Posted by
Tzimisce on Monday, March 26, 2007 3:33:52 PM
It seems that the Iranians have seized fifteen British Marines after the Brits carried out a routine inspection of an Iranian merchant vessel in the Shatt al-Arab waterway a corridor known for smugglers. According to reports, the British soldiers had finished their inspection when they were surrounded by six Iranian gun boats. This was the last time these people were seen publically but it's believed that they were taken to Iran. According to the Iranian News Service the soldiers had confessed to "invading" Iranian territory. The next day the same news service announced that the soldiers would be put on trial for spying, a crime punishable by death - but only if it could be proven that the Brits had knowingly entered Iranian territory. Since there are already "confessions" these guys could be in big trouble.
One of the interesting things about this incident is that never once in any of the stories from the unbiased, non partisan news that I've seen has the word "hostage" been used. Never once has the the suspicion of torture been brought up. Three years ago in Oct of 2004, Iran seized British troops in a similar incident. When released, those troops talked of mock executions and being blindfolded - things that are illegal under the Geneva Convention. And in that case, not all of the soldiers made it home.
Thus it's not surprising at all the leftists are looking at the Western account with suspicion. Iran is talking like Western liberals by dubbing the British "insurgents". This is playing well to the usual band of Bush hating morons. The great liberal philosopher Rosie O'Donnell has already suggested that this could be a contrived incident to foster a war with Iran. Cindy Sheehan and Sean Penn haven't been given microphones yet, but they'll probably say something similar. Maybe the English Government does have a history of lying, but it's not nearly as bad as the Iranian history of falsehoods. But who are leftists going to believe?
But unlike the Gulf of Tonkin ordeal, the Iranians haven't run away. In fact if it's a set up they've taken the bait and whole fishing pole along with it. Iran could end this incident very quickly by simply returning the troops and publically issuing a warning that they wouldn't do it again. At a time when Iran has proudly stated publically (before certain non western audiences) it's working on a nuke and will share the technology with terrorist groups, this is a very serious situation. The Brits didn't even find anything on the ship they searched.
Iran could end this situation very easily, but they're playing a very dangerous game of chicken. There has been talk of the US attacking Iran for years. Bush even included it in his "axis of evil". If that's true, why give Western powers the justification for an attack? You can stand up for yourself without turning the situation deadly.