If you're watching the news and puzzled by the whole issue of British Navy people arrested by Iran, there a side of the story that's not so readily available on the mainstream news channels.
If you're of the belief that Iran is run by a bunch of crazy radical muslims who hate everything not muslim, then the news makes total sense to you...the Iranians are crazy and the west should invade their country asap and get rid of them.
However, if you understand that Iran isn't run by a bunch of crazy people...at least not any more crazy than the people running the US...and that an unprovoked action by Iran against the US is incredibly risky, then a less risky, albeit seemingly uprovoked, action against a more level headed ally of the US seems like a calculated move. There must be a good reason for why Iran took the British Navy people.
Here's one explanation that I haven't seen on the tv news over the last couple of weeks. There are other news stories about Iranian diplomats being arrested/abducted/kidnapped...read about one here and here.
An Iranian diplomat was released today in Iraq...news releases are not very detailed but you can see them here and here.
Don't be surprised if more Iranian diplomats are released and the British people are released over the next couple of weeks.
There's no doubt that Iran has operatives, or 'diplomats', working in Iran...they'd be stupid not to have anyone there. It seems that this whole standoff is about getting those people back. The Iranians seem pretty shrewd here. Abducting US forces would have been difficult practically and, politically, would have provoked a lot more rhetoric about being a threat to the skittish American public. Abducting British forces avoids a potential military conflict and deals with Blair, a British politician already getting a lot of heat from the British public about being in a military conflict.
Using the British to get the US to release the Iranian people rather than trying to deal with the people who are itching to invade Iran doesn't seem so crazy.
6 comments:
According to Ramzi:
…"of the belief that Iran is run by a bunch of crazy radical muslims who hate everything not muslim...the Iranians are crazy and the west should invade their country asap and get rid of them."
The point being that you can't believe everything you read. The writer always has a bias. It's fairly easy to connect unrelated issues into a web of conspiracy with very little effort.
I'm afraid that I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you here, Bob.
Conspiracy theories are one thing. Looking for every side of a story is another.
Disagree if you must, but Iran just announced that they released the 15 British Navy personnel. This comes the day after they get their diplomats back.
It's called blackmail.
These weren't a bunch of kids out water skiing. This is the British Navy for crying out loud. To think that this vessel somehow didn't know where they were is absurd. Their confessions were obviously coerced and a shameful exploitation.
Iran needed to save face and they let them. This incident won't just dissappear. There will be repurcussions in some form or another. Just give it some time.
Blackmail ? You'll have to explain that aspect because it doesn't look like that to me.
Of course the British weren't lost. Of course the Iranian tapes were staged...coerced is a bit of a strong word here...the soldiers didn't look like they'd been tortured.
I disagree about who had to save face here. Iran already has a bad image in the world and the Iranian public already knows what's really going on.
The British Navy getting captured ? That's embarassing for the British. Having to give up Iranian prisoners ? That's embarassing for the US.
You're daft man. Where I come from coercion != torture.
"…and the Iranian public already knows what's really going on."
That's bloody hilarious mate.
Daft, eh ? Really easy being bold and judgemental while you're anonymous.
Thanks for your comments anyways. You don't have to agree with I say here...if you don't like it, stop reading. If you really have a strong opinion on the matter, start your own blog and write about it.
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