US troops would have fought Iranians captors, officer says

YnetNews ^ | 03.26.07 | Ynet

[kress]

Senior American commander stationed in Gulf tells The Independent he was 'surprised' British marines, sailors captured by Iranian forces were not more aggressive

A senior American commander has said he was "surprised" the British marines and sailors captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf over the weekend had not been more aggressive.

Lt-Cdr Erik Horner, who has been working alongside the task force to which the 15 captured Britons belonged, told The Independent that his men would have fired on the Iranian Republican Guard rather than let themselves be taken hostage.

[edcoil]

He's not the only one surprised.

[2banana]

Not like the British just to surrender - the Iranians must have planned this for awhile...

[ElectricStrawberry]

Makes me wonder what their rules of engagement are...

[The Duke]

Don't our soldiers function in accordance with "rules of engagement"? And aren't those ROE steered by our own spineless politicians?

If so then I would think we would have given them a bouquet of flowers(!)

[theDentist]

I read somewhere that the British sailor in charge radioed his Captain and was ordered to not resist. I will try to find the link again...

[RAY]

Lt-Cdr Erik Horner, who has been working alongside the task force to which the 15 captured Britons belonged, told The Independent that his men would have fired on the Iranian Republican Guard rather than let themselves be taken hostage.

Damn it, I hope so. I hope that US troops are carrying enough firpower in their rubber dingies to blast an Iran war ship out of the water, and also have enough air cover, on very short, notice to do the same and more.

Unfortunately, probably not.

[Cooking101]

"Not like the British just to surrender - the Iranians must have planned this for awhile..."

Well then shame on the British commanders anyway. The Iranians have been boasting that they will soon capture "blond, blue eyed soldiers" in response for the mysterious disappearance of several of their Repubican Guard heirarchy. Those 15 troops should never have been left alone. The mother ship should have been right there to fight for them. And if they were there and didn't fight for some political reasons then even more shame on them.

[The Blitherer]

It was also reported that British intelligence had been warned by the CIA that Iran would seek revenge for the detention of five suspected Iranian intelligence officers in Iraq two months ago but refused to raise threat levels in line with their US counterparts.

The British are going to have to make a choice- are they truly serious about this war or not? For the nutcases leading Iran, there is no middle ground. There is submit or fight.

[Prokopton]

I hope that US troops are carrying enough firpower in their rubber dingies to blast an Iran war ship out of the water,

Interdiction and inspection missions from rubber dingies. And they call this a navy? Sounds more of what a country like Gabon would have for naval vessels. This was not a special ops mission where high speed small crafts were needed for insertion. This was a mission, in hostile territory, interdicting and inspecting vessels of substantial size.

I don't get it.

[Canali]

If Hezbollah can hit an Israeli boat off Beruit, then Iran certainly has the ablity to sink anything in the Gulf.

[GATOR NAVY]

LCDR (O-4) is not a senior commander and although we'll never know for sure, $10 says the guy gets his ass reamed for mouthing off to the press.

[Basheva]

I can't help wondering if our commanders would have to phone home to Washington for permission to fire. (Wouldn't be the first time.)

Another thing....

I do believe that the Brit military is all volunteer like ours...if so...were I a Brit volunteer in the military and I realized that the commanders were not going to back me up (like using the fire power of the frigate sitting there watching this happen)....I think I wouldn't re-up when my term expired.

And were I a young Brit thinking about joining - I think I'd change my mind seeing how the Brits don't defend their own.

Horatio Nelson must be turning over in his grave.

................

By the way, speaking of Nelson, he had a most interesting method of winning naval battles. No matter the odds against him he steered directly for the enemy fleet's center - the strongest part of the enemy's line.

Surprise, surprise -he won!

[SampleMan]

If Hezbollah can hit an Israeli boat off Beruit, then Iran certainly has the ablity to sink anything in the Gulf.

They certainly have the ability to launch a missile at anything in the Gulf. However, if its a US Strike Group, they will have some trouble getting that missile all the way to the intended target.

A mass attack would likely have some success.

[gura]

Iranian frigate IS Sahand (74) burning on April 18, 1988 after being attacked

[Brilliant]

I would hope so.

[BluH2o]

The problem ... the British Admiralty in London is micro managing Naval activity. The skipper of the Cornwallis contacted his superiors and upon getting thru to them, after some delay, was advised to hold fire. The commander of the unit in question, probably the equivalent of an 0-3, not getting any response from superiors in the time frame he needed a decision ... opted to allow his out gunned unit to surrender. The Brit's are not at war with Iran, nor are we ... at least not yet.

[Oztrich Boy]

A senior American commander has said he was "surprised" the British marines and sailors captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf over the weekend had not been more aggressive.

Lt-Cdr Erik Horner...

"senior" must refer to age. I'm not surprised that this wardroom warrior never made full Commander.

[tennmountainman]

If it wasn't for the U.S. helping GB during WW2, they would all be speaking German today.

Don't the Brittish tell their solders how to defend themselves?
Blair acts like that sorry Isreali PM Olmert everyday.

[Red6]

Penis comparisons do not help the crisis in regards to Iranian nuclear ambitions. It does not help those 15 British troops detained. It does not help US/British relations which are important.

That said, the real question that needs asked; "Where was the over watch"? You don't move without someone covering your rear. Since this was a boarding party, they should have had an over-watch element. Was their over-watch out of range to be effective? We are not hearing much about the details of this abduction, so this is where I would start to dig given the vague scenario painted by the media.