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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Buoyant Teheran warns of further kidnappings |
| 2007-04-09 |
| Hardliners in the Iranian regime have warned that the seizure of British naval personnel demonstrates that they can make trouble for the West whenever they want to and do so with impunity. The bullish reaction from Teheran will reinforce the fears of western diplomats and military officials that more kidnap attempts may be planned. Amazing. Whoever could've predicted that? The British handling of the crisis has been regarded with some concern in Washington, and a Pentagon defence official told The Sunday Telegraph: "The fear now is that this could be the first of many. If the Brits don't change their rules of engagement, the Iranians could take more hostages almost at will. "Iran has come out of this looking reasonable. If I were the Iranians, I would keep playing the same game. They have very successfully muddied the waters and bought themselves some more time. And in parts of the Middle East they will be seen as the good guys. They could do it time and again if they wanted to." Americans also expressed dismay that the British had suspended boarding operations in the Gulf while its tactics are reassessed. "Iran has got what it wants. They have secured free passage for smuggling weapons into Iraq without a fight," one US defence department official said. |
| Posted by:Dave D. |
| #11 #9 rjschwarz: "there was any honor in the world" Silly you. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-04-09 21:23 |
| #10 Crush the little ba$$$$$s the next time they pull one of these stunts. Hit them from every side, in a dozen different ways. Wipe Bandar Abbas off the map, bomb Bushehr into sand, destroy Qom, hit every dam, power plant, refinery, oil storage tank, airport runway, road intersection, mosque, etc., until there's nothing left to bomb. Then sit back and tell them they have two hours to announce their total surrender, before we get REALLY nasty. Pull any US, British, or other European personnel out of the rubble, shoot all the ayatollahs, mullahs, and assorted and sundry asshats, and walk out, telling the Iranians they're on their own for rebuilding. Shoot anyone that tries to argue, including said Brits, Phrench, Belgican, German, or any other foul-mouthed member of the Useless Ninnies that tries to interfere. "Lead, follow, or get the he$$ out of our way" should be our new motto, and screw anyone that doesn't like it. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-04-09 21:15 |
| #9 If the Iranians are unclear about where the political boundary is perhaps the US should take over some oil platforms that are near to the boundary. realistically if there was any honor in the world the nations of the world would pull their embassy staff and shun Iran, cut them off totally for such blatant disrgard of the US embassy in 79. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-04-09 17:56 |
| #8 Watch out! Those subs have 200mph torpedoes! At least they do according to Nutjob. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-04-09 15:02 |
| #7 The iranian subs...even though they have 3 Kilo's...pose a minimal threat to the Navy in the Gulf waters. In any case iran could never deploy a Kilo that we wouldn't track like hawk. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2007-04-09 13:59 |
| #6 No, I suggest a sudden systemic problem be discovered in every single Iranian submarine, even those in port, which causes them to without warning, suddenly submerge. Whether or not their hatches are open. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-04-09 13:36 |
| #5 Instead of a strike against iranian nuclear assets, I would suggest that we will step up provocation of iran in 2 ways: step up shipboarding in the Straits and surrounding waters, but with sufficient assets in the area, and ROE's to quickly eliminate any IRG threat; and, continued feinting and skirting iranian airspace with fighters, and monitoring with electric E-3's and 135's. We might even drill a SA-2/5/25 site with an AGM-88. Who knows? |
| Posted by: anymouse 2007-04-09 13:13 |
| #4 This letter, Former (Marine)Hostage, Iran, 1979, is from a former hostage of Iran 1979-1981. First posted at IMAO by one of Frank's commenters, it is now making it's way around the web. A must read. If you haven't yet read it, do so. On the day of the takeover, the Marines were outnumbered at least 1000 to 1. We held the consulate and the communications vault for over 12 hours, helping to destroy equipment and classified material. We were under STRICT orders not to fire our weapons or pop gas grenades (too late for that last one..hee, hee, hee). We were eventually told that we were on or own and to make a break for it. The monkeys even put one of the diplomats in front of the comm vault peep eye with a pistol to their head and threatened to kill them unless the door was opened. It wasn't and they didn't. Once all the material was destroyed the doors were opened and they all got the crap beat out of them. When we were first taken, the Iranians took us into a room individually and asked us to sign a statement denouncing the US policy in Iran, Israel, the Shah, etc. The Marines signed with names such as Michael Mouse, Chesty Puller, Dan Daly (google the last two...Marine Corps legends), Harry Butz, etc. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2007-04-09 11:55 |
| #3 Hammerhead - please, a comparison between that group of 'sailors' and scouts is unfair. I wager my troop of Boy Scouts would put up a much more spirited defense of their camp being overrun than that of the Brits. |
| Posted by: GORT 2007-04-09 10:40 |
| #2 We'll if those 15 sailors and sailorette are representative of their resolve and gumption, then Prefesser is correct. They looked like high school scouts found after being lost in the woods. |
| Posted by: HammerHead 2007-04-09 10:09 |
| #1 I hate to say it, but I think it is time that the Britons packed up and left Iraq and Afghanistan, just as their publics desire. They seem to be more a part of the problem right now than the solution. |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2007-04-09 09:13 |