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Why Iran Seized the British Marines
TIME ^ | Friday, Mar. 23, 2007 | HOWARD CHUA-EOAN

Posted on 03/23/2007 12:51:40 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

The most ominous detail about Iran's seizure of 15 British Royal Marines in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway on Friday morning is that the servicemen were reportedly taken into custody by the navy of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The IRGC is a powerful, separate branch of the Iranian armed forces. Soaked with nationalist ideology, it has grown into a state within a state in Iran, with its own naval, air and ground forces, parallel to official government institutions. The IRGC is directly controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, the ultimate font of religious and political power in Iran.

The IRGC also has its own intelligence arm and commands irregular forces such as the basij — a voluntary paramilitary group affiliated with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — and the Quds force, which has been accused by the U.S. of supplying material to Iraqi insurgents bent on killing American soldiers.

The IRGC is also known for its clandestine activities including logistical support for militant organizations like Lebanon's Hizballah, which it helped to set up in the 1980s, and several Shi'a militia groups in Iraq. The IRGC's activities are often a thorn in the side of Iran's Foreign Ministry, which is forced to repair the ruptures in Tehran's diplomatic relations with countries the Guard has inflamed with its self-directed adventures. Nevertheless, it has been one of Iran's main instrument in projecting power and influence over the last few decades.

Because the IRGC's actions are always interwoven with the religious-nationalist ideology of Iran's hardliners, extricating the British may be complicated.

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: iran; uk
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To: darthyorktown
I am getting the popcorn and suds ready. This is starting out like the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Now we need a few "mystery" bombs to go off in Tehran.
61 posted on 03/23/2007 2:46:48 PM PDT by jonrick46
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To: MinorityRepublican; Dog; LS; Allegra; Marine_Uncle

It's worth remembering that Iran has spoofed GPS signals to cause 4 U.S. UAV's to crash in Iran, as well as that a U.S. naval patrol and now 2 different UK naval patrols have strayed into Iranian waters.

Thus, Iran has repeatedly demonstrated that they can skew our GPS air & naval units...and they have done so in order to show that *we* are infringing on their sovereignty by crossing into their waters.


62 posted on 03/23/2007 2:47:50 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Red6

USS Pueblo

Axis of Evil grabbing ships, again?

63 posted on 03/23/2007 2:53:47 PM PDT by Loud Mime (?War?s very object is victory, not prolonged indecision." Gen Douglas Mac Arthur)
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To: MinorityRepublican

I guess it time to bring Ted Koppel out of mothballs and back on Nightline for Day 2 of the British Hostage Crisis.


64 posted on 03/23/2007 2:55:55 PM PDT by kabar
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To: VA_Gentleman
If I was Tony Blair right now, I'd let Iran know that they now have 24 hours to return their soldiers unharmed, or we will commence bombing of all suspected Iranian nuclear facilities.

Like we did with the Chinese when they forced down one of our reconnaissance planes?

65 posted on 03/23/2007 2:58:34 PM PDT by kabar
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To: jonrick46

That's probably whats gonna happen. War is sometimes necessary, but Iran has been really pushing it.


66 posted on 03/23/2007 2:58:52 PM PDT by darthyorktown
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To: Levante

I was referring to a large strike on them.


67 posted on 03/23/2007 2:58:56 PM PDT by Always Independent
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To: MinorityRepublican
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

I guess that's Farsi for "Sturmabteilung"

68 posted on 03/23/2007 3:00:27 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: knarf
The Brits are siezed the day before monkey boy shows up on US real estate as a guarantee we won't keep the punk.

They're Brits, we're Americans ... maybe they should have picked US soldiers because this is not going to stop us if we grab him.

69 posted on 03/23/2007 3:09:24 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (If you're not being shot at, it's not a high stress job.)
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To: Centurion2000
" .. this is not going to stop us if we grab him."

I'm sure there's a lot of phone calling going on right now.

70 posted on 03/23/2007 3:24:34 PM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

The Mullahs know that the BBC and other Eurotrash Leftist media will spin this in their favor.


71 posted on 03/23/2007 3:26:22 PM PDT by Rosemont
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To: MinorityRepublican

If these guys were boarding ships to look for contraband, what kind of navy backup did they have?

This looks pretty curious to me. where was the HMS Cornwall and what class ship is it? If they were in a small boat able to transit the marshes of the waterway, then they should have been armed and able to fend off an Iranian force.

Lots of questions.


72 posted on 03/23/2007 3:39:45 PM PDT by wildbill
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To: BeforeISleep
I think Iran has bigger plans as well.

I have obtained an actual transcript of Nutjob and the Revolutionary Guards in a recent planning session:

Otter: Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.

Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.

Flounder: May I have ten thousand marbles, please?

73 posted on 03/23/2007 3:43:18 PM PDT by Sender (Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo.)
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To: Southack

That made me think about that James Bond movie where the megalomaniac media baron was making tomorrows news by using a GPS unit to change positions of a British warship near China to start a conflict just for news and headlines.

Nowadays I wonder how far from true it really is.


74 posted on 03/23/2007 3:51:29 PM PDT by Eye of Unk
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To: MinorityRepublican

Time does their best to puff up the Iranians.

Too bad they can't do the same for the American Navy.


75 posted on 03/23/2007 4:01:32 PM PDT by Beckwith (dhimmicrats and the liberal media have chosen sides -- Islamofascism)
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To: wildbill

Yes, indeed.

The question has to be asked... what was the Captain of Cornwall doing to properly protect his own people??

How were Iranian vessels allowed to converge on and surround the British boats?

Was the Captain told not to provoke any Iranian reaction? How were his hands tied by the politicos?

Pity the Iranians are not working to the same play book.

A robust response, or at least some attempt to protect themselves might have been more in order.

Why are we allowing these mothers to rub our noses in the dirt?


76 posted on 03/23/2007 4:03:44 PM PDT by 5050 no line
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To: Teacher317
I just hope that Tony Blair has the stones to invoke Article 5 of the NATO charter, so that we can find out if WE have the stones to move forward with the next logical step.

If he doesn't, hopefully Her Majesty does!

77 posted on 03/23/2007 4:05:29 PM PDT by DTogo (I haven't left the GOP, the GOP left me.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
Hmmm. I would have said there were two reasons the damned Persians kidnapped the Brits.

1. Viciousness.

2. Stupidity.

We have to back our British cousins on this one. They have been faithful to us. Now we must do the same by them.

Iran needs a lesson that even a goldfish could remember for a century or two.

78 posted on 03/23/2007 4:09:53 PM PDT by LibKill ("RUDY GIULIANI" is just "HILLARY CLINTON" misspelled and wearing a dress.)
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To: GOP_1900AD

Funny thing here with your analogy, which is apt by the way:

Iran isn't China by a long shot. China's a much bigger, different can of problems than Iran is.

If the UK said they wanted to throw down with Iran, many would line up to help, I would think.


79 posted on 03/23/2007 4:12:19 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs (Ignorance should be painful)
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To: Sender
I can one-up that: I have the text of a letter from Ahmadinejad to our Commander in Chief:

A thousand brigades of the Islamic State descend upon you! Our bullets will blot out the sun!

I didn't get the full reply, but it has something to do with "shade". :)
80 posted on 03/23/2007 4:12:55 PM PDT by OldGuard1
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