Posted on 03/23/2007 4:30:15 AM PDT by MindBender26
Just saw in 7:00-7:30 segment of GMA.
Iranian navy siezed about a dozen UK sailors. Sailors were conducting routine shipping embargo inspection in northern end of Persian Gulf.
Sailors have been taken back to Iran
Can't find it anywhere else.
It is a delicate situation. But the Iranians have also seized U.S. personnel in the past. What does that tell you of their 'respect' for the U.S.? The Iranians are opportunists full-stop. They have had a lot of success in embarassing Western states in the past (e.g: U.S. Embassy incident). But they'll be smart enough not to push their luck in the current climate. Last time they seized some U.K personnel (and briefly U.S. on another occasion)these were released quickly in this regard. The UK government will never release prisoners in exchange for these men (just see the UK and US condemnation of the Italian capitulation in Afghanistan recently).
The key words were "in the past". Try that shit with us now and you know that we will eliminate their naval forces and begin a war with Iran while we are planted on 2 of their borders.
The last incident you refer to was in 2003 and it's obvious our priorities were elsewhere, but this time around it simply gives us the excuse we need to put their regime out of business permanently.
Map at post # 612 :
News From the Long War, Thread 3
Various | 3/19/07 | Knitting a Conundrum and Others
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1803557/posts
It's a nice, easy to read useful map...
Iran's smart. They know that the UK won't do anything physical to rescue them or retaliate. Blair is so politically weak, he can't do a thing.
Ain't gonna happen. No balls there, no balls here. The balls have left the stadiums.
What's the feeling about this in the UK now? Are people angry? Apathetic?
Is there a British website like Free Republic where we can give the parents of these men some support?
If you want on or off the list, go to the link for instructions. Otherwise, it won't be guaranteed that you will be put on or taken off (it still won't be 100% guaranteed, anyway, but will be much more highly probable).
If that's what you're going with, well then, O.K.
Did you see what Rosie said on the view today?
Just hav'n a little fun.
ping
I think the U.S. and U.K. are less prepared now for war with Iran than they were in the period in 2003. We're stuck in a brutal insurgency. Iran has been able to dip its finger into this because they, like the rest of the world, know that we're unable to do much about this interference. Given the internal divisions in the U.S. (Democratic majority in both congress and the senate) and the wider international community and the overstretched nature of our armed forces, escalation on our side is not a viable option beyond limited gestures. Furthermore, the Iranian military could swamp Coalition forces in Iraq by weight of numbers if it came to a sudden war. Undoutedly Iran would lose heavily, but not before making the already poor situation in Iraq even worse. If we toppled Ahmadinejad would we be able to fight against Islamic insurgents in that country too?
Nonsense. You do not seem to understand the concepts of modern war. Not only are we able to take out Iran under current circumstances, it would actually begin to ease the problematic areas in Iraq that are receiving significant aid from Iran, and Syria would be put upon immediately to reign in their support for the Iraqi insurgency or face annihilation after the loss of their primary supporter.
Iran would have no control whatsoever of their airspace if we go to war, and that would spell doom for their ground forces, support lines, etc. Any type of 'swarm' would be rendered combat ineffective before it could reach their border with Iraq. About the best they could do is wreak some havoc on shipping but that would be more or less a temporary thing.
IMO, there would never be as significant an insurgency in Iran due to it's different makeup compared to Iran. Also, an insurgency in Iran would need support not just from locals but from exterior supporters and Iran would be basically isolated from any exterior support for resistance.
The premise of OIF was to induce the problem governments in the ME to begin a transition towards a more modern type of government based upon current western models. The hope is to do this with a minimum of bloodshed, but as many of us expected, most of the dictatorial regimes are not going down without a fight. There best opportunity was to attack us while we were prepping to attack Iraq, but since Pakistan wimped out they knew there was no chance to defeat us and would simply have hastened their own demise.
bump to read later
Yes, ask someone from Argentina who remembers 1982 and the Falklands Islands War, and they know how much Maggie meant business.
If we toppled Ahmadinejad would we be able to fight against Islamic insurgents in that country too?
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I see no reason for a ground battle or drawn out occupation of Iran.
If we attack the 7th century Mullah's from above ... that alone may light a fire in the Iranian people that they have no chance of putting out. I know... "yeah, right". We're dealing with Islamic fruitcakes.
They're only boghammars. Motor boats. Theyre very small and fast, difficult to track.
> I agree the aussies and poland would help. The rest of the EU is bloody useless.
Australia is not, to the best of my knowledge, a member of the EU.
> I do believe that even if the Iranians were to decapitate these sailors...
I think Iran might find that easier said than done. British Sailors aren't exactly journalists or meek peace-loving humanitarian volunteers. They thrive on a bit of bovver and a spot of biffo and definitely don't like to wear orange jumpsuits. They enjoy warfare and are rather good at it -- have been for hundreds of years.
Capturing a dozen British Sailors is about as smart a move as taking a dozen Texas Rangers hostage, or keeping wolvarines as pets.
Someone in Tehran has made a dreadful mistake.
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