Posted on 03/24/2007 8:51:36 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
I am greatly distressed by the nonchalance with which this whole thing is being treated. I know you don't want to give them more leverage than they already have, but there comes a time for action and if this isn't it then we might as well fold up our tents and head for home.
I fear this thing is going to grind on for weeks and weeks, if not longer. Every day it's not solved by direct and compelling military force to the disadvantage of the Iranians is one more day they gain confidence.
Our enemies, and the Lefties/MSM, keep adding irons to the fire. We have not been able to address a single one of them simply because every day brings a new one. Don't you know this is going to be used by the Lefties/MSM to add fuel to the fire!
The Iranians must go to bed every night thinking how stupid and weak and feckless we are. They keep upping the ante and we keep playing the game.
Thanks to Pelosi there will be no funds to fight Iran, looks like Britain is on their own!!!
Did anyone think that Iran might have thought they were capturing AMERICANS instead of Brits???
AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH!
Had the BBC sided with the iranians yet?
Where are the leaders who stand up dictators and rogue nations?
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We never elect them because we're simply willing to settle for whomever is 'not a Democrap'.
Which allows our political parties to field the worst possible candidates, as all they have to do is prove that they aren't as bad as their opponent.
Blech! A pox on them all!
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.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned newspaper based in London, quoted an Iranian military source as saying that the aim was to trade the Royal Marines and sailors for these Guards.
The claim was backed by other sources in Tehran. “As soon as the corps’s five members are released, the Britons can go home,” said one source close to the Guards.
He said the tactic had been approved by Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, who warned last week that Tehran would take “illegal actions” if necessary to maintain its right to develop a nuclear programme.
Thank you for posting this. I have been saying that this is mainly for internal consumption. The government has a problem with a very unhappy population and the best way to get them in line is with an external threat. If attacked, no matter how wrong Iran is, its population will rally to its defense. The answer, I really don't know but I do know this can not be allowed to continue.
They did...
no effect...
Its not going to be WWIII...
Nobody is going to line up directly with these gomers...Not even Russia...Even with Russia's economic and technilogical help over recent years...
Britain's already consulted with us, and plans are in the works...All they need is the "go" from the bosses, and its on...
If I was in the group of sailors and marines that got arrested...I am certainly already aware that I am expendable...And I would be ok with that...My deathgrip around the throat of one of my captors would be proof enough...
We need to relax and watch the show...
But with that, I know there is a good chance the bosses will not have the stones to take on Iran...That is the pathetic fact of our time...
Puting on her bloomers might make him more manly.
I'll probably get flamed for this, but I think in france also.
I'd forgotten that.
That's probably one of the signs of weakness that led the kidnapper cult in Teheran to rub their hands in glee and plan this little event.
Guys like Ahmadinejad don't change, do they? 27 years ago he was kidnapping American diplomats. He and his buddies did that because they knew Carter wouldn't do anything.
Everyone should recall that Khomeini released the hostages the day Reagan took office.
I don't know...the tinfol hat I have on my head says that we had the Brits provoke this and they would retaliate and of course, we would back them 100% with everything we have in our conventional aresnal....
Well, I'll give you points for one thing. You certainly ARE an optimist! =)
The perfidious Albion argument.
Well, it's a possibility. If true, it's at the instigation of the U.S., and they've been assured that we'll do the fighting. I don't see Britain doing that on their own.
So the question is, how does the U.S. get brought in? What would be the pretext?
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