Moncton Forum

The 15 sailors who were ambushed and taken hostage appear now to be the use of the Iranian regime as a propaganda tool.

How much longer will the west, particularly Britain standby and watch it`s servicemen and women be abused in this fashion. This is the second time in two years the Iranian regime have ambushed british sailors in the gulf, paraded them on tv in blind folds and forced confessions from them.

Sadly for Britain their hands are tied. Any military action would almost certainly mean death for those 15 sailors and we all know Iran couldn`t give two hoots about diplomacy or the UN.

I imagine for Tony Blair he must be thinking back to 1979 when Jimmy Carter was humiliated by the Iranians during that long hostage crisis.

In typical fashion, many Iranians who support the regime took to the streets burning British flags, effigies of Tony Blair and calling for the execution of the sailors. Now that really does a lot to dispell the myth that muslims are a peaceful people when all we see is flag burning, violence and calls for jihad. It really doesn`t take much before Islam is offended and they start the violence!

I hope Brits start taking to the streets burning Iranian flags and effigies of Ahmadinejad. Of course that would mean the muslim world crying out that the west are anti-islam, Sheesh they would calling for Jihad a thousand times over.

Why are they taking to the streets, considering the Brits were in Iraqi waters and almost certainly ambushed.

I wouldn`t want to be Tony Blair right now. He has one hell of a problem here.

This has all the seeds of a growing regional war. The moderate arab nations have no love for Iran, while the Hezbollah of course love to stir up the *** in support of Iran. Anyone see the middle east going up in flames before long, and the risk of spreading out.

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Bob.

Was just watching this on BBC news when you posted it Bob. They showed 3 of the Marines that are in captivity and 1 of the men apologized to Iran for trespassing in their waters. It's easy to see, as he is interviewed the fear on his face....and all to knowing if he says the wrong thing, he'll more than likely be tortured. If any more develops on GMTV or BBC I'll keep you posted.

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"It's not the destination, but the journey that matters"

I'm not sure Iran would torture the Brits held captive.... not at thsi point anyhow; they know if they physcially harm the captive Brits war will be a 100% certainty.

They also know they need to release the captive Brits soon; otherwise, Iran will be a memory.

Give RockinRon (Ronbo) a bottle of teabag rum and let him clean house.

                                                 

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Remember yesterday, respect tomorrow, live for today.
Three out of five cats love Mousehead Beer.

DanLirette wrote:

I'm not sure Iran would torture the Brits held captive.... not at thsi point anyhow; they know if they physcially harm the captive Brits war will be a 100% certainty.

They also know they need to release the captive Brits soon; otherwise, Iran will be a memory.

They are being tortured right now. Fair enough they are not being lashed or anything, but it seems pretty obvious they are likely being mentally abused. Forced to say things under threat is torture in my eyes. Those sailors were ambushed, taken by force and held against their wishes. Now they are being made to say things from a well scripted piece.

Can you imagine if the roles were reversed and Britain ambushed a couple of Iranians, paraded them on tv and forced them to say things about the regime? The muslim world would be in uproar, flags would be burned and westerners killed. I`m sick of the way we are made to tip-toe around Islam for fear of offending them (which doesn`t take much).

I`m afraid this just goes to show the true colours of the Iranian regime. You can imagine what the average Iranian must go through who dared to speak out against the regime. Off with his head.

There`s a lot of firepower building in the Gulf and a lot more underneath the Gulf that we don`t see. The Yanks have several groups, the Brits have several nuclear submarines with cruise missiles.

I was reading an article written by President Mitterand of France which he said, Maggie Thatcher threatened to nuke Argentina in 1982 if France did not give Britain the codes to disable the exocet missiles that France sold to Argentina prior to the Falklands war. He conceeded and gave Britain what they wanted because he feared the Iron lady would wipe out Argentina. While most think Britain is timid and a much weaker nation since WW2 (and it is to an extent), that article should give pause for thought.

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Bob.

And Iran....Iran so far awayyyy...

Sorry, couldn't resist. 

The economic sanctions imposed on Iran in protest of this hostage crisis is laughable.  The fact of the matter is, Iran has the world by the balls.  They have such a huge reserve of oil and control over it that nations that are in demand of it are walking on eggshells around them.

And the Brits have to be careful because Blair was dumb enough to tag along with Bush going into Iraq under false pretenses to begin with.  Now he's crying wolf.

if bush and blair would have stayed out of iraq  we would not be in this situation   it called muslin retaliation  .. and this way is the only they can succeed against the super power bullies   .....(not that i agrre with the ways they use ...)..


imagine yourself attack by very strong bulliers   and you wanting to retaliate  what would you do ?

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i hate rats

tit for tat

notme, the muslims are not only retaliating against the "bullies"... the muslims are slaughtering each OTHER.

Shiite and sunni muslims are killing one another by the masses and it has nothing to do with the US.

They have been killing each other before i was born.

The Iran Revolution is what caused the Middle East violence in the 1980's...WAY before the US invasion.

Sadly it would seem Iran, or rather the regime is trying to goade the British and US in attacking their country. I guess they assume by being attacked it would unite the muslim world against the west. After all, these extremists want the world for themselves. They have no room for other religions.

As Dan said, muslims have been killing one another for hundreds if not thousands of years. Iran treats their people terribly, they have little if any rights. Speak out against the regime and it`s goodnight.

Iran is encouraging a war by taking these hostages, which just goes to show they care little about their own people. After all, the average Iranian is the one that would suffer in any war.

In some ways, Britain deserves some praise for holding back so much. They have every right to seek revenge, but they can obviously see the bigger picture and that is of a war that could spiral out of control. 

Oil prices would go through the roof, other arab nations would likely start fighting one another. The Gulf would be impassable owing to all the mines Iran has dumped in there. Russia and China are hovering in the background. It wouldn`t take much for Pakistan and India to be at it again and you can bet Iran would launch everything at Israel. Not to mention it could spread to Europe via Turkey etc.

No this has to be done very carefully. They cannot just go in American style (sun glasses and gum), with all guns blazing.

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Bob.

It is one ugly mess. Who is right and who is wrong is irrelevant to me. The whole thing is insane but what I see is they want tus to pay at the pumps.

DanLirette wrote:

notme, the muslims are not only retaliating against the "bullies"... the muslims are slaughtering each OTHER.

Shiite and sunni muslims are killing one another by the masses and it has nothing to do with the US.

They have been killing each other before i was born.

The Iran Revolution is what caused the Middle East violence in the 1980's...WAY before the US invasion.

yes i part that is true  but did you forget that the US and britain were out there   doing their things back then also (1980)

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i hate rats

tit for tat

Its all over Oil. Get past the War machine, get past the religious beleifs etc etc etc. The Brits have been in the middle east since the Industrial era and so have a few other countries ...all for the power of Oil!...to fuel there countries growth. The Amercian are there for the same reason, and  Im suprised the Chinese arent there doing the same That entire area is a stock pile of Oil and every country that needs to fuel its livelyhood will be wanting a peice of the action!. War is BIG business for many rulers, ( both good and Bad ) and will continue to force them to aggressivily assert there wills apon the Oil baring nations. Toss in a few religious fanitics and you got trouble

I could go on and on about this <hit, but i got work to get finished up ...i wish i had more time to follow up on this topic...I'll try to read up later in the week

 

keep smiling everyone

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Andy

Whatever the reason, it still doesn`t excuse them for ambushing these sailors, taking them at gunpoint, likely blindfolded and now used as propaganda tools.

Maybe next time Iranian refugees try and smuggle themselves into Britain they should take them at gunpoint, blind fold them and use them as political tools or just be-head them. Oh not to mention, Brits should take to the streets and burn Iranian flags!

It wouldn`t happen of course, Iranian refugees are welcomed into Britain because western countries are more civilized than these barbarians.

It`s been proved several times that the sailors were in Iraqi waters doing a mission approved by the UN and the Iraqi government itself. Even the lying Iranians changed their story after the British released GPS evidence.

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Bob.

I know that this may sound a tad bit sarcastic but since when was war pretty? The whole thing has been pretty darn ugly since the beginning of time. Famine, untimely deaths, despair what can be pretty about that. Nor am I suggesting that you are implying its pretty but it struck me a strange topic heading.

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"I think we have done this before and we shall do it again. The players may be different but the rules of game remains the same".

Celeste wrote:

I know that this may sound a tad bit sarcastic but since when was war pretty? The whole thing has been pretty darn ugly since the beginning of time. Famine, untimely deaths, despair what can be pretty about that. Nor am I suggesting that you are implying its pretty but it struck me a strange topic heading.

There is no war between Britain and Iran, at least nothing was declared when Iran ambushed those sailors.

Kidnapping anyone against their will is wrong in my opinion, but to use them as propaganda tools is worse than ugly. This violates the geneva convention to which Iran signed up to many years ago. That said, they brutally suppress their own people so what hope have those hostages got.

Can you imagine the muslim uproar if Britain started parading Iranians on tv and forcing confessions from them? Muslims would be out on the streets burning western embassies, killing hostages and burning British flags, effigies of Tony Blair, holy jihad declared for a thousandth time!

Since these sailors were captured the protests for release from muslim countries has been mute at best.

Agreed, sadly war is ugly. Always has been, always will be :(

 

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Bob.