Grey Thoughts
28.3.07
 
Is Tony Blair Reagan or Carter?
That's the question I am asking with Iran taking 15 British soldiers hostage.

Remembering that Jimmy Carter tried his best to get the US soldiers being held by Iran released, but it wasn't until Reagan became president that Iran suddenly released them. Most likely out of a clear understanding that Reagan would use force, whilst Carter was a wuss-bag who would rather let his countrymen rot in Iran for 444 days than use force.

And if you want a good timeline of the events leading up to the kidnapping, I recommend Verum Serum's excellent round-up. Verum Serum also has excellent updates on the hostage crisis.
Comments:
Or maybe, just maybe, Iran is actually doing what any country would do... defend its territory.
Things are never as simple as we'd like to believe... Makes for rough going from the "black or white", "with us or again' us" crowd. So much easier to yell "Kidnapping" and run around like a headless chicken. Makes it easier to justify a bit of bombing, too.
From the Guardian :

Because the two countries have not agreed on updated charts, that means there is no universal agreement on exactly where the border line runs.

If the seizure occurred near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab - which is likely - the issue becomes even more complicated because Iraq and Iran have never agreed on each others' claim to Gulf waters near the mouth of the waterway.

Without such an agreement, international law requires countries not to extend their territorial waters ``beyond the median line with neighboring states,'' said Martin Pratt of the University of Durham in Britain.

But defining that line is difficult because of conflicting claims to rock formations, sandbars and barrier islands in the shallow waters of the northern Gulf, Pratt said.

As a result, there may be ``legitimate grounds for arguing for a different definition'' of those median lines, Pratt said.
 
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