Posted on 03/30/2007 6:02:27 AM PDT by propertius
I wouldn't bet a lot on that proposition. Kipling said something about watching out when the Brits start to get polite.....well, they're being polite with the Iranians right now.
And my old man once noticed that the British always seem to come out on top. They'll lose ships, men, and battles, and lurch from mishap to mishap, but when the smoke clears, whaddayaknow, they manage to find a way to win. Never bet against them.
They don't have the means to conquer and occupy the country, but if they've been moving stuff since this started they definitely have the capability as we say around here to "F&ck up their Christmas".
A true covert action would involve:
-psyops convincing jihadist that the real war is in Chechnya and in the peripheral Russian provinces.
-sending captured Russian/Iranian arms in Iraq to Chechnya
The best covert actions involve having our enemies fight our enemies. Truely Russia is an enemy.
I have no doubt that the British could win against Iran if they wanted to. The big question is "if". IMO, letting their military personal be taken prisoner in the first place is a major show of weakness.
Yea right,
Britain: OK NOW IM REALLY MAD (huff huff) YOU'RE GONNA GET A GOOD BUGGERING NOW.
Iran: (Punches Britian in the mid section)
Britian: oooof, RIGHT, NOW YOU'VE DONE IT.
Iran: (Kicks Britian in the schin)
Britian: I'M REALLY, REALLY ANGRY. CONDISER YOURSELF OFFICALLY WARNED.
Iran: OK, we give up.
Britian: Wow, really?
Iran: Sure, why not. But you will have to make some concesions.
Britian: Really, OK, sounds good to me.
Iran: Great, then we're agreed, it was all your fault and you will have to grovel at my feet and then you can have your soldiers back after we torture them a bit more.
Britian: DONE. Great, now lets shake hands and be best mates.
Iran: Sure, (fingers crossed behind back). Can we come over for a sleep in this weekend.
Britain: I feel much better now that I stood up for myself.
By the way, this entire converstaion applies to many other scenarios. Just substitute your favorite dictator or the UN for Iran and replace Britian with the US. And there you have it.
hostage bookmark.
YEAH!!! Get the Limeys fired-up. It's about time someone else took the heat besides us Yanks.
Somebody over there dig up a backbone?
Must have found it in Scotland.
Yeah, the Muslims are showing strength since they have taken over Britain. This is exactly why we have to weed the fifth column out of the US.
The UK will never take real action
"War will not happen with Iran. THis will go on for weeks perhaps months. THe brits will pay some kind of ransom and then they'll be released. Iran will come out the winner in this and the Brits will come out the losers. The UK will never take real action so the US will never have a chance to back them up."
Don't count on it. You don't move two carrier battlefleets to a reason and conduct wargames 5 miles off a hostile nations coast for nothing. We are going to destroy their nuke program and probably their air, force and navy while we are at it.
"Well at least one Brit has a pair still."
I believe actually that most Brits still have a pair like we do at home. Unfortunately, the left on both sides of the pond now command government decision making including it's anti-war stance. This sentiment is promoted throughout the press globally, alerting our enemies we are weak and the time to make their moves is now. It also riles up the left political base so they are much more vocal in blogs and other Internet press. All of these on the left scream how our insensitive policies have caused the Middle East to hate us, support Iran whom promises nuclear destruction of Israel and the West and encourages hostile superpowers like Russia to veto everything we do to change things.
"No we don't! Bush is just as pussified as Blair! You honestestly think he posesses any guts to take on Iran? Please! He's allowed the Democraps and his lame duck status to politically cripple him as commander in chief. This is what you get when electing someone that is more concerned about getting along than doing whats right!"
Agreed he was pussified up until three months ago when he authorized the troop surge before the change in Congress, so they couldn't stop him. Bush also will attack Iran using air and naval power that is within his power and again, Congress can do nothing.
"Hell, I have this fantasy: here are some English fellows working on a Vulcan bomber much like the Confederate Air Force does our earlier planes. How borrowing a working example for old times sake for a strike with a swarm of Tornados?"
For heavens sake...do you even have a clue to how far the brits have gutted their military?
Here are some details:
In total there are 91 commissioned ships in the navy, of which 2 are aircraft carriers, 3 are large amphibious vessels, 25 are major fleet escorts (17 frigates and 8 destroyers) and 13 are nuclear-powered submarines (9 SSNs and 4 SSBNs).
The Naval Service had 38,710 regular personnel as of November 2006.
The Army has a total strength of about 101,800 personnel.
The navy retired its naval air wing (sea harriers) last year and has no ship based ability to provide air protection to its units.
They no longer have a swarm or tornadoes, just a few score.
The Brits need us to help them get their folk back.
It is in Ruusia's best interest to keep this situation like it is right now, it makes oil prices higher thus making them more money, maybe even billions of dollars more.
Regardless of what the Deleted One thinks, many, many Americans are with the Brits and will see anything done to aid these sailors or other British troops. I wish Tony Blair would say the word regarding the crazy Iranian mullahs, i.e., It's Hammer Time. We and GWB owe him and the British people our support.
The Iranian terror/theocracy regime needed to go in 1979, but better late than never.
I like your half full approach compared to my half empty.
Ive never wanted to be wrong more in my life. I really hope your are right but based on our history of eating Iranian pooh for almost 30 yrs I doubt things are different now.
The longer this goes on the more England will see that they are being forced into war. England took a lot from Hitler before going to war. As for resources--all they need to blocade Iran's coast is one sub and a few torpedoes.
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