Folks, the Iranians have released the British sailors and marines that they seized!!!
British Sailors released!!!
- Thread starter exile
- Start date
Woohoo!!! That's so great!!! Were there any conditions, or did they just release them all?
OP
- Thread Starter
- #3
Kacey, I believe they just... let'em all go. Outstanding!!
I figured that as time went on, the Iranians would realize what a stupid move this wasthey couldn't come out of it looking good. But what I worried about was that there are two responses when you realize you've done something really dumb: admit it gracefully, or try against all reason to defend what you've doneon the grounds that if you admit error, you'll be perceived as being weak. And I didn't think the odds on the first alternative were particularly good. So that left the second, with potentially very nasty consequences, particularly for the British sailors. But apparently, they've just been allowed to walk, no strings attached.
Three cheers, eh?!
CoryKS
Senior Master
I agree! This proves that Iran is clearly a rational, caring entity that just wants to do the right thing! They even chastised Britain for sending a woman with children into battle! And can you believe that they released them unconditionally? It just shows that some people's leaders have the humility to admit they're wrong! Yessirree, Iran has come out of this smelling like a rose! They couldn't have hoped for a more positive outcome if they had planned it that way! *beams*
In all seriousness, I'm truly glad that the British sailors have been released.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #7
Sorry, it occurred to me a little while ago that you should've had the pleasure of announcing it... but then, you might have been off celebrating and taken hours getting back on line, so... :wink1:
[quote=exile;763422]Sorry, it occurred to me a little while ago that you should've had the pleasure of announcing it... but then, you might have been off celebrating and taken hours getting back on line, so... :wink1:[/quote]
Good heavens no! I don't claim anything here! I may just have a drink or two lol!
Good heavens no! I don't claim anything here! I may just have a drink or two lol!
I'm a little astounded that the matter is over so quickly (ish) and cleanly. I'm surmising that the chap at the top realised that the best way to come out of the situation looking as good as they can was to be magnaminous.
They'd played 'hardball' for the home audience and gotten the kudos from that - to pursue the issue could only have lead to things getting worse for all concerned.
I am most happy that our chaps and chappess are out from under the shadow of harm :rei:.
They'd played 'hardball' for the home audience and gotten the kudos from that - to pursue the issue could only have lead to things getting worse for all concerned.
I am most happy that our chaps and chappess are out from under the shadow of harm :rei:.
Somebody is gonna have to wipe the drool off Bush's lips since you KNOW he was :fanboy: over the possiblity of going to war with Iran (probably will still try) just to help out Britian under the pretense of a "rescue" mission. The last one didn't fare so well over there.
So President Iwannajihad really is less than completely insane. Or at least he has some good political sense. Mirabile dictu. I predict that the British, the Americans, and the Persians willl all claim credit and declare victory over this one. One notes that the British prisoners were treated a hell of a lot better than the Americans and British treat the poor bastards who fall into their clutches.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #12
I think two things account for this: one, the Iranians probably had hopes of using the British captives as bargaining chips, and it was important for that purpose to keep them intact, and two, the incident had complete global attention for a week or so, with tremendous scrutiny on the Iranians right from the start.
Of course, international attention didn't save the Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi, who was detained in Iran in 2003, and whose story ended in a grimly tragic and horrifying manner:
Although Iran's regime insists that her death was accidental, Shahram Azam, a former military staff physician who left Iran and sought asylum in Canada in 2004, has stated that he examined Kazemi's body and observed evidence of rape and torture, including a skull fracture, broken nose, crushed toe, broken fingers, and severe abdominal bruising. The Canadian government, as well as Kazemi's supporters, consider her death to be a murder.
(from the Wikipedia Kazemi biography) So yes, we have a lot to be thankful for, that, in this later incident, things have ended as well as they have. My mind just does not want to visualize what could have happened to those people had things gone sideways...
In other words, the Iranians are no worse than we are. Torture has become standard practice for the United States when it captures people. It disappears captives by the thousands, possibly tens of thousands, to be tortured and probably killed all over the world. Our Marines even beat an Iraqi general - prisoner of war, wearing his issued uniform, no doubt whatsoever that he was covered by Geneva - to death to "soften him up" for questioning. The murderers and their commanders skated. We've squandered every single damned shred of moral authority we had to say "Boo!" to Tehran about the way it treats people. The UK may or may not be any better. But it's certainly complicit.
We're a nation that tortures and murders as a matter of policy. The rule of law is no longer in force, just the rule of megalomaniacal men. Yes, the mullahs are nuts. The Iranian president is an evil man. That doesn't excuse us from our own villainy. This time they were better and more humane than we.
We're a nation that tortures and murders as a matter of policy. The rule of law is no longer in force, just the rule of megalomaniacal men. Yes, the mullahs are nuts. The Iranian president is an evil man. That doesn't excuse us from our own villainy. This time they were better and more humane than we.
Excellent!!!!
jdinca
Master Black Belt
I think that's marvelous news! I'm glad that a little behind the scenes talking was all that was necessary.
Amen. This was a time for talking, not shooting.
forgive me but this episode was a very calculated move by iran. they had no intention of hurting these guys, they had every intention of showing how really neat and civilized they are, yet tough with resolve. their actions were taken to display their own weight in the arab world.
and they got an iranian diplomat kidnapped in iraq released as a part of the deal.
england looks like a bunch of tea-sipping effete diplomats who got their handslap for sticking it too far into iranian territory (whether they did or not.)
and the US looks powerless and irrelevant to the situation.
score 1 to ambaddamaddjewbody and the mullahs.
I quite agree that this incident was very much about (an Iranian) someones internal agenda but there is, I would say, very little hope that it could've turned out any better than it has.
Iran has a big military and has a lot of relatively recent combat experience but, as barmy as their behaviour can sometimes seem to us, their leaders are not idiots. In the past decade, they have seen their greatest 'real' (as oppossed to ideological) enemy be wiped away with consumate ease (militarily). They know that any open conflict will result in the same outcome for them so they choose a different route for their posturing and sabre rattling (admittedly counting on the fact that, in the most part, the voting public of Western democracies don't actually approve of war).
Iran has a big military and has a lot of relatively recent combat experience but, as barmy as their behaviour can sometimes seem to us, their leaders are not idiots. In the past decade, they have seen their greatest 'real' (as oppossed to ideological) enemy be wiped away with consumate ease (militarily). They know that any open conflict will result in the same outcome for them so they choose a different route for their posturing and sabre rattling (admittedly counting on the fact that, in the most part, the voting public of Western democracies don't actually approve of war).
Steel Tiger
Senior Master
This is an important point. Up until this incident with the British sailors and marines, the popularity of president Ahmadinejad had been slipping. A strong stance and then a generous and peaceful conclusion will have does his position no harm.
It's 1140h our time and I've got the tv on, the BBC is at Heathrow airport waiting to show them landing in about 20mins! I can imagine how the families feel!
The only down side is that more soldiers have been killed in Iraq and we are waiting to find out what regiment. I'm saying silent prayers that it's none of ours which in itself is awful because they are all somebodies kin.
The only down side is that more soldiers have been killed in Iraq and we are waiting to find out what regiment. I'm saying silent prayers that it's none of ours which in itself is awful because they are all somebodies kin.
