian cities won't need electricity, ever again. I'd give them 24 hours to make a decision. Of course, that would mean Britain had a couple of people of Nelson's philosophy, and had returned to Disraeli's foreign policy, but in the end, it would be better for the entire world. People would understand they can't pull this kind of sh$$ on any nation and get away with it. The Iranians will keep escalating until they are hammered, or the entire world rolls over for them.
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2007-03-24 14:51|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2007-03-24 14:51|| Front Page Top

#6 The cassus belli bag be overflowin.
Posted by Nero Shuper3237 2007-03-24 14:53||   2007-03-24 14:53|| Front Page Top

#7 We've gone from casus belli to weak bellies thanks to unanswered casi belli.

A number of targets in Iran should already have been destroyed in the last 24 hours. For the sake of peace.
Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2007-03-24 15:07||   2007-03-24 15:07|| Front Page Top

#8 Look for first class tickets for five Iranian prisoners guests "Ambassadors" from Kerplopistan to Teheran in the near future. The Brits have no stomach for this, and we owe them one.
Posted by Alistaire Elmolurt6632 2007-03-24 15:10||   2007-03-24 15:10|| Front Page Top

#9 Flood the zone.
Posted by Shipman">Shipman  2007-03-24 15:11||   2007-03-24 15:11|| Front Page Top

#10 Iran: British sailors 'bargaining chips'

I say give them more than they bargained for. Lots more.

The Iranians will keep escalating until they are hammered, or the entire world rolls over for them.

Word, OP. Start atritting Iranian assets, NOW!
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-03-24 15:33||   2007-03-24 15:33|| Front Page Top

#11 I'm with you on this one, Zenster. Bad behavior is best extinguished by immediate bad consequences.
Posted by Darrell 2007-03-24 15:52||   2007-03-24 15:52|| Front Page Top

#12 Y'all are such excitable boys. Do the naval blockade first. Draw down the gasoline stores. Make lots of unhappy citizens and no incoming petrodollars.

The Brits may not have the naval assets in theater to do this but we do. I'm willing to throw some of my hard-earned tax dollars into the pool. Us Crusaders gotta stick together!

Sun Tzu sez you can always blow stuff up later. And no, I'm not suggesting anyone torpedo the CdeG as a practical joke.
Posted by SteveS 2007-03-24 16:02||   2007-03-24 16:02|| Front Page Top

#13 I'm good with that SteveS. It also keeps the mullahs in place if there's no fuel to get the hell out
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2007-03-24 16:05||   2007-03-24 16:05|| Front Page Top

#14 AE - I think you're right - This is a brilliant move on their part to get their 5 boys back - If the US tries to play hard ball and not negotiate, we alienate the only allies we have left.
Posted by Geoffro 2007-03-24 16:29||   2007-03-24 16:29|| Front Page Top

#15 Ok, cave to the fascist criminals and their media backers and give back the captured agitators. Then, once the Brits are safely home, sink the entire Iranian navy.
Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2007-03-24 16:33||   2007-03-24 16:33|| Front Page Top

#16 Step 1: Naval *AND* air blockade. No one gets in, no one gets out.

Step 2: Knock down rail bridges between Iran and Russia.

Step 3: Destroy sewage treatment plants.

Step 4: Destroy water treatment plants.

Step 5: Destroy power distribution (not generation) centers.

Step 6: Destroy power generation stations.

Step 7: Destroy POL storage.

Step 8: Destroy oil distribution junctions.

Step 9: Destroy oil extraction centers.

Do one step each week. Let them know that as soon as the prisoners are returned, we'll stop.
Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford  2007-03-24 16:37|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2007-03-24 16:37|| Front Page Top

#17 We should strike at their closest allies. Seize 500 media beasts and hold them until the sailors are released.
Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2007-03-24 16:40||   2007-03-24 16:40|| Front Page Top

#18 Bad behavior is best extinguished by immediate bad consequences.

Well put, Darrell, and something long, long overdue.
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-03-24 16:49||   2007-03-24 16:49|| Front Page Top

#19 
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Posted by Chavilet the Bunyip4128 2007-03-24 16:49||   2007-03-24 16:49|| Front Page Top

#20 Let's get straight to the point.

Iran has submarines?

That is, they still have submarines.

Why?
Posted by Anonymoose 2007-03-24 16:57||   2007-03-24 16:57|| Front Page Top

#21 Why do they still have submarines? Because the Western nations no longer have the balls to actually make WAR against a determined enemy.

We're much more comfortable taking teeny, tiny baby steps against the enemy.

Pfeh.

Posted by Dave D.">Dave D.  2007-03-24 17:05||   2007-03-24 17:05|| Front Page Top

#22 How the he11 would the sailors know where they were? They're just going along for the ride. Now if they got hold of a navigator, first officer, or a captain, maybe I'd believe it. But the rest could be 100 miles off course and they would not know the difference. Time to go pound some sand into somebody's a$$.
Posted by gorb 2007-03-24 17:05||   2007-03-24 17:05|| Front Page Top

#23 As Joe Mendiola might paraphrase Winston Churchill: Brit Weakness > The Middle of The Beginning of The End...
Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek  2007-03-24 17:06||   2007-03-24 17:06|| Front Page Top

#24 Also consider, over at Samizdata, where the depradations of the British state are decried around the clock, Zip Zero Nada about this. I'll bet the kidnapping is being ignored in the british media...
Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek  2007-03-24 17:15||   2007-03-24 17:15|| Front Page Top

#25 map
The Guardian seems to think it wasn't the open ocean, but the Shatt al Arab Waterway
Posted by Bobby 2007-03-24 17:22||   2007-03-24 17:22|| Front Page Top

#26 The British broadsheets+broadcast media are giving the matter decent coverage. Blighty's Conservatives and Libertarians have gone silent.
Posted by mrp 2007-03-24 17:25||   2007-03-24 17:25|| Front Page Top

#27 Interesting observation, MM. EUReferendum also has nothing beyond its initial, pre-confirmation flash report. The Brits should bet our before they hurt themselves as much as Israel did in Lebanon.
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2007-03-24 17:27||   2007-03-24 17:27|| Front Page Top

#28 
BBC is silent on the issue.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/ no hostage report.
Posted by Master of Obvious 2007-03-24 17:33||   2007-03-24 17:33|| Front Page Top

#29 We're much more comfortable taking teeny, tiny baby steps against the enemy.

Those "teeny, tiny baby steps" are "more comfortable" only because taking substantial strides is what can raise blisters and make your shoes pinch. The far greater discomfort of allowing our enemies to advance their evil agendas goes ignored as our leadership coddles its own self with the perks of place and power. Their luxury does not oblige them to share the daily risks of vest bombers, hijackings and car bombs that the great unwashed must endure.

This preference for political ease is contagious in that it bequeaths undue respite to those who should be brought up short for their affronts to humanity. Instead, we are treated to mincing diplomats who idly prink about with canapes in hand whilst bewailing how uncooperative the tyrants are that they stolidly refuse to punish.
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-03-24 17:33||   2007-03-24 17:33|| Front Page Top

#30 Drooling troll spill in aisle #19.
Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2007-03-24 17:34||   2007-03-24 17:34|| Front Page Top

#31 The Beeb has a current article up, but you have to work to find it :) Here

Posted by mrp 2007-03-24 17:39||   2007-03-24 17:39|| Front Page Top

#32 I expect current full-court suppression of the press coverage to allow Blair and Co to negotiate and spin this before the public outrage begins
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2007-03-24 19:09||   2007-03-24 19:09|| Front Page Top

#33 Do the have subs?

Yes.


Will they?


Gee we dont know what happned to them.

(Mk48 ADCAP doesnt leave much evidence)
Posted by OldSpook 2007-03-24 19:56||   2007-03-24 19:56|| Front Page Top

#34 From London Times:

A senior Iraqi officer appeared to back Tehran’s claim that the British had entered Iranian waters. “We were informed by Iraqi fishermen after they had returned from sea that there were British gunboats in an area that is out of Iraqi control,” said Brigadier-General Hakim Jassim, who is in charge of Iraq’s territorial waters. “We don’t know why they were there.”

But 'out of Iraqi control' does not necessarily mean 'out of Iraqi sovereign waters'.
Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore  2007-03-24 20:30||   2007-03-24 20:30|| Front Page Top

#35 JihadWatch has a report that Ahmanutjob is threatening to put the captives "on trial", calling them "insurgents" and saying they may be charged with espionage.

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford  2007-03-24 21:43|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2007-03-24 21:43|| Front Page Top

#36 England has all ways been a great Friend to the US. This situation is definitly one that I hope will wake up the population Across the pond. I love Visiting London, Love the Clubs, the people, the resturants and the Football games. I hope the captured Sailors are returned. However, if they are put on trial and loose, they will be hung. The Arabs are not playing games. They do not care for the West, our freedoms, our religions nor our compassion. London is a prime target for a "Brief Case Nuke". I hope it never comes to such, but If the People Of England do not understand what "Evils" lurk in the belief in Islam, she will fall by the very sword that may "Behead" those great Saliors who risk their lives for the Union Jack and the Queen.
Posted by USA 2007-03-24 21:50||   2007-03-24 21:50|| Front Page Top

#37 Been wondering when that "Tonkin Gulf" moment would come, perhaps now?

Please?

Really, NOW!!
Posted by TomAnon 2007-03-24 21:53||   2007-03-24 21:53|| Front Page Top

#38 
Rantburgers will find this thread on BBC entertaining: http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5882&&edition=1&ttl=20070325034624

No spine. America alone. Multicultural relativism wins.


Posted by Master of Obvious 2007-03-24 22:44||   2007-03-24 22:44|| Front Page Top

#39 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by Chavilet the Bunyip4128 2007-03-24 16:49||   2007-03-24 16:49|| Front Page Top

16:49 Chavilet the Bunyip4128
23:40 Zenster
23:35 Zenster
23:28 Zenster
23:12 Sneaze
23:09 Sneaze
23:07 Capsu 78
22:58 gromgoru
22:58 gromgoru
22:44 Master of Obvious
22:37 Jackal
22:24 RD
22:20 Old Patriot
22:17 Old Patriot
22:15 49 Pan
22:12 49 Pan
22:05 VietVet68
21:58 Eric Jablow
21:53 TomAnon
21:50 USA
21:43 Rob Crawford
21:22 Pappy
21:17 RD
21:05 RD









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