Hot Mic

Omakase

Amazon Search
«  
  »

It’s only a headline

By lex, on March 31st, 2007

Bush attacks Iran over captives

More’s the pity.

Share
March 31st, 2007 | Tags: | Category: Uncategorized

8 comments to It’s only a headline

  • ASM826
    March 31, 2007 at 7:50 pm

    Joseph Farah says it pretty convincingly. Anything short of overwhelming military force is going to fail. All the yakking, the posturing, the strongly worded condemnations, all mean nothing.
    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54956

  • Bomber Guy
    April 1, 2007 at 1:06 am

    Other posts on this site have associated this incident with the seizure of USS Pueblo in 1968; but there is a major difference. Pueblo was virtually unarmed (2 machine guns, both of which were iced-over as I recall). The Brits were taken from right under the guns of HMS Cornwall, a very capable ship of the line. Shame will follow her flag for the rest of her service life.

    Even if the the sailors and Royal Marines were to be released within the hour, absent military action, Iran has won the round. They have “mooned” the West, and realized they can do so without fear of reprisal. It’s but a matter of time before they try it again.

  • Kris, in New England
    April 1, 2007 at 7:39 am

    Iran is looking for a “change in attitude” from Britain – not sure what that means, but what does Iran really want from this? The chance to “moon the west” as Bomber Guy says above?

    Which taken at face value is pretty scary.

  • CPT J
    April 1, 2007 at 9:45 am

    Insult inevitably leads to injury.

    The greater the insult the greater the injury.

    The longer the insult waits to be answered the longer the actual payment period of the injury.

    Unanswered insults lead to escalating future insults, and accumulate compound interest.

    Psychopath regimes cannot be reasoned with.

    Only destroyed in the end.

    With all accumulated compound interest of blood and sorrow payable upon demand by the holder of the loan of time, which is History itself.

  • Dutch
    April 1, 2007 at 9:54 am

    So when this is all over… do we get to sink every Iranian gun boat? Viva-La-Reagan style?

  • Da Yooper
    April 1, 2007 at 5:31 pm

    Bomber guy,

    While you might be accurate that HMS CORNWALL was close, the nature of naval gunnery does not lend itself to support of troops in close contact, you know, like 15 feet or so. Frag the Iranians, your own troops and the white shipping all at the same time? Not such a good move.

    Small arms? Too far away for even moderately accurate fire from CORNWALL.

    Force V. force structure? 15 guys with sidearms vs. 6 boats with guys with pintle mounted 12.7 machine guns and AK’s – no contest.

    Air cover? None that I am aware of. Even if there was, look at the danger close comment above.

    This was a planned and fairly well executed abduction. To the Iranians this is an acceptable and sadly honorable tactic. The whole thing makes my blood boil.

    Da Yooper(and prolly the lone SWO here) ;)

  • Babs
    April 1, 2007 at 7:47 pm

    So Da Yooper – Does the United States send out boat crews to interdict smuggling with virtually no cover? The big boat can’t fire and no air support?
    If so, then I think someone ought to think about that and, real hard…
    As much as I am sure that the families of the 15 want their loved ones back, I am absolutely revolted that the Cornwell didn’t so much as send a shot in defense of its sailors. Considering the propaganda value that the Iranians have gotten from the capture of the sailors, at this point the reason why they were captured really needs to be examined.

  • Da Yooper
    April 2, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    Babs,

    Generally speaking, US boarding parties have air cover but every boarding is slightly different and sometimes it is not needed. Sorry but I can’t speak to specifics because I don’t always remember where my info comes from and I do not want to talk about things that I shouldn’t. Basically, we do not send our guys out naked into the forest.

    In this case the Brits had a Lynx airborne but it was detached to other duties. When it was recalled it was too late to do anything and the Iranians had a “fait accompli.’ Tough lot for the pilot to watch them being taken away with nothing he could do.

    ‘Course, most boarding you do not expect to be jumped by a bunch of patrol boats from a neighboring country. At the most the Iranians had to cover about 1.7 miles to reach the ship. In one of those(Iranian) boats that takes about three minutes. I really do not know what could have been done to prevent this without a bunch of solid intel beforehand. Just stinks all around.

    Lex, sorry if I have hijacked the thread. Not my intent and please forgive the long winded explanation.

    Da Yooper
eXTReMe Tracker

View My Stats