Posted on 03/30/2007 4:42:14 AM PDT by Tolik
Let me know if you want in or out.
Links: FR Index of his articles: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson
His website: http://victorhanson.com/
NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp
Pajamasmedia: http://victordavishanson.pajamasmedia.com/
L
"It’s completely outrageous for any nation to go out and arrest the servicemen of another nation in waters that don’t belong to them.” So spoke Admiral Sir Alan West,"
I note that high-level British Spokespersons have often characterized this action as an "arrest". (First use was by the Commodore in command on the scene - less than 6 hours after the incident)..
One "arrests" miscreants. One "captures" hostiles, and one "kidnaps" or "abducts" non-hostiles.
PC has really gone amok when the Brits commanders characterize them as 'miscreants' who, by implication, somehow deserved their 'arrest'......
Real war is coming.
We watch as the world, seemingly in slow motion, sinks into a crushing spasm of reality. It won't be pretty. Not much will be left unchanged.
That's my humble opinion.
War requires one party to fight back. Will there be war or will it simply end with a supplicant's whimper?
The US didn't want to enter WWII. Europe is in much the same situation now.
Reality won't be denied though.
This event is the unavoidable result of Europe's unilateral disarmament. Period.
Apparently we were hoping that they would only use them against each other.
Any violence that would break out would probably be due instead to either American or Israeli imperial, preemptive aggression — and both nations could be ostracized or humiliated by European shunning and moral censure.
That was a definite logic error on the Europeans part. America was founded as a revolution against European Monarchical Power.
The author makes some great points. One should note however that military history is full of incidents where honorable people went in quickly to rescue captured comrades only to find themselves in a deeper trap. The Iranians did not just send some patrol boats in to capture the British sailors. My guess is that the main British patrol vessel would have seen a volley of anti-ship Cruise Missiles headed its way in no time flat if it had aggressively intervened. Guess what happened to the first Israeli tank that went after the kidnappers of the Israeli soldier on the Lebanon border last year ? It ran over an IED booby trap and was destroyed. When I was on a late night London street a few years ago and an Irish Leprechaun had scammed a 20 pound note off me, I had a choice of chasing him down some dark streets in his territory, or letting the 20 pound note disappear while I worked hard and smart to earn it back. Hopefully in the current crisis the British will get there sailors back. Then a well laid out plan of righteous retribution can be carried out.
For example, that lone Iranian gas refinery might have some type of unfortunate 'accident' that puts it out of commission for a few months.
what a horse's ass
We watch as the world, seemingly in slow motion, sinks into a crushing spasm of reality. It won't be pretty. Not much will be left unchanged.
And the blood spilled will make WWII look like a picnic....
Its the 1930's all over again.
There's that Iranian navy too.
Sink it.
Unfortunately war will start when we are forced to fight back to save civilization and I fear it will only start when America is hit badly enough that the citizens realize they must fight to save their own lives and that of their children. It will be terrible and it may not end in our lifetime.
Possibly, but if I were a betting person my bet would be more in line with what Hanson is implying...one of the smaller, softer target countries in a "rough neighborhood" will get hit, hard, and we will have to respond. Respond either under provisions of NATO or on our own under some sort of meaningless UN resolution. Although I can't imagine how bad it would have to be to get anything out of the worthless UN.
Hanson is, as always, right on the money...the USA will eventually have to bail out the world...again.
We can consider what the Iranians are doing to be a sort of "Recon In Force" against the political will of the west. As long as the repercussions are nonexistent, they will escalate too. Blair talks about ratcheting up a response. Does he understand that Iran is ratcheting provocations? How long before they think they can get away with a (small) invasion without consequences, or even a nukular strike?
The powerful world leftist media will make this out to be America's fault, as the aggressor. We must crush the enemy within, they cause more death and destruction than our military enemies.
We watch as the world, seemingly in slow motion, sinks into a crushing spasm of reality. It won't be pretty. Not much will be left unchanged.
It's going to go nuclear.
The only question is: we will absorb a first strike, or will we pre-empt ?
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