Posted on 03/28/2007 3:42:33 AM PDT by maquiladora
The Ministry of Defence has presented evidence which shows that the fifteen personnel detained by Iranian authorities on Friday 23 March 2007 were operating in Iraqi waters when they were seized.
The briefing, at defence headquarters in London, was given by Vice Admiral Charles Style, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments). Vice Admiral Style, who is responsible for providing strategic advice to operational commanders, explained in detail where the Royal Navy personnel were located when they were seized:
"The aim of this brief is to provide a factual account of the incident during which fifteen Royal Naval personnel were seized by the Iranians last Friday. By way of background, HMS CORNWALL was in charge of the coalition force, which - alongside the Iraqi Navy - is operating in the Northern Persian Gulf.
"This force maintains the sovereignty and integrity of Iraqi territorial waters under UN Security Council Resolution 1723, and with the approval of the Iraqi Government. The ship – and others in the coalition - maintain a presence patrolling there. They are also charged with protection of the Iraqi offshore oil infrastructure – economically very important - and the security of merchant vessels.
"On 23 March a boarding team consisting of seven Royal Marines and eight sailors - who were embarked in two of HMS CORNWALL's boats - conducted a routine boarding of an Indian flagged Merchant Vessel which was cooperative throughout. They investigated this vessel after witnessing her unloading cars into two barges secured alongside. Since early March the force has conducted 66 routine boardings. So the one that I'm talking about was entirely routine business, and conducted in a particular area where four other boardings have been completed recently.
"As shown on the chart, the merchant vessel was 7.5 nautical miles south east of the Al Faw Peninsula and clearly in Iraqi territorial waters. Her master has confirmed that his vessel was anchored within Iraqi waters at the time of the arrest. The position was 29 degrees 50.36 minutes North 048 degrees 43.08 minutes East. This places her 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi territorial waters. This fact has been confirmed by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
"The Iranian government has provided us with two different positions for the incident. The first we received on Saturday and the second on Monday. As this map shows, the first of these points still lies within Iraqi territorial waters. We pointed this out to them on Sunday in diplomatic contacts.
"After we did this, they then provided a second set of coordinates that places the incident in Iranian waters over two nautical miles from the position given by HMS CORNWALL and confirmed by the merchant vessel. The two Iranian positions are just under a nautical mile apart – 1800 yards or so. It is hard to understand a reason for this change of coordinates. We unambiguously contest both the positions provided by the Iranians.
"I should just explain at this point that the boats remained connected at this point. One of the seaboats was connected via data link, which communicated its position continually to the ship where it was displayed, superimposed on an electronic chart, on a purpose built console. During the boarding this console was constantly monitored and indicated, throughout, that the boats had remained well within Iraqi territorial waters.
"Our boarding started at 0739 local time and was completed at 0910 with the merchant vessel having been cleared to continue with her business. Communications were lost with the boarding team as the boarding was finishing … at 0910. HMS CORNWALL's Lynx helicopter, which had been covering the initial stages of the boarding, immediately returned to the scene to locate the boarding team.
"The helicopter reported that the two seaboats were being escorted by Iranian Islamic Republican Guard Navy vessels towards the Shatt 'Al Arab Waterway and were now inside Iranian territorial waters. Debriefing of the helicopter crew and a conversation with the master of the merchant ship both indicate that the boarding team were ambushed while disembarking from the merchant vessel. Both boats were equipped with a GPS chart plotter.
"On Sunday morning, 25 March, HMS CORNWALL's Lynx conducted an overflight of the merchant vessel, which was still at anchor, and once again confirmed her location on Global Positioning System equipment. Her Master confirmed that his vessel had remained at anchor since Friday, and was in Iraqi territorial waters.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, my primary message is clear. HMS CORNWALL with her boarding party was going about her legal business – in Iraqi Territorial waters, under a United Nations Security Council Resolution, with the explicit approval of the Iraqi government.
"The action by Iranian forces in arresting and detaining our people is unjustified and wrong. As such it is a matter of deep concern to us and the families of the people who have been taken. We continue not only to call for their safe, but for their safe and speedy, return, and we continue to seek immediate consular access to them as a prelude to their release."
Picture shows GPS location of the incident, as seen from a Royal Navy helicopter over the merchant vessel [Picture: MOD]
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I'm afraid the USA doesn't have the guts either. Perhaps you missed the Senate surrender vote yesterday? This is only the first of a series of hostage taking and other terrorist events that we will see over the next few months and years. Losing wars has consequences as we saw in the post-Vietnam era. Yes, Bush will veto cut and run but the Congressional vote of "we give up" has not gone unnoticed nor has the proposed vote that would limit Bush's ability to take any substantive action against Iran. The Democrats have indeed shown us to be paper tigers.
Comments on what the thoughts are from a trusted source (surely you don'r expect me to trust the lame stream media, do you)?
No problem.
Probably too much traffic/hits on the other link.
It is hard to judge the British public through the mainstream media over there. Just as it is hard to judge the American public here through the mainstream media. The boob tube is after all, just for boobs. Now that there is proof that these people were kidnapped at gunpoint, perhaps the underlying sentiment will bubble up through the London fog.
It is ironic however that if an armed gang had kidnapped a group of policeman on British soil, the public would have been in an uproar by now, no doubt.
"1. The Iranians know.
2. The Iranians don't care. "
BINGO...You're a winner!!!!
Yes, apparently stamping your foot and threatening to hold your breath till you turn blue is not having the desired effect. He may have to tell them he is really, really, really, really angry. /sarc off
Did I call this or what?
Now it is time for our Brit Brothers and sisters to ACT! THIS IS WAR, PEOPLE.....
(As the saunter-by Media is obsessing with Dancing with the Stars....)
OK, thatnks, that's good to know. There has been very little reporting on this in the US and very little reporting of the British reaction. It seemed that the press and people were more concerned with the murdered cricket coach.
Maybe it just took a few days to sink in. I hope that this will give Blair the support he needs to do whatever has to be done.
Great point. I remember hearing at the beginning of this that British soldiers had been patrolling those waters trying to prevent the Iranians from smuggling cars in that area. I don't know if that was a preliminary report and I haven't heard anything further on that.
Now that we have the Brits showing their proof that their soldiers were NOT in Iranian waters, things are going to get interesting.
The Garmin GPSr is intersting to me. It is the same unit I use for Geocaching and traveling. I purchased mine at a Target Store. I always suspected the pros would use different/better equipment.
The large part of the display with the dark and light colored circles is showing how many satellites the unit is receiving signals from. The bars at the bottom are indicating signal strength. The unit is getting good strong signals from 6 satellites. At the top of the display, the unit is saying it is has accuracy within 46 feet. In my experience, with 6 satellites visible, I'd say the waypoint displayed below is within inches.
For those interested, you can take the waypoint and plug it into Google or Google Earth and see exactly where they are for yourself.
* Rules of Engagement are right.
* Miltary engagement would have been wrong.
* Would have been severe loss of life if they fought back, Iranian patrol boats were heavily armed.
* The choice of fighting back is best left to those back on ground.
I guess most people in any Western country would simply rather not be bothered and just go back to their game shows. But perhaps now that there is clear evidence that the Iranians just sailed in and grabbed these sailors at gunpoint in international waters, the issue will become clearer.
I'm sure the Brits have their Rosie O'Donnells, too, who start off with the assumption that it's all Britain's fault and the eeeevil West must have provoked those sweet lil'Iranians for some nasty purpose of its own.
Thanks for the info. Bump.
I'm not sure today's media would consider even the attack on Pearl Harbor to be an act of war.
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