Posted on 04/02/2007 9:02:35 AM PDT by LibWhacker
HAS Britain's standing in the world ever been lower? The country that was once a byword for freedom is now seen as a bully and a weakling.
Bully enough to follow America's lead and cause mayhem in Iraq, but weak enough to stand meekly by while 14 British men and one woman are exhibited like trophies and gloated over by the mad thugs of Iran.
Our 15 British hostages are forced to act like performing seals for one of the vilest regimes on the planet, and the bitter truth is that our chums in the civilised world do not give a damn. Advertisement
The Americans?
The Americans are calling us wimps for allowing British sailors and marines to be kidnapped without a fight, and even bigger wimps for being so pathetically toothless in our response.
"The British government wrings its hands in despair and does little else," sneers the New York Post.
"Wimping out on Iran," shrieks the New York Daily News, mocking Britain's humiliation.
The Europeans? Well, of course the Euros didn't want us marauding through the Middle East in the first place so we can hardly be surprised that our Continental cousins are completely indifferent to the plight of our people.
It took the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, almost a week to even bring himself to denounce the kidnapping. Since then the EU has requested the release of the hostages and said that "appropriate measures" will be taken if they refuse.
But several EU countries have already stated they will not consider freezing links with Iran. So the EU has really got them trembling in their sandals in Tehran.
Then what about the United Nations? The British were in those waters operating under a UN mandate. When we went to the UN seeking a demand for the immediate release of our hostages, it should have been a rubber-stamp formality.
But many countries, including Russia, simply refuse to believe the evidence that British sailors were operating in Iraqi and not Iranian waters. And even if the British are telling the truth, many countries don't give a toss because they're scared stiff of joining Britain and America as the hate figures of the Muslim world.
AFTER hours of debate, the UN Security Council issued a meaningless statement expressing its "concern" over our hostages.
And this country's humiliation was complete.
We are told that diplomacy is the only thing that will bring our people home. Well, it is now.
There was a moment when military action was a possibility, and indeed the best option - and I'm not talking about sending a gunboat or sabre rattling. The 15 being held hostage were not bob-a-jobbing. They had guns, too - but they didn't use them to defend themselves.
And HMS Cornwall, armed with enough firepower to blow a few Revolutionary Guards all the way back to downtown Tehran, was about as much use as a rubber duck.
Lieutenant-Commander Erik Horner of the US Navy, who works with the Royal Navy in those waters, was astounded that 15 British sailors and marines were captured without a shot being fired. "Our reaction was, why didn't you guys defend yourselves?" says Horner.
Good point.
It does seem strange. Perhaps they were under orders not to put up a fight. Perhaps they were wary of turning a drama into a bloodbath.
But the truth is we're jaded. We are tired. We are frightened. We no longer have the stomach for a fight.
We want to get out of there and go home.
The Iranians believe that we are taking part in a war that we don't believe is right and don't have the nerve to fight.
They are absolutely correct.
That is why Tony Blair will ultimately be remembered as a failure. He lied to get us into an unwanted war, and then he lacked the will to fight it, or the wit to get us out.
Blair has left us impotent in the leering face of Iran and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: one of the biggest pigs on the planet, he's a Holocaust denier who talks of "exterminating" Israel and routinely uses the language of the Nazis as if it were rational political discourse.
With the usual baying mobs in Iran calling for the execution of our 15 hostages, the responsibility for their fate falls on the sloping shoulders of Tony Blair, and all the lies and misjudgements that have made this country despised, mistrusted and mocked by friend and foe alike.
It is difficult to see how Blair's legacy could possibly sink even lower.
Unless Prince Harry gets shipped off to Iraq and then gets killed.
By the Americans.
It's 1937. What is past is prolouge.....
We are about to reap the benefits of multiculturalism.
Driving back to work after lunch today, the British radio show "Have Your Say" was on National Partisan Radio.
The commentator was saying they had "hundreds and thousands" of emails from listeners who said the British sailors being kidnapped by Iran is no different from the detainees being held in Gitmo.
These leftwingers really see no difference between sailors doing their job and terrorists who want to kill innocents.
These people are deluded beyond repair.
...and I doubt Hildy is a DU troll.
Now that is the right attitude and the one that made the Royal Navy the ultimate "Do not F#$% with me" navy in the last few centuries.
Ever think about applying for an admiral's job over there? You got the right attitude at least.
How many innocent people will have to die? How many soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will have to fight desperate battles because the courage that was needed was not available when the fight could have been easier?
Any casual student of 20th century history must see the possibility of a world war looming on the scene. I just cannot understand why we never learn.
Hmmm...Trust, but verify. The jury is still out on Hildy, in fact rumor has it she's Rudy supporter, so she is suspect!
/s
lol! Yes, I'm a Rudy supporter, but am open to Fred if he decides to throw the hat in the ring.
William Pitt, the Duke of Wellington, Edward III, Winston Churchill, etc. are probably turning in their graves.
I wonder how much the influx of Islamics into Great Britain has impacted their response here?
My thoughts exactly. What in the world are these supposed "Royal Marines" doing? They bring absolute dishonor to their country, yet alone their fellow marines. I'm not understanding this at all.
Why were WMD moved out of Iraq? What's good of having it if it's not going to be used.
I am embarrassed by our lack of action in this situation as WELL as by the lack of action by the Blair Administration.
19 March 1982: Argentines invade and begin occupation of the Falkland/Maldives Islands [South Georgia]
02 May 1982:[Day 14] Nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror, captained by Commander Christopher Wreford-Brown, sinks the Argentine Cruiser Belgrano on 02 May. The Belgrano remains the only ship ever sunk by a nuclear submarine in combat.
27 May 1982: 2 Para Regiment force of approximately 500 men approached and attacks Darwin and Goose Green, which was held by the Argentine 12th Inf Regt. Result after approx 48 hours of fighting: 17 British and 55 Argentine soldiers had been killed, and 1,050 Argentine troops taken prisoner.
01 June 1982: With the arrival of a further 5,000 British troops of the 5th Infantry Brigade, the new British divisional commander, Major General Jeremy Moore RM, has sufficient force to start planning an offensive against Port Stanley.
14 June 1982: The commander of the Argentine garrison in Stanley, Mario Menéndez, surrenders to Major General Jeremy Moore. 9,800 Argentine troops were made prisoners of war and some 4,167 were repatriated to Argentina. 20 June 1982: The British retook the South Sandwich Islands, (which involved accepting the surrender of the Southern Thule Garrison at the Corbeta Uruguay base) and declared hostilities to be over. The war lasted 74 days, with 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen, and three civilian Falklanders killed.
[Flashforward:]
23 March 2007: Seven sailors and eight Royal Marines are seized from a British patrol boat in the Shatt al-Arab waterway on March 23, triggering a diplomatic row between Tehran and London.
06 April 2007: [Day 14]....
Has anyone here
ever actually seen,
say, Barbra Streisand
and Hildy standing
next to each other? Do we
know they're not the same?!
Not exactly what you would call "progress", no?
And we should beware this same fate. Can we be surprised that this all happened almost within a couple months of their announcing they were slashing their Navy in half? From 44 ships to 22...
Meanwhile, W has slashed the U.S. navy from 344 ships to 276 ships.... We have retired 24 more ships than the entire British Navy had...and we are still on a steep slope of becoming irrelevant too...
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