Posted on 03/26/2007 4:07:58 AM PDT by Zakeet
Advocates of engagement with Tehran often claim that the Islamic Republic long ago shed its revolutionary pretensions in favor of becoming a "status quo" power. They might want to share that soothing wisdom with the families of the 15 British sailors and marines kidnapped Friday in Iraqi territorial waters by the naval forces of the elite, and aptly named, Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
In an earlier day, what Iran has done would have been universally regarded as an act of war. It was a premeditated act, carried out only hours before Britain voted to stiffen sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program in a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution. Iran captured a smaller detachment of British forces in the same waters in 2004, claiming they had strayed across the Iranian border.
[Snip]
It is worth recalling, however, that Iran was at its most diplomatically pliant after the United States sank much of Tehran's navy after Iran tried to disrupt oil traffic in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s. Regimes that resort to force the way Iran does tend to be respecters of it. It is also far from certain that Western military strikes against Revolutionary Guards would move the Iranian people to rally to their side: Iranians know only too well what their self-anointed leaders are capable of.
Most important, the world should keep in mind that Iran has undertaken this latest military aggression while it is still a conventional military power. That means that Britain and the U.S. can still respond today with the confidence that they maintain military superiority. That confidence will vanish the minute Iran achieves its goal of becoming a nuclear power. Who knows what the revolutionaries in Tehran will then be capable of.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
No doubt UN sanctions against Iran will settle this issue.
"The mullahs might even hope any fighting would embolden Democrats to do Tehran's bidding by passing legislation that forbids the Administration from attacking Iran without prior Congressional permission. Such a plank was contained in the supplemental war spending bill that passed the House last week until cooler heads removed it."
Democrats should be prosecuted for trason or sediton.
Too bad the congress didn't declare WAR or your statement would mean something.
A couple of days ago I said Britain dhould give them 24 hrs to send back the kidnapped soldiers or start the bombing.
That 24 hrs. has long passed and we see nothing has been done.
I do not believe anything will be done either and like the Jewish prisoner that is still being held by the Palsetinians, these soldiers will be held indefinitely. I wouldnt blame the other soldiers stationed there by Britain if they caugh the first commercial jet out of there and went home.
If your country places you at risk and then abandons you then why bother to continue to serve?
If I really had the power of nuclear weapons and in a position of leadership and had another absolutely crazy leaderas this I could never kill innocent victims when its the crazy man in charge that needs to be removed.
Its like a deranged person in a state mental instituition grabs a room full of hostages and also manages to procure from cleaning supplies enough chemicals to destroy the hospital and the head of the local law enforcement decides to just burn down the building to deal with it, same scenario here.
Only one way to settle this, its a dash'n grab of Nutjawb himself.
Try to tell a moonbat that.
The arguments here on FR raged for weeks back in 2001 about if Congress declared WAR or not.
I think they'll shelve that proposal as long as the British sailors are being held. If not then they've really gone off the deep end (I mean even more so than we'd thought at any rate).
The Democrtas won't declare qar, they want to surrender now. The lines inside thw quotes are from the WSJ article.
It sure doesn't do much for the morale of the British soldiers.
If your country places you at risk and then abandons you then why bother to continue to serve?
Any US Marine should be looking over their shoulder right now. Whether you surrender or defend yourself you are wrong.
We do the same thing as the Brits all the time. Throw our men into the fight and then attack them when they defend themselves, pure PC BS!
I'd forgotten about the 1988 two day incident where the US sank several Iranian warships to stop them from harassing oil shipments. As I recall, we did that with 500 pound laser guided bombs.
I'll bet we could do a much better job now.
I agree with you 100%. Abu Gharib, Haditha, they were bot blown way out of proportion. An article 14 and a bust in rank would have been proper for both of these so called crimes. Just enough discipline to keep the troops in line while not bowing down to kiss the butts of the PC crowd.
However there is another case where a rape is involved. If that case is proven prison terms are justified. There is no excuse for rape .
Either that or a good, strong denunciation. (shudder)
Democrats.....Surrender Mongers.
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