Iran seizes U.K. troops=The 15 sailors are back home

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Can't seem to delete it, so I'll just leave it like this.

[gtalum]

I deleted my previous post, out of respect for your previous post. I think we should leave this discussion be.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Thanks. Yeah I felt that we might be frightening people away from posting in this thread, by taking it way off topic LOL.

[Derek Ortt]

we did not even need boots on the ground in Serbia. Do we forget the projections of how difficult that campaign would be, that the Serbs were so proud and would never willingly surrender Kosovo. Those porjections lasted until a couple of cluster bombs just happened to be dropped into crowded markets by the US and Britain.

I would not be the least bit surprised if the same thing would happen in Iran. Have we forgot what happened a mere 8 YEARS AGO. Have we forgotten that precedent already. if so, do we ever have short attention spans

[JTD]

Tucker Carlson and his retired colonel analyst Jack Jacobs were on MSNBC about a hour or so ago. Both of them said that the 15 British soldiers should be put on trial for their behavior while in Iran, releasing videos, letters, etc apologizing. Wow

[Derek Ortt]

they should be tried as they violated military protocol.

A serviceman should only provide their name, rank, and serial number. IMO, it is better to die with honor than live with shame

[Yarrah]

we did not even need boots on the ground in Serbia. Do we forget the projections of how difficult that campaign would be, that the Serbs were so proud and would never willingly surrender Kosovo. Those porjections lasted until a couple of cluster bombs just happened to be dropped into crowded markets by the US and Britain.

I would not be the least bit surprised if the same thing would happen in Iran. Have we forgot what happened a mere 8 YEARS AGO. Have we forgotten that precedent already. if so, do we ever have short attention spans

The latest elections showed that this mentality hasn't changed a lot. A majority of the Serbs are still very nationalistic (some say ultra-nationalistic) and Kosovo's still a part of Serbia. Bombing Beograd didn't change this.

I'm glad this conflict is over and that no blood has been spilled. Time to focus on more important conflicts (Sudan and Zimbabwe for instance) and not increase the tensions in the Gulf which seem to have lowered a bit right now.

[Derek Ortt]

However, what was changed by the bombing was that the people did not want to face the full force of the American and British Air Force and Navy for Kosovo. Their nationalistic feelings last until the first bombs fall in their living room

[abajan]

they should be tried as they violated military protocol.

A serviceman should only provide their name, rank, and serial number. IMO, it is better to die with honor than live with shame

Yeah right... Talk is cheap. Walk in their shoes first.

[abajan]

...I saw a program today from Iran which was probably old where they had a public execution of a young sixteen year old girl hung from a crane. Apparently she had been assaulted but they blamed her for being immoral., and the supreme court found her guilty. It was extremely difficult to watch.

This is not the first time I've heard of something like that.

I think it was in India where a young woman complained of being raped by village elder and while nothing was done to him, she was given many lashes.

As far as women are concerned, justice in many parts of this world of ours is practically non-existent.

(Btw, I'm not a woman!)

[Lindaloo]

Oh that is so VERY true abajan. Women here in the United States have it made compared to those in other countries.

[Derek Ortt]

that is not idol talk

if one cannot follow military protocol and do what theya re trained to do (and they should be trained for that situation), they should not be in the military. No excuse for the servicemen to have done what they did, none. Name, rank, and serial number as protocol dictates

[cycloneye]

A nice picture of the 15 arriving at London.

[Nimbus]

Derek wrote:

Name, rank, and serial number as protocol dictates

You have been watching too many war movies!

These days the military compartmentalizes knowledge so that everything is strictly need to know. Those 15 sailors that were captured were likely told very little about the reason for inspecting a ship close to the Iranian border. IF hazing Iran was a goal of the mission for example, the culpability would have been for the military analysts back in britain who planned the operation.

You have to remember these sailors were completely isolated from the west during their detainment. The sailors were probably told their commanders had confessed and that they were suspected of espionage etc etc. That Britain had abandoned them as traitors disobeying orders and did not want them back. Under such circumstances the rather innocuos statements the sailers made would be very understandable.

[HURAKAN]

Finally the hostage crisis is over.

[kevin]

These soldiers were not expected by their commanders to keep silent. All that was expected of them was not to release sensitive intelligence they might have come across. I remember this because on the BBC a reporter was asking whether they had any training with dealing with interrogations and they had not.

[Lindaloo]

These soldiers were not expected by their commanders to keep silent. All that was expected of them was not to release sensitive intelligence they might have come across. I remember this because on the BBC a reporter was asking whether they had any training with dealing with interrogations and they had not.

What happens if they did release sensitive intelligence? How would their commanders know?

[kevin]

These soldiers were not expected by their commanders to keep silent. All that was expected of them was not to release sensitive intelligence they might have come across. I remember this because on the BBC a reporter was asking whether they had any training with dealing with interrogations and they had not.

What happens if they did release sensitive intelligence? How would their commanders know?

I'm not sure what the operating procedures for the British debriefing will be, but I imagine they will interview the sailors individually in order to come to the truth of what happened over there. Since these sailors were (according to the British) involved in carrying out the UN mandated mission to interdict ships for inspection, I doubt they were involved with any sensitive information. There is a minuscule chance that these sailors were involved in something different from the official story, but that seems to me highly unlikely.

[Lindaloo]

Thanks kevin. I tell you, I am happy they are home though.

[kevin]

Me too. I'll bet you that the British keep their forces closer to their dingies in the future, and I'll bet you the Republican Guard don't make it ten meters over the border again. The Iranians made a mistake trying to confront the Royal Navy, and they have lost face.