Posted by
on Friday, March 23, 2007 4:17:44 PM
Protests? Me thinketh the world doth protest too much and acts too little:
Iranian naval vessels on Friday seized 15 British sailors and marines who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf, British and U.S. officials said. Britain immediately protested the detentions, which come at a time of high tension between the West and Iran.
In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office: "He was left in no doubt that we want them back," Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said after the meeting.
A spokesman for the U.S. Navy, which operates off the Iraqi coast along with British forces, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible.
Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had radioed a British warship explaining that no harm had come to the 15 Britons and that they were seized because they were in Iranian waters. The British Defense Ministry said the Iranians took custody of the sailors and marines in Iraqi waters.
Aandahl said a "very limited exchange of communication" occurred between the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy after it had intercepted the Royal Navy service members saying "that no harm had come to any personnel and that they were being taken to a place of safety."
The Iranians said they had captured the sailors and marines because they were operating inside Iranian territorial waters.
"The Royal Navy replied that they were well inside Iraqi territorial waters (and) that was the end of the conversation," Aandahl said.
Here is the "protest" I would give to the Iranians: Hand our sailors over now, or else suffer the consequences. That would include the explusion of any Iranians on Britain regardless of the visas they possesed, and quite possibly a muster of forces in the Gulf with preparations for possible airstrikes.
This act is simply unacceptable, and it is not wise to do right now with tensions as stressed as they are. Honestly, ladies and gentlemen, there is a reason why nations like North Korea and Iran act up, and that is because they believe that the West is too PC-ified to realy mount a solid resistance to these sorts of escapades. Thuis far, they would be proven correct. For an example of this analysis, we only need to look at the UN sanctions that were slapped on both nations.
And after Kim Jong-Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad picked themselves up off the floor from laughing so hard ...
See what I mean? Forget protesting. Roll up the sleeves, drag out the claws, and show Iran that they cannot be allowed to get away with this sort of act.
Marcie