It is hard to see how a war could be averted.

It's all too easy with the swing of politics the last couple of years. I've got an idea that should satisfy everybody though. Don't want a lengthy war, but don't want to let North Korea and Iran sit back and flip us the bird? No problem. Forget any war. Just everytime they cross the line with something stupid like this, we fly over and bomb the shit out of government buildings and infrastructure for two or three days. We could do that with relative impunity. Hell, even give them warning to avoid collateral damage.

No sanctions, no rebuilding, just hey stupid, you might not want to toe that line again. {shrug} Why not, it's worked for Israel?

I would hope the U.S. and U.K. give Iran 24 hours to return the sailors.  Iran is playing a game and if we don't step up then Iran will come out as the winner.

the Neaderthal in me simply doesn't tolerate the taking of women as prisoners.

"Spanking Iran: So easy, a caveman could do it."

There are shades of Iran Contra here. If these sailors had been captured without the controversy over nuclear weapons, the matter would have been resolved by now. Now the Western World threatens Iran with sanctions and Iran has got hostages to bargain with.

Britain is not being firm enough in their demands for the release of the sailors. They do not even know where the sailors are. Big problem. So big that Ahmadinedjad is talking to no-one. It amazes me that a Condi or a Jack Straw (forget Margaret Beckett--she is but a shadow of a Straw), have not flown in with iron gloves. Come on people. You can't leave this for an Ambassador to sort out!

If all Blair does is bitch and whine then I will burn my UK passport a minute after I become a citizen of the US. I've heard some commentators argue that the captured service personnel should have fought back. Fine. Good idea. Except they were outnumbered, outgunned, and forbidden to do so by their rules of engagement, which stipulated that force was only to be used in the face of resistance by smugglers and other criminals. Being good soldiers they followed those rules.

I suspect, and sincerely hope, that these diplomatic games are just that, a smokescreen to buy time to discover where the prisoners are being held in order to mount a rescue mission carried out by the SAS (Special Air Services) and SBS (Special Boat Service - the Navy's equivalent of the SAS). When they do so I fully expect them to succeed, and I pity any Republican Guard that gets in their way.

If however no attempt is made to retrieve them then, out of sheer shame, I will not speak of myself as an Englishman again.

There are shades of Iran Contra here.

Actaully, that was not Iran Contra (arms for Iran Hostages).  As the Iran hostages were already home.  But it is their mo.

Except they were outnumbered, outgunned, and forbidden to do so by their rules of engagement, which stipulated that force was only to be used in the face of resistance by smugglers and other criminals. Being good soldiers they followed those rules.

 

Indeed, Europe is finding that using their military abroad under these restrictive conditions has become a liability rather than an asset.

I will not speak of myself as an Englishman again.

We all mourn the passing of the once-great British Empire. My goal is to live to see 2066. I hope England is still recognizable then.