Posted on 04/04/2007 9:58:35 AM PDT by IrishMike
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran on Wednesday freed the 15 detained British sailors and marines in what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called an Easter gift to the British people. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he bore "no ill will" toward the Iranian people. Iranian state television said the 14 men and one woman, who were seized while on patrol in the northern Persian gulf on March 23, would leave Iran on Thursday. An Iranian official in London said they would be handed over to British diplomats in Tehran.
Ahmadinejad's surprise announcement came at a news conference shortly after he pinned a medal on the chest of the Iranian coast guard commander who intercepted the sailors and marines.
"I'm glad that our 15 service personnel have been released and I know their release will come as a relief not just to them but to their families," Blair said outside his No. 10 Downing St. office. "Throughout, we have taken a measured approach, firm but calm, not negotiating but not confronting, either."
Blair added, "To the Iranian people I would simply say this: We bear you no ill will."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Tony Blair announced yesterday that the next 48 hours were critical to the situation.
Bush goes on television yesterday and says Iran must release the hostages.
Iran releases them 12 hours later.
I would say it was an excellent good cop / bad cop play with Blair being the good cop and Bush being the bad cop.
The news on the left is see how easy it is to negotiate with Iran and Syria; they just want to talk to us. Completely forgotten is that it was an act of war on Britain to TAKE THE HOSTAGES in the FIRST PLACE. Also forgotten is Syria supporting Hezbollah.
Nancy Pelosi says Israel is ready for peace talks with Syria; Israel says “wait a minute; that was not our message to Syria; the message was WHEN Syria stops supporting Hezbollah and Hamas we are ready to talk; not before then.
I guess we don't know. Maybe it was a threat. I hope so.
I think the latter. If it were a bribe Iran would have let everyone know.
Yesterday one of the high ranking Iranian officials who was captured in northern Iraq was mysteriously released. It was a swap. If Iran feared coalition naval forced I doubt they'd have sailed right into the midst of them and kidnapped 15 Royal Marines while they flipped the bird at HMS Cornwall, which sat there looking timidly on. They will fear Coalition forces once we actually let them loose, which unfortunatley we won't do,.... yet.
Isn’t Easter the day that people eat colored, hard-boiled eggs?
“would leave Iran on Thursday”
In light of it being on Wednesday the headline seems a little misleading.
But it will probably happen tommorow.
A victory for dinner jacket aficionados all over the Mideast.
But wouldn't it have been more effective if the woman sailor was dressed in a Persian Princess outfit instead of those homeless rags?
Mahmoud's idea of a gift is stealing the silverware out of your house and giving it back to you.
Nancy Pelosi is about to learn a hard lesson: Syria doesn’t want to negotiate on even terms with Israel or anyone else. Syria wants all the territory it lost to Israel and won’t offer anything but worthless promises to Israel that it will break the momement Israel gives land back to Syria.
Five of them said to hell with the Iranians pointing the guns at them and saying “smile or else”.
I noticed that too. It would be interesting to know if they had anything pointed at them. I like the five with the 'screw you' look.
I would've enjoyed it if they could have snuck a middle finger into the picture like our Vietnam POWs did.
In the end, however, I don't think this bodes well for Britain (and the west). They allowed the, now, two time hostage taker president to make a mockery of them.
Has anyone read the Skynews comments from the UK on this story? They think this is a victory of the Magnanamous Iranians over the mean ol' Yanks.
It's sad to watch a once great world power roll over and crawl, whimpering and whinging, a bunch of gutless lickspittles, at the feet of a third rate dictatorship...
“Also forgotten is Syria supporting Hezbollah.”
Further forgotten is that the French hate Iranian-funded Syrian efforts to recapture Lebanon and have a full carrier battlegroup operating with the Americans in the Gulf region right now. So there are THREE cops on the scene, and any Iranian/Syrian hope of splitting the Western Alliance against itself and getting UN pressure, etc., were dashed by the French being there too. So, you’ve got Britain and the US applying pressure, and the French not equivocating either, taking away the UN as a forum for slowing the West down.
When the Western Allies work in concert, things happen fast. Usually, the French and Anglo-Saxons are divided, and everything paralyzes, but when the French and Anglo-Saxons agree, the Continent goes with the French, Britain goes with America, the Russians go silent, and things get done, swiftly.
Three cops is even better than two.
I guess their uniforms and those rubber boats will be displayed prominently in some museum in Tehran.
Sort of like our Pueblo in N. Korea.
Notice how they are all dressed like Ahmadenejad - suits but no ties.
In fairness, the PRESS
in Britain may represent
the British people
as well as our press
represents Americans . . .
I mean, not at all!
Ahmagonnadoajihad’s Muzzketeers!
Ahmagonnadoajihad’s Muzzketeers!
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I think we have to blame Bogart for that faux pas -- It was Bogart's "look." |
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