OK BOYS the April Fool’s Gags are over..this is funnier stuff.
Iranians pelt UK embassy » Kuwait Times Website — These sorts of supposed protests are staged by the government. If they are not staged then these students are idoits. If they are staged then the British should take military action against this corrupt regime.
The protesters chanted “Death to Britain” and “Death to America” as they hurled stones into the courtyard of the embassy. They also shouted “the British spies should be tried”. In speeches made before the students turned on the compound, they demanded the Iranian government expel the British ambassador and close down the embassy, calling it a “den of spies”. They also advised Tehran not to release Faye Turney, the lone female sailor held captive, or show any flexibility until the British apologised for violating Irans borders.
Did these jokers not notice what happened to their neighbors because the USA decided to stumble in and wreck the place? Is that what they are begging for in Iran?
I saw TV yesterday — the BBC I think — video of the rock throwing and it was obvious that the rocks were being delivered to the “students” by truck.
Funny. (unless you happen to be in the embassy.)
The shame in this is that the media covers it at all. This is nothing…a staged protest, choregraphed and directed. And some media idiots fall for it, over amd over and over. Probably the same ones who chase around Britney and Paris, ya think?
Good points by all. Oh, that the halls of power would ring with such conversation; we might do the right thing rather than the expedient one, for once.
Odd little aside here, but has anyone else noticed that they bother to design and cut special throwing stones? This one is a very clearly and deliberately cut hexagon. So, presumably someone said, hey, I can go into business selling rocks to throw at people armed with guns.
35 – Li – You’re right. I have seen more salient points to think about in this discussion, from more honest, reasonably informed viewpoints, than I’ve seen in any of the major media I skim. As JCD once said in another context, any 535 geeks in a room would be smarter than… [fill in halls of power image here].
And I’m not seeing a single convincing (as opposed to posturing) argument in favor of getting aggressive with Iran over this propaganda exercise. (The usually more sensible #4 notwithstanding.) And a LOT of convincing argument against it. Still, as Rob (#3) pointed out early on in this thread, ultimately it’s the U.K. that has to respond. Maybe this time we’ll be sucked into someone else’s war instead of barging into it ourselves against the whole rest of the world’s advice.
It doesn’t cost Britain or the US anything to let Iran posture, provided Iran releases the captured soldiers unharmed within the next two to three weeks. Abandoning those soldiers or giving that impression to our military is not an option.
Invading Iran doesn’t serve any purpose. Sinking their navy does. It is the power Iran can project at the Straits of Hormuz that concerns the economies of the world. Should Iran decide to place the captured soldiers on trial, then a military response would be almost assured. And, yes, the US would support Britain’s response.
More than likely, Britain’s response would be a commando raid to attempt a rescue – not easily done. The job of the US would be to sink every Iranian ship we could find, destroy the coastal missile batteries, and provide air cover – things we do very well. (And let’s not forget the nuke development sites.)
But what makes our actions “a last resort” is the border between Iran and Iraq. We would need another 100,000 troops along that border to fight off Iran’s military response – and I’m not talking about suicide bombers.
All-in-all, our best response at this stage is to let Ahmadinejad get his sound bites while we get our forces in position. More than likely, Ahmadinejad will release the soldiers before it escalates into war.
Odyssey 76- I havent had time to read all the posts, but I think you are dead on with your comments. I am really in disbelief about Dvoraks and many others positions on this. I am wating for the other shoe to drop, and that this is just baiting for the chickenhawk blogger element.
The action by Iran may offer the British a way out of Iraq based on the their National Security priorities. If the US military is feeling the strain of Iraqi, the British military must be gasping for breath under the load. At least with Iranian incident they have the option to claim, we acted because they “molested Her Majesty’s Dinghy”. Get out of Iraq, war-fart around with Iran for awhile and then back to London before Bono can organize a war protest concert. The British didn’t survive the Romans, the Vikings, Hitler and bell-bottoms by being stupid.
I can’t understand these peoples !
Why they are acting like that?
How they are not hearing about love and peace?!! Its sad! 🙁
This is a British matter, and how Great Britain decides to handle it is up to them, where the US has to make a decision is, are we going to support an allie if they ask us to help in the attack?
Bottom line: We attack Iran, while Iraq & Afghanistan are still a mess, and we wind up losing – not a debateable Vietnam-type loss, but the real thing. Death & destruction, sure, but the economic repercussions at home will be colossal as well – or haven’t you noticed your fuel bill going up 30% since this all started. And as for terrorism – let me tell you; there wouldn’t be a safe place for an Anglo to travel in this world for at least a generation.