Posted on 03/24/2007 5:24:18 PM PDT by Weight of Glory
FIFTEEN British sailors and marines arrested by Irans Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying.
A website run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, reported last night that the Britons would be put before a court and indicted.
Referring to them as insurgents, the site concluded: If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offences.
The warning followed claims by Iranian officials that the British navy personnel had been taken to Tehran, the capital, to explain their aggressive action in entering Iranian waters. British officials insist the servicemen were in Iraqi waters when they were held.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
bttt
"Lady, F**k off! Make your own movie!"
:')
Why were they captured? Because their "commanding officer" instructed them to surrender?
If I was armed and on board, they would have had to shoot me!
Warrior 1st, diplomat 2nd.
Yep you did! I read that too!
What's that Greek crud in the title???
Just look what you're doing to one of our staunchest allies on earth!!! When you're unsure what to do, just display your incompetence for the whole danged world to see!!! (dejavue Jimmy Carter all over again)
I know... Barbara Boxer reminded all of us... "Elections have consequences."
Iran to try Britons for espionage
How'd you git rid of that Greek crud in the title so fast??? It was turnin the single quote mark into some Greek, or maybe it was Pharsi, gibberish stuff and now it's magically disappeared!!!
Looks like the Mods have adjusted it!
Ok, I'm gonna go watch a slide show and eat some popcorn... See ya!
He wasn't dreaming!
If those were Americans the Iranians would find Jimmah Carter is no longer POTUS.
Now, that said, a very important news item from last week got virtually no play in the media, regarding Iran:
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2625206&C=mideast
High-level Iranian and Saudi officials have exchanged visits over the past few weeks in an effort to defuse ethno-sectarian conflict spreading in their volatile region. Saudi King Abdullah bins Abdul Aziz and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad met here March 3. The meetings followed January and February meetings here and in Tehran between Ali Larijani, who is secretary-general of the Iranian National Security Council, and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan.
There is too much at stake for each party, and the regional problems have become interlinked with one another and thus harder to deal with, said Abdulwahab Badrakhan, a political analyst based in Doha, Qatar.
The two oil-rich nations are an unlikely peacemaking duo. Saudi Arabia is a predominantly Sunni Muslim Arab state with strong ties to the United States, while Iran is a predominantly Shiite Muslim Persian country that supports Shiite militias in Iraq and Lebanon and leads an anti-Western axis with Syria.
But Riyadh sees the chances of war increasing by the day with no practical solution in sight for the standoff between Tehran and Washington over Irans nuclear problem, and thus Saudi Arabia wants to make sure it will not be part of any future regional war, said Anwar Eshki, director of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jeddah.
So, Eshki said, Saudi leaders told their Iranian counterparts to cool it.
Tehran was told that it had to adhere to the will of the international community and to help resolve the mounting sectarian tension in Lebanon and Iraq in order to escape any military confrontation with the West, he said.
The Saudis also told the Iranians that if they responded to U.S. attacks by striking out at Persian Gulf Arab states, these countries would enter the war on Americas side, he said.
Saudi leaders are not sure Tehran will react to their message.
Most hard-line Iranian leaders have not yet taken any action to defuse the tension in the region and have kept their rhetoric on the nuclear file very high and non-compromising, said Assad Shamlan, a political science professor at the Saudi Diplomatic Institute.
Yet after the meeting, the mood was cautiously optimistic here.
The fact that the Iranians have been seeking Saudi help to quell the tension is a proof that Tehran was really scared and wants to halt this madness, Shamlan said. Tehran senses that its popular support in the region is slipping away, Badrakhan said.
Iranians realize now that the tide is turning against them, with more Arab countries becoming uneasy with their increased military threats and their radicalization of Shiite communities, he said. This situation is depriving Iran of Arab and Muslim support or sympathy that Tehran would need at the time of a U.S. attack.
Jordans King Abdullah II, Egypts Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz have all spoken in the past year of an Iranian-controlled Shiite crescent coming into shape in the Middle East with Syrias help. And Arab governments fear that Iran would become a hegemonic power if it acquires nuclear weapons. END.
So, plain and simple, Iran did not get anything near what it wanted out of the Saudis. The Saudis, instead, told Iran that if they want a war, Saudi Arabia will side with the U.S. The meeting broke up early, from what I read elsewhere, and he returned to Tehran. Next, he intended to come to the U.N. Why? Simple. It was his last hope. As a final slap in the face, the Russians pulled their workers from the site of the nuclear reactor they're building, and then cut off fuel deliveries all together. Why? Because Iran, like a subprime borrower, couldn't pay the bill.
Next thing you know, 15 British soldiers are taken hostage on false pretense and charged with espionage. Given the recent moves by Ahmadinejad, his humiliation on the world stage, and perhaps a financial crisis in the Tehran government, the table is set for an irrational man to do something entirely irrational. Whereas in 2004, it made sense to release them, the Iranian government may not feel there's much to lose. I don't like their prospects at this point. If, God forbid, these men are executed, all bets are off. But with the rhetoric intensifying this weekend, it's clear that Ahmdinejad's postponement of the U.N. speech ha snothing to do with visas and everything to do with Iran's next move...
The information I got was the British ship was trailing a shipment of black market automobiles. This has nothing to do with espionage. Iran is playing with fire.
Step two in the dance
Many of us tried to warn those who bought the bs of teaching us a lesson by electing Pelosi and her Hatriotics to control our country.
However, they didn't listen, and like during the Clintoonian years, we and the world will pay for allowing the Hatriotics to be in power.
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