Kidnapped British Soldiers

[skippy3481]

Why in the world does no one seem to care about this? 15 british soldiers are kidnapped by the iranian military, and no one bats an eye. This is an act of war. They refuse to release them are currently "talking to them to find out why they were near iranian waters? Why the hell aren't the british getting their people back? Honestly, is everyone that afraid of Iran...

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by skippy3481

Why in the world does no one seem to care about this? 15 british soldiers are kidnapped by the iranian military, and no one bats an eye. This is an act of war. They refuse to release them are currently "talking to them to find out why they were near iranian waters? Why the hell aren't the british getting their people back? Honestly, is everyone that afraid of Iran...

Can you imagine if this had been 15 Israeli troops?

[GPK]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Can you imagine if this had been 15 Israeli troops?

3 of them have been taken hostage though...

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by skippy3481

Why in the world does no one seem to care about this? 15 british soldiers are kidnapped by the iranian military, and no one bats an eye. This is an act of war. They refuse to release them are currently "talking to them to find out why they were near iranian waters? Why the hell aren't the british getting their people back? Honestly, is everyone that afraid of Iran...

Frankly, what are we going to do about it? We don't have the manpower. As it is, the army is deploying severely wounded soldiers to training camps in order to maintain the illusion that we have enough "battle ready" troops:

http://salon.com/news/feature/2007/03/26/fort_irwin/

All I can say is Iran better hand them over because the Brits, although they seem like a bunch of Nancies, will destroy Iran.

[satan's twin]

Though information is sketchy at this point, I have to assume that the tea being served during the interrogations is sub-par, by Brit standards. The latest reports out of Tehran indicate that if the talks stall, the Iranis are threatening to serve the prisoners "instant tea". Bastards!

[Danzig]

part of this is probably an effort by iran to focus the media on this issue rather than on the larger issue of their continuing nuclear enrichment program. of course u.n. sanctions have been voted on and passed, this certainly won't help irans cause. the u.s. has no dog in this fight at this point, so not quite sure why our troop strengths were brought up. uk is an ally, and certainly we would support anything they try to do-manpower not being the only form that would take.
and yes, the brits would hammer iran if it came to that. but i think everyone needs to take this slowly, patience pays--the longer this drags on, the worse iran looks. supposedly iran has already started lessening their rhetoric--we'll see.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Frankly, what are we going to do about it? We don't have the manpower. As it is, the army is deploying severely wounded soldiers to training camps in order to maintain the illusion that we have enough "battle ready" troops:

http://salon.com/news/feature/2007/03/26/fort_irwin/

Iran may choose to invade us if they read Salon

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Iran may choose to invade us if they read Salon

well, i know if i had military decisions to make, that's the first place i'd consult!!

[timmgirvan]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

well, i know if i had military decisions to make, that's the first place i'd consult!!

Oh Lordy!!

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Iran may choose to invade us if they read Salon

Yeah, heaven forbid a media outlet doesn't just vomit back the Bush party line that things are going swimmingly in Iraq and that the Bush Administration is a model of honesty and competence. How dare the media? Why can't we be like countries that don't tolerate dissent? You know, like Iran.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Yeah, heaven forbid a media outlet doesn't just vomit back the Bush party line that things are going swimmingly in Iraq and that the Bush Administration is a model of honesty and competence. How dare the media? Why can't we be like countries that don't tolerate dissent? You know, like Iran.

lol
seems tho that many vomit one party line or the other--hard to find the real news, not the 'news'..

What about if this were American Sailors from our Navy? Holy Schnikies...

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Yeah, heaven forbid a media outlet doesn't just vomit back the Bush party line that things are going swimmingly in Iraq and that the Bush Administration is a model of honesty and competence. How dare the media? Why can't we be like countries that don't tolerate dissent? You know, like Iran.

Dissent is for opinion pieces. It is not a part of reporting the news.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Dissent is for opinion pieces. It is not a part of reporting the news.

Yeah, but there seem to be many who object to any news being reported that reflects badly on the current administration. You know, news from the "reality-based community" as one of his own people derisively called it. From Wikipedia:

<<The source of the term is a quotation in an October 17, 2004, New York Times Magazine article by writer Ron Suskind, quoting an unnamed aide to George W. Bush:

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." >>

How dare anyone report on "reality" and make the actors look bad!

Poor conservative blogger John Cole has been reduced to thanking God for Chuck Schumer. And he means it sincerely! Link below:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=8019

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by skippy3481

Why in the world does no one seem to care about this? 15 british soldiers are kidnapped by the iranian military, and no one bats an eye. This is an act of war. They refuse to release them are currently "talking to them to find out why they were near iranian waters? Why the hell aren't the british getting their people back? Honestly, is everyone that afraid of Iran...

It's interesting the BBC refers to them as captured and not victims of kidnapping. The UK and Iran have a history of similar incidents including the capture of a British ship and troops on the Shatt al-Arab River a few years ago when Britain admitted the ship had 'mistakenly' entered Iranian waters. The big difference is that the Iranian government then was pro-Western and now it is run by the Revolutionary Guard. The other important difference is that this happened in the Persian Gulf which is far more globally important than the Shatt al-Arab. Between the global importance of the Gulf, questionable British intentions, the new Iranian government and that government's desire to show resistance to the West it's a fairly interesting and very delicate situation. It's all about Iran demonstrating regional influence. It seems they're succeeding. It'll be interesting if the UK actually releases the coordinates of the ships track just to see how close they actually got and how much risk they took.

[Danzig]

i think the problem is that the area had been disputed as to boundaries, but iran and iraq had settled the question--but that was pre-iran/iraq war. iraq attacked way back when to start that war, so now it appears iran thinks all bets are off as to what had been settled, and they're back to claiming what they had formerly given up.

but iran does things like this all the time, no surprise really....it's what they do, taking hostages. in a nutshell, that's what they've done here.

cracks me up that when anything happens, ol' rosie o'donnell automatically assumes the worst--whether it be regarding the u.s., or in this case one of it's allies. she said apparently britain strayed. apparently? it's apparent that's what happened?
ugh, she kills me.

[magic_idol]

Got that Google Earth,Typed in Iran it came up with the region,Typed in tehran the satalite scanned in closer, Typed in British Hostages it came up unable to find , But did see a soccer ground with swimming pools near the british embassy.

I think all is covered in Danzigs post this is not the first time & iran will use the hostages to barter some sort of deal

[Danzig]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070328/...seized_iran_71


iran gave the coordinates that they found the british ship in--and it was in iraqi waters! iran has since revised their coordinates, but it is not backed up by gps evidence.

the brits were in iraqi waters. iran is the one (again) who has entered another countrys area--i am assuming everyone heard about the gunfight between iranians and iraqis/us inside iraq a few weeks ago...

[hi_im_god]

on the other hand...

let's just drop humiliating cartoon's on them.

we aren't the only one's too stupid to be believed. plus that line got no play earlier.