VDH on the Iran/Britain hostage crisis
Victor Davis Hanson is considered by many, ourselves included, as the preeminent military historian this nation has. We've got quite a few, but as far as we're concerned, he's tops in our book. And he has penned a remarkable column over at NRO. We urge our readers to read this one, if you haven't already. In short, there won't be a knight in shining armor riding on the white steed to the rescue on this one:
‘It’s completely outrageous for any nation to go out and arrest the servicemen of another nation in waters that don’t belong to them.” So spoke Admiral Sir Alan West, former First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, concerning the present Anglo-Iranian crisis over captured British soldiers. But if the attack was “outrageous,” it was apparently not quite outrageous enough for anything to have been done about it yet.
Sir Alan elaborated on British rules of engagement by stressing they are “very much de-escalatory, because we don’t want wars starting ... Rather than roaring into action and sinking everything in sight we try to step back and that, of course, is why our chaps were, in effect, able to be captured and taken away.” ...
... If a non-nuclear Iran kidnaps foreign nationals in international waters, we can imagine what a nuclear theocracy will do. The Iranian thugocracy rightly understands that NATO will not declare the seizure of a member’s personnel an affront to the entire alliance.
Nor will the European Union send its “rapid” defense forces to insist on a return of the hostages. There is simply too much global worry about the price and availability of oil, too much regional concern over stability after Iraq, and too much national anxiety over the cost in lives and treasure that a possible confrontation would bring. Confrontation can be avoided through capitulation, and no Western nation is willing to insist that Iran adhere to any norms of behavior.
These sailors were seized on 23 March. Today is the 31st. Eight days have passed since their illegal seizure in Iraqi waters, and Great Britain -- Tony Blair, specifically -- has gone to the UN, only to face a chilling rebuke. He has gone to the EU, and received some support. But economic sanctions and harsh words will not help those sailors, and thus far, that's all that's been offered thus far.
Welcome to the feminized, PC world circa 2007.
No one wants to confront Iran, and Lord knows why. Their air force amounts to exactly buttkiss. Their navy is insignificant. The best that Iran can muster in terms of resistance to the West is Hezbollah. OK, Hezbollah's the bad boy on the block, but what's Iran going to do with them? Send them into Iraq, and make life harder for us. Um, been there, done that, got the T-shirt. And would Ahmadinejad really want to provoke war with the US? Remember the aforementioned air force? They'd be smoking heaps on the desert floor in about two hours. Their navy wouldn't last an hour against ours, and need I remind readers that two -- count them TWO -- carrier battlegroups reside in the Persian Gulf right now? The last thing Iran wants to do is provoke a confrontation with us.
But Tony Blair, who has been a stalwart ally of ours since 2001, has been suddenly and inexplicably nullified here. He doesn't want to take the only true option he has left at his disposal. With oil prices rising because of this crisis, Iran is raking in the bucks. Personally, I'd make them choke on that oil by blockading both Gulfs and the Strait of Hormuz. If it's flying an Iranian flag, it goes nowhere. If it's flying another nation's flag, it doesn't dock in Iran. Great Britain could do this, but they've opted out of using force.
Force, folks, is the only thing Iran respects, and they're rightly due a whap on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper like the bad dogs they are. Will Tony Blair do that? Will he hold true to the courage of his convictions, and up the ante on Iran to secure the release of the British hostages? Victor Davis Hanson doesn't think so, and I'm reluctantly forced to agree with him. At this stage in the game, I'm forced to agree with Faye Turney.
She and her fellow sailors and Marines have been sacrificed. And it's on the altar of feminization. Europe believed that the old world was gone, and no enemies remained. The problem with that sort of thinking is that the next bully is always waiting in the wings to pounce. Britian just received it's wake-up call, and unfortunately they seemed to have hit the snooze bar.
Publius II
‘It’s completely outrageous for any nation to go out and arrest the servicemen of another nation in waters that don’t belong to them.” So spoke Admiral Sir Alan West, former First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, concerning the present Anglo-Iranian crisis over captured British soldiers. But if the attack was “outrageous,” it was apparently not quite outrageous enough for anything to have been done about it yet.
Sir Alan elaborated on British rules of engagement by stressing they are “very much de-escalatory, because we don’t want wars starting ... Rather than roaring into action and sinking everything in sight we try to step back and that, of course, is why our chaps were, in effect, able to be captured and taken away.” ...
... If a non-nuclear Iran kidnaps foreign nationals in international waters, we can imagine what a nuclear theocracy will do. The Iranian thugocracy rightly understands that NATO will not declare the seizure of a member’s personnel an affront to the entire alliance.
Nor will the European Union send its “rapid” defense forces to insist on a return of the hostages. There is simply too much global worry about the price and availability of oil, too much regional concern over stability after Iraq, and too much national anxiety over the cost in lives and treasure that a possible confrontation would bring. Confrontation can be avoided through capitulation, and no Western nation is willing to insist that Iran adhere to any norms of behavior.
These sailors were seized on 23 March. Today is the 31st. Eight days have passed since their illegal seizure in Iraqi waters, and Great Britain -- Tony Blair, specifically -- has gone to the UN, only to face a chilling rebuke. He has gone to the EU, and received some support. But economic sanctions and harsh words will not help those sailors, and thus far, that's all that's been offered thus far.
Welcome to the feminized, PC world circa 2007.
No one wants to confront Iran, and Lord knows why. Their air force amounts to exactly buttkiss. Their navy is insignificant. The best that Iran can muster in terms of resistance to the West is Hezbollah. OK, Hezbollah's the bad boy on the block, but what's Iran going to do with them? Send them into Iraq, and make life harder for us. Um, been there, done that, got the T-shirt. And would Ahmadinejad really want to provoke war with the US? Remember the aforementioned air force? They'd be smoking heaps on the desert floor in about two hours. Their navy wouldn't last an hour against ours, and need I remind readers that two -- count them TWO -- carrier battlegroups reside in the Persian Gulf right now? The last thing Iran wants to do is provoke a confrontation with us.
But Tony Blair, who has been a stalwart ally of ours since 2001, has been suddenly and inexplicably nullified here. He doesn't want to take the only true option he has left at his disposal. With oil prices rising because of this crisis, Iran is raking in the bucks. Personally, I'd make them choke on that oil by blockading both Gulfs and the Strait of Hormuz. If it's flying an Iranian flag, it goes nowhere. If it's flying another nation's flag, it doesn't dock in Iran. Great Britain could do this, but they've opted out of using force.
Force, folks, is the only thing Iran respects, and they're rightly due a whap on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper like the bad dogs they are. Will Tony Blair do that? Will he hold true to the courage of his convictions, and up the ante on Iran to secure the release of the British hostages? Victor Davis Hanson doesn't think so, and I'm reluctantly forced to agree with him. At this stage in the game, I'm forced to agree with Faye Turney.
She and her fellow sailors and Marines have been sacrificed. And it's on the altar of feminization. Europe believed that the old world was gone, and no enemies remained. The problem with that sort of thinking is that the next bully is always waiting in the wings to pounce. Britian just received it's wake-up call, and unfortunately they seemed to have hit the snooze bar.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 11:33 PM
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