Quote :

"Unfortunately, force is the only language that some in the middle east understand. "

^^you say that like our president is much different

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 4:17 PM. Reason : and like it's in some way based in fact and not stereotypes]

4/4/2007 4:17:05 PM

Quote :

"Unfortunately, force is the only language that some in the middle east people understand."

It's a problem all over the place, it doesn't mean that force is justified just because someone isn't understanding you. Things move slow at an international level for a multitude of reasons, the cost of war is far too high to jump in and intervene militarily because a long-disputed border line has purportedly been breached. (This goes for both sides)

There is a far better argument for violations of international law by Iran with regards to Geneva convention rules about interrogation and publishing of detainees than this incident being an act of war.

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 5:06 PM. Reason : .]

4/4/2007 5:06:34 PM

"we bare you no ill will"

FUCKING SICK!!!!

4/4/2007 5:09:38 PM

Quote :

"TOO BAD BRITAIN DIDN'T BOMB 15 OF THEIR SHIPS OR THIS COULD HAVE ENDED MUCH BETTER!!!!!!!!! "

sure, this (the hostage situation) ended better--or at least more easily--than it would have had, say, an Iranian ship been sunk in retaliation.

I'm thinking big picture and long term, though.

4/4/2007 6:55:15 PM

Quote :

"you say that like our president is much different and like it's in some way based in fact and not stereotypes"

You have a valid point about our President.

But of course my statement was based on fact, or history to be more accurate. There is no reasoning with religious extremism. Decades of violence in the region don't lie.

4/4/2007 7:16:42 PM

Specious assertions ahoy!

4/4/2007 8:57:33 PM

Quote :

"Decades of violence in the region don't lie."

Neither do decades of American and British:

overthrows of legitimate governments
massacres of civilians
installation of genocidal dictators
divide and conquers
arbitrary border-drawings
favoring one people/ethnic group over another

in the same region.

Which of course, have a lot to do with the turmoil in the region.

Quote :

"But of course my statement was based on fact, or history to be more accurate."

HOW IS THAT FOR SOME HISTORY/FACT, BIATCH???

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 9:23 PM. Reason : ]

4/4/2007 9:21:36 PM

quit yer damn bitchin and go start on that 5th prayer

4/4/2007 10:24:59 PM

pwnt?

4/4/2007 10:29:20 PM

? I think you meant bwn, and no.

4/4/2007 10:38:21 PM

"But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."
-Winston Churchill

4/4/2007 10:46:53 PM

on the right, one is holding his piss, and one his shit.

4/4/2007 10:53:26 PM

Quote :

"sure, this (the hostage situation) ended better--or at least more easily--than it would have had, say, an Iranian ship been sunk in retaliation. I'm thinking big picture and long term, though. "

i dont know, i think its too late for a show of force to make a difference in the area. reagan started us on the trend of not responding to terrorism with force in 1984 and i dont think any future action is going to be able to change that. if he let the marines do their job then this entire terrorism thing might not even be a problem today, but he didnt and we will never know.

4/4/2007 10:54:01 PM

hey, at least they got hooked up with those nice suits

sorry about your shit though, woman sailor

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 10:55 PM. Reason : .]

4/4/2007 10:55:21 PM

Quote :

"“I ask Blair not to punish the soldiers with the charge of accepting and telling the truth,” Ahmadinejad said in reference to taped “confessions” from the sailors and Marines saying they had entered Iranian waters."

Some other interesting snippets:

Quote :

"“Influenced by the Prophet’s teachings (Iran) forgives these 15 people and gives their freedom to the British people as a gift,” Ahmadinejad said toward the end of a 90-minute news conference broadcast around the world. Ahmadinejad later met several of the sailors, who were dressed in smart suits, at his office in Tehran and shook hands with them before exchanging a few words through a translator. “We are very grateful for your forgiveness,” one of the British sailors said. “I would like to thank yourself and the Iranian people.”"

[Edited on April 5, 2007 at 1:37 AM. Reason : ]

4/5/2007 1:35:12 AM

Yeah, Britain has a great tradition of diplomacy.

4/5/2007 2:51:45 AM

i think britain should kidnap 15 iranians now

4/5/2007 2:58:11 AM

Our airmen did much better while being held by the Chinese.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2001/010402-aries3.htm

4/5/2007 4:18:05 AM

technically, they were sailors and people still gave them shit for not bailing in the ocean.

4/5/2007 8:02:53 AM

thank god we had jesse

4/5/2007 8:25:02 AM

^^ that's because they were an EP-3, which has a lot of classified electronic gear on board. nobody cared to see them stranded in the ocean--they were concerned about the airplane falling to the Chinese.

4/5/2007 8:46:32 AM

those suits aren't too shabby looking

4/5/2007 10:52:53 AM

notice how all the suits are fashioned like Aminijad's (or whatever his name is)....

and so are all the Iranians in the picture. Its like the new uniform

4/5/2007 10:56:01 AM

^^i agree

4/5/2007 10:56:45 AM

Quote :

"They're free, but Britain has been humiliated UK Telegraph 05/04/2007 Relief at the freeing of the British sailors and Marines in Iran is tempered with dismay at the humiliation to which they and the country they serve have been subjected. ...the satisfaction of a diplomatic challenge eventually handled with skill is soured by the string of psychological humiliations that Britain has suffered. First, there is the apparent incompetence of the Royal Navy in providing insufficient protection to lightly armed inflatables, at a time when relations between Iran and the West were particularly volatile following the imposition of UN sanctions. Second, the seized personnel lost no time in admitting to having trespassed and in apologising for their mistake. The old military practice of giving name, rank and number, and no more, has obviously been abandoned. Third, the dénouement of this crisis showed Mr Ahmadinejad in the most favourable of lights, whether in "pardoning" the 15, pleading on their behalf with Mr Blair, admonishing this country for separating a mother, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, from her child, or shaking hands and chatting with the newly besuited Servicemen after his press conference. The Iranian president has rightly been demonised in the West for his call for Israel's destruction and his pursuit of a nuclear weapons programme in defiance of the UN. Yet yesterday he was able to adopt the moral high ground, admonishing the Government while treating graciously those who had been acting on its behalf at the head of the Gulf. This bodes badly for the West's relations with Teheran over a number of acutely difficult problems during the coming months: its defiance of UN sanctions imposed because of a refusal to halt uranium enrichment; its heightened meddling in Iraq; and its continued support for terrorist movements - Hizbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and elements of Fatah - vowed to Israel's destruction. During the recent crisis, Iran has yielded not a jot on any of these matters. Rather, the approval it has enjoyed on the Islamic "street" for humiliating an old enemy is likely to make it even more intransigent. Labour has invested much diplomatic capital in trying to engage revolutionary Iran. But the seizure of the sailors and Marines has enabled Teheran to paint it back into a corner of close association with the "Great Satan", America, and to reawaken the Iranian public's historic suspicion of British designs. No one would pretend that it is easy to deal with a nation that, since 1979, has shown itself prepared to treat norms of diplomatic behaviour with contempt. However, the steps that led to the seizure of the 15 on March 23 must be thoroughly investigated. It appears that the Royal Navy has a lot to answer for."

That's for sure. Why weren't these troops better protected? Did the British commander really order them to give up their arms? What happened to prisoner defiance towards their captors? Little Jessica Lynch put up more of a fight than all of these Brits put together.

4/5/2007 9:36:20 PM

well what would people have said if they did the name file rank thing and they get killed?

then they woulda been like "OMG THEY SHOULDA TOLD THEM WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR!!!1"

4/5/2007 9:39:56 PM

Quote :

"Iran put 'pyschological pressure' on British captives: officer by Phil Hazlewood Fri Apr 6, 6:48 AM ET LONDON (AFP) - Iran exerted "pyschological pressure" on 15 British naval personnel it held for 13 days, a top British officer said Friday as he defended their actions and a military inquiry started into the capture of the group. The Royal Navy board of inquiry into the tense, two-week stand-off will look at the rules of engagement, intelligence gathering, equipment and procedures to prevent any repeat, the head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band told the BBC. It would also look at the alleged confessions made by some of the group, including the only woman, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, which appeared to have been made under "a certain amount of psychological pressure", he added. Band, who is First Sea Lord, confirmed reports that the Royal Navy had suspended all boarding operations in the northern Gulf while it carried out a complete review of the March 23 detention. As the 15 naval personnel continued their debriefing at Royal Marines Base Chivenor in Devon, southwest England, Admiral Band strongly defended them against charges that they surrendered too easily. "I would not agree at all that it was not our finest hour," Band told BBC radio. "I think our people have reacted extremely well in some very difficult circumstances," he said. He confirmed the review would look at the rules of engagement for British forces operating in the area, but rejected claims they could have fought back against their captors. "It is quite clear to me, in the context of the operation that morning, with the force that was shown against them, they made exactly the right decision. I stand by what they did," he said. "This was not open combat. This was not an attack on a street. This was doing absolutely legal boarding operations in a legal part of the world where they were illegally acted upon. "When you are in that situation as servicemen, you have a situation in front of you, you have rules of engagement, and then you have to make a judgment with respect to the danger of your life of what you do. "From what we think we know -- and obviously this will be confirmed in the debriefing -- I think they acted extremely sensibly." The admiral also defended the way the group acted in detention, despite criticisms that some had been too willing to give interviews and "apologise" for their actions. "I think they acted with considerable dignity and a lot of courage. They appear to have played it by the rules, they don't appear to have put themselves into danger, others into danger, they don't appear to have given anything away," he said."

No surprise there...the high British Sea Lord is going to justify their behavior. We'll probably never get the real story out of England. Iran could rub salt in the wound by telling the world how little pressure it took to get their captives to start confessing and apologizing.

4/6/2007 10:17:02 AM

Quote :

"well what would people have said if they did the name file rank thing and they get killed?"

I'm pretty sure that Britain would have said "fuck you" by kicking the shit out of Iran.

4/6/2007 10:27:45 AM

sounds like these 15 are heros then

they stopped a war

4/6/2007 8:15:04 PM

Quote :

"He (The Sea Lord) said accusations that they "surrendered first and apologised later" were "extremely unfair", adding: "I would not agree at all that it was not our finest hour. I stand by what they did." The admiral dismissed suggestions that the hostages should have restricted themselves to merely telling the Iranians their name, rank and serial number. "They weren't on combat operations. They weren't like people shot down in Tornados in the Gulf War." "

Not on Combat Operations? That's a bit of a fuzzy justification.

But granted their behavior, as spineless as it appeared, and Blair's- could've actually averted/delayed a wider conflict.

4/6/2007 9:41:44 PM

UK is letting them sale their stories, looks like each will get about 500k....the bitch will get more.

4/8/2007 2:37:13 PM

LETS ATTACK IRAN NOW!!!!@#!@3280

4/8/2007 3:37:22 PM