MOD briefing proves Royal Navy personnel were in Iraqi waters

Ministry of Defence ^

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It's an 18th Century Persian astrolab. Astrolabs were all the rage in the Islamic world. Owen Gingerich published an article on them that is reprinted in his "The Eye of Heaven".

The faithful used them to determine the direction to Mecca when they traveled. They became something of a status symbol and ornate models like the one shown were prominently displayed in wealthy homes. An analogy might be a teak mounted ship's chronometer in the den of stockbroker.

Interestingly enough, though they were always inscribed in Arabic, a lot of cheap knock-offs were produced in Persia. Some were quite ornate, but astronomically inaccurate. Since the home owner knew the direction to Mecca well enough for his purposes, an inaccurate ornate model served his purposes. Like the stockbroker's chronometer.

[Froufrou]

Thanks for posting this, maquiladora.

Ping ya'll!

[wita]

Correct response action, BINGO! A routine mission gone bad. Too bad. Had the boat crews been properly protected, the Iranians would be looking like just what they are and the proof would have been living, in custody, and non-returnable.

Instead, we have an international he said she said, battle of the wusses incident that could lead to just what certain hardline Iranians want. Horsey got out of the barn, and we shall see if there is going to be face saving opportunity, of a billion dollar buyout.

[NavyCanDo]

This GPS photo and map should be on every Newspapers front page in the free world. Front page above the fold in the New York Times, the London Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times and on and on and on.

Yet not only the photos aren’t making it, the story is not important enough either I guess.

What has been in your Newspaper’s above the fold front story the last three days? Here is mine. Seattle Times

Thursday: Bush vs. Congress: neither side is likely to blink soon.
No mention at all in the paper of this incident in none of the pages.

Friday: Cope allegedly lied; 17 cases in jeopardy.
I checked A1 - A16 again no story of the incident.

Saturday: FDA Names Cause of Bad Pet Food, and a story on 2 kids who contaminated their teachers coffee cup.

Ahaaaaaaaaaa About time: Page A6 Title (get ready to vomit)
SEIZURE OF BRITAINS REVEALS SPLIT IN IRAN. Followed by a Subtitle: Mixed Signals Over Capture at Sea.
What is with that title??????? I can’t wait to read it.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003644625_britiran31.html

[RunningWolf]

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.

Well then the Brits really screwed up on several levels when they did not take the Iranian boats under fire directly.

[RunningWolf]

Indeed, I think I have read at least one report of a Iranian-US firefight on the Iraq-Iran border.

The US forces withdrew under fire, thus wisely avoiding a potential Iranian hostage situation.

[Candor7]

This proves that the Iranians have engaged in an " Act of War."

So what is Britain going to do about that?

I guess they now must seek a UN Security Council resolution that Iran must return the British Personnel, or face the wrath of the UN. The Iranians are genuinely afraid of being whipped with the UNs wet noodle scourge.

What the Iranians need now is a return heavy dose of gun boat diplomacy......Whats called a cutting out operation in which a whole vessel of the Iranian Navy and its personnell are taken hostage, or perhaps in which a whole group of Imams are taken hostage in return. This is the only way thet Britain can make any progress on this issue that does not involve an escalation to all out war.

[wita]

I believe I heard that on the radio, but there wasn't a lot of followup. Interesting that the Brits were the ones captured. Maybe the Iranian's didn't care who they got, just figured the Brits would be easier than a ground capture of some troops, even though they had previously, captured some of ours in big city action. They or Iraqi's. doing the capture. The difference being that previous captures have resulted in execution. Also against the Geneva conventions, we might add.

[MNJohnnie]

You have to admit that the British parliamentary debates are so much more entertaining than those in our congress.

yes, but then the Brits actually have speaker capable of debate. Poor Ted Kennedy's head would explode if he ever had to actually defend any of the drivel that leaks out of his mouth. All any Leftist American politicians are capable of is filibusters and softball interviews with a slaving "News media" machine

[AmericanDave]

"I purchased mine at a Target Store. I always suspected the pros would use different/better equipment. " Yes but the "pros" as you call them buy a lot of their own equipment when personal gps units are not issued. BTW I also have a simular unit; works great! Just shows that the Internet and other tech gadgets are going to get the TRUTH out, and "The Truth Shall Make You Free" (John 8:32).

NOW THAT WE KNOW THE TRUTH LET'S KICK IRANIAN BUTT!

[supercat]

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.

If the signals reported from the six satellites could not be resolved to agree within e.g. 200 feet, would the unit display that information? I would think it would be easy to jam a GPS unit so that it would be unable to get a good fix, but much harder to jam it so that it would think it saw six satellites in sensible places.

[archy]

"I purchased mine at a Target Store. I always suspected the pros would use different/better equipment. "

Yes but the "pros" as you call them buy a lot of their own equipment when personal gps units are not issued.

Also: the battery for the military AN/PSN-11 Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver [AKA *PLUGGER* to the troops using them] unit is the BA5800/U lithium battery, though it can also be run from a standard military 24-volt vehicular electrical system. Accordingly, it can be helpful to also have a commercial GPS unit around that runs on standard comercial AA or AAA batteries.

Officially, Only PPS receivers capable of unscrambling the encrypted P/Y code and can access the Precise Positioning Service signal are authorized for combat operations; unofficially if a commercial unit is all you have batteries for, that's what you use. The Magellan eXplorist 210 GPS, which uses two AA batteries, works for about 17 hours of run time, is more or less waterproof, and comes in a handy colour.

[Palladin]

Kick Iranian Butt!!!

I agree. Someone in MI5 should be tasked with going over there and making that little shite Achmedinajad disappear from the face of the earth.