[UKrepublican]

The Mother ship was not aware of the incident until they were in Iranian waters. Are you honestly telling me confrontation in that scenario would have been a good idea? Surely not. At least not if you wanted the guys back alive. Take a look:


Are you prepared to give these poor people an automatic death sentance for the sake of it? I'm not.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

I mean that if the british ship had defended itself initially and not allowed these sailors/marines to be taken, these pictures wouldn't be there..

[RobbyS]

If the Iranians had not known that neither they nor mother ship had orders not to fire, they would not have acted so brazenly. Do you not think they have spies?

[Jack_Macca]

You are on a losing battle mate. It seems many here hate Britain more than Iran.

[ex-NFO]

The issue is whether, given the choice, we fight when the capture was made, possibly resulting in some of their deaths. Or, the lack of a will to fight results in an emboldened Iran, and attacks in the future that kill far more people.

[AmericaUnited]

Do you believe police officers should carry guns?

[thinking]

Face the facts...no one is going to start WWIII over 15 sailors...back room negotiations, maybe will gain the release, however, I suspect, the real reason for this hostage taking is linked to an on going grievance between Iran and the UK (?)...

[Wolfstar]

Handsome lad in that first photo.

[Cheburashka]

People die in war. And there is a war going on in Iraq, they could have been attacked by Al-Qaeda in speedboats, and Al-Qaeda probably wouldn't have taken them prisoner.

Look, I understand that you're a Brit, they're Brits, you feel closer to them than I do, they're mine only in the sense they're allies, cousins vs. brothers, as it were. But I do claim them as "family", and want their safety.

But if their safety is paramount, they shouldn't have been in the Persian Gulf, and the British Navy should never leave port. Bad things can happen when you leave port, even without a war. So if safety is paramount, scrap the ships, pay off the crews, and save some pounds. And accept that there will be consequences from that decision.

Now, because of rules of engagement that seem to say "You are sailors of the Queen and you will surrender when threatened," there is a major mess. These people could die of old age in Iranian captivity. Or perhaps Her Majesty's Government will crawl on its collective belly like a reptile to get them back. Most likely the resolution will be unpleasant, but not as unpleasant as those two possibilities. But someone should have been thinking about this possibility before it happened.

It's not like the Iranians haven't already grabbed British sailors. If these fifteen live, but many more die as aconsequence of failure at this point in time, what has been accomplished by saving their lives?

[spunkets]

"The Mother ship was not aware of the incident until they were in Iranian waters."

Don't you guys use radios?