On Mar 29, 9:37 am, "Scotty" w@u wrote:
Nuke em all!
I rather see their leader Amadajahitler arrested when he visits NYC
soon.
He was a member of the revolutionary guards that took the recent
hostages BTW.
How Britons were conned by Iranian gunboat trick
The speed and cunning shown by the Revolutionary Guards suggests that
their action was premeditatedDominic Kennedy
The British sailors and marines being held by Iran were ambushed at
their most vulnerable moment, while climbing down the ladder of a
merchant ship and trying to get into their bobbing inflatables.
Out of sight of their warship and without any helicopter cover, their
only link to their commanders was a communications device beaming
their position by satellite.
That went dead as they were captured. One theory is that it was thrown
overboard to prevent the Iranians getting hold of the equipment and
the information it contained.
The Ministry of Defence released the coordinates of the searched
vessel yesterday to prove that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards made
an unprovoked and improper attack in Iraqi waters.
The Iranians also blundered in diplomatic talks by giving the British
their own compass reference for the place where they said the 14 men
and one woman had been seized. When Britain plotted these on a map and
pointed out that the spot was in Iraq's maritime area, the Iranians
came up with a new set of coordinates, putting the seizure in their
own waters.
The speed and cunning shown by the Revolutionary Guards has raised
suspicions that their action was premeditated. A senior military
officer described it as "deliberate".
It took only three minutes for the Iranians, moving at 40 knots, to
move from their legitimate positions monitoring shipping in their
waters to come alongside the British last Friday morning.
The sailors and marines from HMS Cornwall were in the Gulf, working
under a United Nations mandate to protect Iraq from smuggling and
threats to the oil industry, when an Indian-flagged vessel came under
suspicion.
It was in shallow waters and the Cornwall was unable to go alongside
without grounding. A boarding party jumped into two ribbed inflatable
boats, or RIBs, and set out to investigate.
A helicopter hovered to observe the boarding but, after confirming
that the Indian vessel was peaceful and friendly, returned to the
ship. The Cornwall stayed in contact with the two launch boats via a
communications link providing a GPS satellite position.
After the successful boarding of the innocent Indian vessel, the
Britons began returning to their RIBs. At that moment one Iranian
patrol vessel came alongside, adopting a friendly posture. As a second
Iranian vessel arrived, the Revolutionary Guards turned aggressive.
HMS Cornwalllost communications with the launch boats and sent up the
helicopter to investigate. The air crew watched as the small British
inflatables were forced towards Iran. By now, up to four Iranian
Revolutionary Guard vessels were swarming round the Britons.
Although the seizure has been widely linked to the taking of five
Iranians by US forces in Iraq, Iranian diplomats have ruled this out.
They say that there is no relation between the Britons' seizure and
any other bilateral, regional or international issue.
From the start, the Iranian Ambassador to London gave British
diplomats a set of coordinates for the location of the confrontation.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, told the Iranian Foreign
Minister that these compass points actually indicated a spot clearly
in Iraqi waters. She tried to give Iran an exit route by suggesting
that it might all be a misunderstanding that could be resolved by an
immediate release of the captives.
On Sunday, the helicopter from HMS Cornwall flew back over the Indian
vessel, which was still anchored and had drifted only slightly. A
photograph was taken of an airman holding a GPS device. The
coordinates on this picture, the MoD insists, prove that the Britons
were comfortably within Iraqi waters when captured.
On Monday, Iran surprised Britain by coming up with a "corrected" set
of coordinates. "The two Iranian positions are just under a nautical
mile apart, 1,800 yards or so," Vice-Admiral Charles Style, a Deputy
Chief of the Defence Staff, said yesterday.
Mrs Beckett told the Iranian Foreign Minister that she could not
accept the Iranians' version of events. She told MPs in the House of
Commons that it was "impossible to believe, given the seriousness of
the incident, that the Iranians could have made such a mistake with
the original coordinates, which after all they gave us over several
days".
Outgunned
- The two Iranian patrol ships that seized the Britons were equipped
with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, enough for a
small sea battle. By contrast, the Britons go lightly armed on vessels
they search in the Gulf. Each man is issued with a rifle or a pistol
- The Iranians struck at a vulnerable moment when the Britons were
climbing down a ladder to jump into their inflatables
- The Royal Navy does train its men in the techniques needed to fight
at just such a dangerous stage. "They had all the rights available to
act in self-defence under law," a senior military officer said. But
they were in an "almost impossible position"
- A similar decision to hold fire was taken by the six Royal Marines
and two sailors captured by Iran in 2004 in similar circumstances.
Scott Fallon, a former marine, said they did think about shooting
their way free but knew it would be hopeless. He told BBC Radio 4:
"They had antiaircraft guns. We would have stood no chance"
"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com..
.
On Mar 28, 9:06 pm, "Scotty" w@u wrote:
I can't think of one good reason why she would stay.
loyality, honor, to be an example to others in the
military. Not
accepting special treatment is key to a team.
.
Not that she has a choice, as Katy said in the muzz
eye...she is not
worth anything.
Same thing happened in 1979, they let the women go, but
held the men
for 444 days.
I just heard the Iranians want the British to admit they
were in
Iranian waters and this can end soon.
I bet they do....then they can chop off some heads for
trespassing.
Joe
SBV
"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com..
.
The hostage takers in Iran are now saying they are
going
to let the
female sailor go free today or tomorrow after they
parade
them on TV.
If she has a choice.
Should she stay, or should she go. ?
Joe- Hide quoted text -
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