Posted on 03/24/2007 5:21:18 AM PDT by radar101
"No one wants sailors or soldiers killed, but 15 men are not worth the loss of national credibility. Ever."
Just like that spy plane of ours that landed in China. How much intel did it provide to the Chinese and how foolish did it make us look?
Its about more than looking like a fool though. Prestige in these cases can prevent further conflict or lead to conflict and the loss of many more lives.
Islam is playing an international chessgame without a king and queen.
They set up command and control centers on British and U.S. soil and fill them with pawns.
I'm sure they have quite a few, mostly 'Rats sitting in congress and actively doing their best to help.
Precisely so. If the two-bit (and even the six-bit) dictators and warlords understand that any attack on American or British forces will result in the immediate application of overwhelming force against them, they will be significantly less likely to get into harm's way.
As Theodore Roosevelt is said to have put it (remember The Wind and the Lion):
Pedicaris alive or Raisuli dead
Well, that was true some years ago. With the current batch of 'Rats in congress, its: Apologize profusely for any offense, offer to go into rehab, then surrender.
Not yet, we'll wait and see.
Bingo! FNC interviewed the Commodore of their ship, and he said there were helicopters flying nearby, as was routine. Ok, so why didn't THEY open fire on the Iranians? My guess--current ROE didn't permit it. They might as well have left the helicopters at home and saved the gas.
Most of the operational software running on that plane would have been trashed by the time it hit the tarmac.
IIRC, Iran has almost no gasoline refinery capacity and has to import gasoline. Currently, gasoline is being rationed. The Brits could stir up an Iranian hornets nest by turning away gasoline deliveries to Iranian ports.
Been there done that. We would get dropped off, the radios would crap out, and we would have to wait untill Mother came back six to ten hours later.
Indeed ... when their chief nutcase realized he could not address the UN, it was time to punctuate that event with an act, hence the provocation. I am still amazed that the Brit navy was so undersupported in their region. It must have been calculated so as to avoid a military clash during a rescue. The small boat teams must have been told off that they were expendable but that diplomatic help was right around the corner so surrender meekly. We've gone wobbly.
Brave words for someone not there. Imagine if the Iranians got the drop on the party by training and cocking a few large calibre machine guns on them? Imagine a scenario where the boarding party commander went to speak to the Iranians and was held at gun point?
Would you still go down fighting if one of your guys was being held at gunpoint?
You make a valid point: the larger craft could sit back out of small arms range -- and hose the inflatables with, say, .50 cal fire all day long... No contest!
Is there any possibility that these Brits were sent into Iranian waters in the hopes that it would provoke a confrontation with Iran? In other words - so that Tony Blair could shore up some support at home by getting British citizens to rally around the troops and against Iran?
No.
I can imagine, it goes something like this:
The British marines, seeing the Iranian naval vessels approaching, radio to their mother frigate, (the HMS Cornwall), for help. They inform the captain of the Cornwalll that they are surrounded and being ordered to lay down arms. The Cornwall's captain radios his Admiral and the Admiral radios 10 Downing Street for permission to challenge the Iranian vessels and rescue their troops. Meanwhile, having no orders yet from the Cornwall, the British marines are overpowered and taken aboard the Iranian boats. Then word comes back to the captain of the (heavily armed) Cornwall from 10 Downing Street...... "Hold your fire, we don't want to create an incident with Iran at this time". End of story.
Since when did the words "no contest" find their way into the vocabulary of Her Majesty's Royal Marines?
You need to keep in mind that the mother ship, the HMS Cornwall, was nearby. She has a heavy compliment of anti-ship missiles, anti-missile-missiles, and big guns. She has state-of-the-art radar and surveilance equipment. She KNEW the Iranian boats were encroaching on her marines in the rubber rafts. She did nothing, the marines did nothing. What does this tell you? It tells me that the Cornwall radioed for help and advice and was told to stand down.
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