"When the Nimitz moves in, duck lower than this, you dumbass."
Posted on 04/04/2007 6:27:10 PM PDT by Bulldawg Fan
WASHINGTON -- The announcement Wednesday by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that his government would release the 15 captured British sailors and marines came after an intense and often bitter internal debate, sources in Tehran told NewsMax.
The capture of the British naval inspection team was clearly a coordinated effort by the Iranian government aimed at demonstrating Iran's ability to confront the U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq and to divert international attention from the nuclear showdown. The decision to release the hostages showed the limits of Iran's power and the fears of some leaders that too much provocation could backfire.
Within four days of their capture on March 23, the 15 Britons were split up into smaller groups and held in different areas, Iranian sources told NewsMax. This was a lesson learned from the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, when all 55 U.S. hostages were initially kept in one place.
That crisis, which occurred during the Jimmy Carter administration, prompted a U.S. attempt to rescue the hostages by force. After that attempt failed at Desert One in April 1980, the Iranians split up the U.S. hostages so it would be more difficult to rescue them.
At one point during the current hostage crisis, the British team was split up into five groups of three, with each group kept at a different military base. The Iranians would then bring several groups together and film them, to give the impression they were being held together.
The order to capture the British sailors and marines was given by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, NewsMax sources believe.
Khamenei's top advisers argued that by striking out against a U.S. ally in Iraq, they would be sending a message to other European nations to step back from supporting the U.S. strategy of increasing pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. They saw the move as a clear test of Western resolve.
Now once these guys/gal are released, the Brits can deal with the statements made by their personnel while in captivity.
It’s a big target but it is a great target, STS2 SS.
I'll bet each one of those trips were extra special fun for the hostages, not knowing if a Religion of Peace® brand rusty saw was waiting for them at the end of it.
Something just went down we don’t know about....Iran it seems blinked.....why?
They could have just kept them separate and hired Michael Moore to do a little inventive cinematography to make it seem like they were all together.
Like I said earlier, though it took a little longer than I expected, it takes time to put together a really good drop dead ultimatum. Iran acted more like an errant brat that had to be spoken to several times before he got the real message: Let them go, or you will lose more than a few privleges.
Meantime, in no way does our covert pressure lighten up. If anything, Iran’s desparate act will only embolden us to lean on them even harder.
It’s a task for the boomers, not for carrier groups. And one doesn’t even need to keep one in vicinity.
This was to sudden for that regime....way to sudden. These are thugs...who don’t listen to reason....so what was explained to them in a back channel that got this result.
What didn’t happen PD?
Another take on the internal debate in the Iranian regime, from Debka: http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4010
Note the assertion that Ahmadinejad was itching for a limited conflict he thought he could win.
There’s nothing in the article that supports the headline is there?
I agree that the sand dog wanted a conflict but I think it would be more than he would have expected. His bosses probably shut the dog down. The Nimitz was on its way over there anyway and the Eisenhower was going to come home. I found it interesting though that when I was in the Navy, the carriers only had four destroyers with them. Now, the Nuke carriers move with up to two nuke subs under them, four destroyers and now a cruiser. Cruisers normally don’t go unless it’s a conflict situation. Maybe the sand dog understood this.
Did the USS Nimitz make 'leader-of-state-who-owns-no-ties' blink, or was it simply coincidink?
"When the Nimitz moves in, duck lower than this, you dumbass."
What has the USS Nimitz to do with anything in the article?
Iranian-trained/equipped insurgents kill US forces with impunity in Iraq, while Bush gets blamed for every death.
Iran then captures 15 British sailors without a shot fired, parades them around for 2 weeks and then sends 'em home.
Punishment? Some UN sanctions... wow, while their nuke program advances. Global War on "terror" my backside...
This guy?
Carrier groups: show of force.
USS Nimitz Forced Iran’s Decision
You bet.
It’s all political.
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