Posted on 03/23/2007 5:36:55 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The Iranian navy detained up to 15 British troops today in the Persian Gulf, a Pentagon official said.
The British military confirmed there was an “incident” in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq after Iraqi fishermen said they had seen several British and American military personnel being seized by an Iranian ship.
“There has been an incident somewhere in the north of the Persian Gulf,” British military spokesman Major David Gell said in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, but said he did not know whether British soldiers were involved.
An unnamed fisherman told the Reuters news agency that six or seven foreign military personnel were on two small boats that stopped to check Iranian ships in the Siban area, near the al-Faw peninsula that leads into the northern Gulf.
When they boarded one ship, at least two Iranian vessels appeared on the scene and the military personnel were detained.
There was no sign of any violent confrontation, he said.
The Ministry of Defence said it was investigating but could not confirm any of the reports.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s Sunni deputy prime minister was wounded today in a suicide bombing near Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, authorities said.
The bomber blew himself up as Salam al-Zubaie, one of two deputies to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and other worshippers were leaving a mosque in the courtyard of his house.
Six people were killed in the blast.
Brigadier General Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for security in Baghdad, said Mr Zubaie was undergoing surgery and his condition was “not stable so far”.
Rural Iraqis aren't terribly up on current events, and tend to speak broadly about things they don't understand. Foreign troops being one such topic. His confusion is understandable, but when all is said and done, it will be found that only British personnel are under detention.
Thanks for the info.
Now we come to the aid of our allies, the U.K. and Iraq.
***....In a statement, leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell, also called for their immediate release.
"Whatever the rights and wrongs of military action, British forces in Iraq are now there with the authority of a UN security council resolution... and the Iranian government should be left in no doubt of the serious implications of their action," he said.
In 2004, Iran detained eight British servicemen for three days after they allegedly strayed over the maritime border.
The UK claimed the men were "forcibly escorted" into Iranian territorial waters.***
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6484279.stm
Drudge has it now! This is big if they don't let these guys go and do any harm to them!
I just saw that it's up on Drudge.
Bump!
These scumbuckets have got to be sent a message they will never forget.
Pres. Ahm'a'whackjob comes here this weekend to bloviate at the UN. I suggest we seize him and his retinue, and start executing them one by one until the Mullahs all take a pledge to end their hostage-taking and terrorism forever. Not that pledges or honesty mean anything to Islamo-whackjobs, but it's time to make a point.....
Maybe. Maybe not.
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