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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran parades blindfolded Brit soldiers on beach |
| 2004-06-23 |
| Fury erupted yesterday over new TV footage of eight blindfolded British servicemen held in Iran. The sickening scene showed the captives marching single-file along a baking hot beach. It was their second day of public humiliation since they were held on Monday after being accused of straying on to the Iranian half of a waterway bordering Iraq. The beach is thought to be near where their boats were seized. The six Royal Marine Commandos and two Royal Navy sailors were forced to tramp up and down first hands on heads â then holding the shoulders of the man in front. Looking scared and disorientated, several of the captives stumbled into each other during the cruel charade filmed for Iranian TV. The ordeal sparked international condemnation as a promise to free the men was broken. At midday Iran had claimed the eight were free to go. But the deal stalled. Last night the Foreign Office announced that the men would finally be freed this morning â if Iran sticks to its pledge. The international incident had threatened to become a full-blown crisis. Previous footage of the eight in blindfolds had already caused a storm. Two senior NCOs among them were forced to make a grovelling TV âconfessionâ. A Foreign Office spokesman said last night: âWe are deeply concerned to see these sort of pictures for a second day.â For the first time, UK diplomats were let into the Bandarmahshar army base where the men were held. But they were still not allowed to see them. The team had fallen into the hands of the hard-line Revolutionary Guards â an elite military unit who answer only to Iranâs leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Former SAS chief General Sir Michael Rose told The Sun: âThe Geneva Convention was agreed to stop this sort of thing happening.â Top analyst Major Charles Heyman said: âThereâs no military reason to march men up and down a beach blindfold. It can only have been done to humiliate them.â It emerged yesterday that one of the groupâs leaders, dad-of-two Chief Petty Officer Robert Webster, is a reservist and normally a firefighter at Newcastle airport. Two others had been named as married Royal Marines Sergeant Thomas Harkins and ex-Scottish amateur boxing champ Marine Scott Fallon. A fourth was revealed yesterday as Royal Marines Corporal Chris Monan, 26, of Marske, Cleveland. The MoD insists the men were on a routine trip when they were forced on to the shoreline and arrested. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #14 I disagree almost completely. I have no doubt that these Brit sailers were on a patrol that they've made every day for the last 18 months. The Iranians just plain snagged them "because they could" to borrow Clinton's excuse. President Bush does need to campaign more aggressively, but Iran will have to be dealt with: They are supporting terrorists and terrorism and they are pursuing nuclear weapons. This is Reason #1 for Bush to be re-elected. This incident is almost exactly like what they did in 1979--think Carter +Zapatero. We will only join in to help our ally Britain and/or when it becomes clear that Iran is defying the world by building nuke missiles and harboring terrorists. Frankly, I'd prefer for the Iranians to start it as the Left has now made the "Saddam approach" (complain to the UN, followed by sanctions, then militarily-forced regime change as in Iraq) virtually impossible as a way to remove the evil mullahs. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-06-24 12:33:56 AM |
| #13 I can appreciate your desire to take on Iran- I'd love to see that happen, believe me, Iran should be in our sights - BUT I don't think this is the time to follow through. When we take on Iran, it should be at a time of our choosing with pre-planning and not as a knee jerk reaction to Iran basking in their 15 minutes of fame and glory. I think everyone with half a brain knows that Iran would be mincemeat if we chose to respond with force. So such time that we think the UK boys are in danger, I feel we should let Iran strut and beat its chest like the hollow banana republic that it is, while we make a mental note to blast these little creeps to Allah in another year or two. I don't see George Bush taking "risks" in recent months, nor should he, quite frankly. He needs to hand over sovereignity to Allawi on June 30th and make it a happy, happy occasion. He needs to start spending more time kissing babies in Kansas City and doing press conferences about the strong economy. To take on another foreign war at this time would be an election disaster IMHO. Unlike yourself, I think most Americans are tired of foreign wars and if George Bush does not cultivate a nice happy calmness in the voting public, he will lose the election. Forget about Iran. They are bunch of boobhead losers and everyone but Tehren knows that. This incident is not the same as what happened under Carter. This is an incident where the UK may actually have been in error by having their men in Iranian jurisdiction, innocently of course, but nevertheless it is not clear to me that the US should jump into this matter and use military action when a) our soldiers are not involvedand b) when our ally's soldiers may have been in error. I'd say discretion is the better part of valour at this moment. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-06-24 12:25:52 AM |
| #12 Gee, rex, I hope this story's still up when Howard UK and Bulldog wake up in a few hours...we'll see if they'd like to see Britain be so passive. The Iranians have committed an act of war, partly in retribution for Britain taking our side at the IAEA meeting last week in which Iran was severely reprimanded for their pursuit of nukes. (Britain tried to get in bed again with France and Germany to run interference for Iran.) Blair is in much more political trouble in Britain on several fronts--not just his support for us in the WOT, but on domestic issues and on wanting Britain to sign the EU Constitution. As for President Bush, the current theories that he is directing US policy "softly" right now to ensure his re-election is BULLSHIT. Everything that President Bush has done has been politically risky and bold and now is not the time for either power to "go wobbly." Bush put Iran in the Axis of Evil for a reason and nothing's changed. In fact it's worse. This incident with the Brits just shows that some in Iran think they're so eager to get it on that they'll start the action. If you're old enough to remember, this is exactly how the 1979 embassy hostage situation started which Jimmy Carter (scumbag!) should have answered with a firm and overwhelming military response. In fact, Iran is betting that Bush is just like Carter...HEHEHEH. Wrong, assclowns. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-06-23 11:51:50 PM |
| #11 I tend to agree with #7. Iran knows that they are safe and can use this event to beat their chests and look good to their Muslim brethern. They see[quite rightly] that both the US and the UK have their hands full right now with Iraq and Afghanistan; that both Blair and Bush are up for re-election and don't want undertake any new military "projects" in the ME because they need to focus on being re-elected. After another day or two of Iranian preening and chest beating theatrics, the UK boys will be released unharmed and with little fanfare. I think we need to grit our teeth and turn the other cheek on this one. I think we need to pick our battles and this is not a good time to respond to Iran with force. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-06-23 11:33:08 PM |
| #10 Prediction: Tomorrow's (today actually) video from Iran will show the Brit hostages in orange jumpsuits. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2004-06-23 11:24:53 PM |
| #9 don't expect any Sir Lancelot chivalry here. The Brits are going to back down and "boot lick"! I would not be surprised if the Brits convoyed up the Iraqi side of the waterway (on land) after this incident. |
| Posted by: smn 2004-06-23 11:15:40 PM |
| #8 AzCat, can you say causus belli? Oh, yes! These people must be "regime changed" one way or the other. And RC, the mullahs will settle for getting Blair to do a Zapatero with British forces...for now. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-06-23 11:06:52 PM |
| #7 Their goal is simple: call our bluff. They know nothing will happen to them, that they've sucessfully paralyzed the West. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-23 11:04:37 PM |
| #6 Oh I dunno Jen. Giving the west a pretext might not be such a bad thing in the long run. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2004-06-23 10:58:51 PM |
| #5 Obviously the Iranians consider coalition forces as hostile. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-06-23 10:58:32 PM |
| #4 I don't know where the mad mullahs are going with this, but I don't care for it at all--this was an act of war. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-06-23 10:53:17 PM |
| #3 According to Koranimal law, now that the British feel humiliated, they now have the right to boom the Grand Mosque in Tehran during Friday prayers. That's the law. Right? |
| Posted by: ed 2004-06-23 10:50:52 PM |
| #2 This can't be a GC violation -- no panties. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-23 10:30:06 PM |
| #1 Awfully quite in the House Of Commons...Hmmmm, all those 'lefty' Libs were so outspoken during the Abu Graib incidents, but I understand... |
| Posted by: smn 2004-06-23 10:12:23 PM |