Iran 'to try Britons for espionage'

Timesonline Via Drudge Report ^ | March 25, 2007 | Uzi Mahnaimi, Michael Smith and David Cracknell

[RDTF]

FIFTEEN British sailors and marines arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying.

A website run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, reported last night that the Britons would be put before a court and indicted.

Referring to them as “insurgents”, the site concluded: “If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offences.”

The warning followed claims by Iranian officials that the British navy personnel had been taken to Tehran, the capital, to explain their “aggressive action” in entering Iranian waters. British officials insist the servicemen were in Iraqi waters when they were held.

The penalty for espionage in Iran is death. However, similar accusations of spying were made when eight British servicemen were detained in the same area in 2004. They were paraded blindfolded on television but did not appear in court and were freed after three nights in detention.

Iranian student groups called yesterday for the 15 detainees to be held until US forces released five Revolutionary Guards captured in Iraq earlier this year.

[bvw]

Yes, that's so. In so many ways their behaviours and motivations are parallel.

[hinckley buzzard]

Nothing is going to happen from the British - wouldn't want to upset the Muslim immigrant population now, would we?.

It doesn't help that the Royal Navy announced a couple months ago the mothballing of literally half the fleet.

[Just Lori]

I really believe that there is a sleeping giant in Britain, as well.

[mrcornelia]

"It is way past time to deal with Iran!"

Yes! Thank you! The Dems want our troops out of Iraq anyway. We should take this opportunity to put Iran in its place. How cocky do you think Iran is going to be when there aren't 130,000 US troops next door?? And then the Dems will have lots of space to do their 'reconstruction work' in Iraq and hand out flowers to the approaching suicide bombers

[2ndDivisionVet]

Where are the Presidents Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln or Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower in a situation like this? Even Presidents Richard Nixon, Harry Truman or Ronald Reagan wouldn't put up with this crap!
What would Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill or Benjamin Disraeli do in this case? Where are the real men (or women, for that matter) these days? Where are the leaders who stand up dictators and rogue nations?

[Mr. Silverback]

"London calling to the faraway towns, now war is declared, and battle come down."

[Jay Howard Smith]

Quick, where's the UN? We need to pass some resolutions!

Quick, where's the UN? They need to read article 46 of the Geneva Conventions. Those troops were in uniform..!

[Zeroisanumber]

This is an obvious and deliberate provocation, so the best thing to do is this case is keep a cool and level head and keep all of our options open. The Iranians are not going to shoot the British prisoners, so we have some time to formulate a careful response. Let's see where this leads before we go off half-cocked.

[mad puppy]

"...wouldn't want to upset the Muslim immigrant population now, would we?"

Exactly! The Muslim population if quite large in G.B. If GB gets too aggresive about this (meaning, they whimper too loudly) all hell will break loose on thier own soil.

We should pay very close attention because depending on how this plays out, we can EXPECT to see this test dramatically played out again with US armed forces.

[montag813]

It's a real shame we didn't let Imadinnerjacket into the U.S. Then this could have gotten VERY interesting indeed.

[Revenge of Sith]

Iran must want a war.

[Pete98]

Anything said by Russia or France should not be trusted. When the rubber meets the road, they will stab us in the back and come out on the side of Iran.

[elmer fudd]

Iran is itching for a fight.

And we've been itching to get rid of that reactor of theirs. What a coincidence.

[jwparkerjr]

Wouldn't you have thought the UN Security Council would have set aside the vote on sanctions for uranium production in Iran for a couple of hours or so and taken up this development. The entire SC should have demanded in no uncertain terms that the Brits be released and their craft returned.

What a bunch of ass-clowns. Iran is getting years and years to work on their nefarious projects while the UN talks and talks and talks.

[cpdiii]

This is getting serious. The Brits are going to have to respond. If I were them, I would give Iran 36 hours to free their guys, or risk retaliation. If nothing happens, I would put one of those shiny diesel submarines of theirs at the bottom of the ocean. Not an all out invasion or a strike on Tehran or anything, but it will hurt them and it will let them know not to screw around with us.

Wrong!

They are at war with us. They will always be at war with us as long as they have a viable leadership that keeps their country under control.

Remove their leadership with a decapitating first strike. Sink their Navy. Destroy their Air Force. Arm the many many elements in Iran that want to over throw the government of Iran. That is what we did in Afghanistan and it worked. However, Afghanistan had no Navy nor Air Force but in the case of Iran that is a minor point.

[jwparkerjr]

re: fight for our country and forget about the dictating government

That was the plan for Nagasaki and Hiroshima too. Until the bombs fell. No one, and I mean NO ONE in Japan had the stomach for a continued war once it hit home like it did.

There is a limit to how long we can wait for the dissidents inside of Iran to rise up and take over then install a government more friendly to the West. Time is running out. The minute Iran gets the ability to trigger a nuclear device, no matter how crude it is, all bets are off.

Iran's government and its people are living in a dream world. The world has dealt with them in such woosie ways for so long they've actually come to believe the drivel they put on their signs at demonstrations. The average Iranian thinks his country has stood up to the Great Satan and that they are safe because of the strength and bravery of Iran. Truth is, they have never been dealt with in anything even approaching a serious manner.

Pride is everything to these people. A few well placed demonstrations of just how powerless they really are would go a long way toward getting rid of this regime.

Actually, I don't blame the Iranian leaders at all. They have shown for decades they are going to push the envelope at every opportunity and we've done nothing to make them pay a price for doing it. We keep backing away. They bluster, we back away. They start refining uranium, we protest and talk, talk, talk and then back away. They actively support the killing of American forces in Iraq and we do nothing extract a price for their actions. What else are they to think. I think they are pretty convinced right now that there's not much they could do that would get them whacked. And why shouldn't they?

[jwparkerjr]

re: And don't tell me about all those moderates, students, and professors in Iran who are really, really , really trying to change the govt.

Seems to me some well planned attacks on Iran's infrastructure would go a long way in helping these people affect the change they want.

I can't imagine who on our side has the time to help with any convert operations to assist the dissidents. Everyone at CIA is busy trying to undermine and discredit the administration. Same with State.

I'm afraid it's just wishful thinking if we believe there's some grand underground operation going on in Iran to enable the dissidents. They are on their own, and they know it.

The Lefties/MSM have us so bogged down in BS like the firings of the US attorneys and who outed Valerie Plame that we have nothing left to take care of the other serious threats to our nation.

[jwparkerjr]

That needs to be said over and over and over.

In retrospect our invasion of Iraq should have been by way of Iran.

I can't believe how obvious it is that Iran is the key to everything that's happening in the world of terror right now and yet we do absolutely nothing, the UN not withstanding, to address them and their evil.

We should at least be finding ways to distract Iran from its business as usual. Maybe we should send them the ACLU and a few other leftwing nut organizations. Maybe even a union or two.

[jwparkerjr]

re: How will the Muslim population in England react if the Brits strike Iran?

Well, if it's going to be a problem then NOW is the time to address it, not later when there are just that many more of them.

I have never subscribed to the school of thought that you gain anything by putting off the inevitable. And that's exactly what we're doing, and have been doing for 30 years.

We are not the ones who are setting the agenda and timetable for the Islamofascists push to take over the world. It's sheer folly for us to think that we are helping our cause by continuing to let them set the rules.

It's very obvious that they feel time is on their side. If that's the case then we need to move quickly to force their hand.

[jwparkerjr]

Remember the old joke, "Why does the new Iraqi navy have glass bottom boats? So they can see the old Iraqi navy!"