Tuesday, March 27, 2007

British Marines still incommunicado in Iran, Blair promises a different phase as U.S. shows force in Gulf!

British Marines still incommunicado in Iran, Blair promises a different phase as U.S. shows massive force in Gulf! Does that help?
Looking at the recent confrontations with Iran on Iraq's land and water border with Iran and evaluating both instances I have come to the conclusion that Iran's Revolutionary Guard whose business it is to protect and defend The Islamic Revolution is instigating conflict with Britain and the U.S. http://www.dailykos.com/...
I understand that the captured Marine's will now be allowed contact with Embassy Officials but their location is not yet known and nothing has been resolved yet. I also understand that Tony Blair has vowed that Britain is prepared to move to a "different phase" if negotiations fail to free those held captive.
Asked what that meant, Blair said: "Well, we will just have to see, but what they should understand is that we cannot have a situation where our servicemen and women are seized when actually they are in Iraqi waters under a U.N. mandate, patrolling perfectly rightly and in accordance with that mandate, and then effectively captured and taken to Iran." British authorities we are told are confident that they have evidence to prove their insistence that the Royal Navy personnel never left Iraqi waters," and His office did say though that officials may have to make public evidence proving the Britons were seized in Iraqi -- not Iranian -- waters, if there is no swift release of the sailors. http://www.cnn.com/...
I just don't get it! If the Brits have evidence that proves the British were captured while in Iraqi or international waters then why are they not putting it out in the public? they say they want to resolve this quickly but seem to be allowing it to drag on. It is no coincidence that this has now gone on for four days and meanwhile the U.S. is putting a massive show of maritime and air force in the Gulf. The U.S. Navy on Tuesday began its largest demonstration of force in the Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, deploying two aircraft carriers and conducting simulated aerial attacks.
The maneuvers, involving 15 U.S. warships and more than a hundred planes, were certain to increase tension with Iran, which has frequently condemned the U.S. military presence off its coastline. According to navy Lieutenant John Perkins these maneuvers are only to demonstrate our flexibility and our capability to respond to threats to Maritime security and that we can keep the maritime environment safe and the vital link to the global economy open.
This supposedly was planned before the Revolutionary Guard incident but the Lieutenant declined to say when. So what does that tell you? We now have 2 carrier strike groups in the Gulf. Each carrier hosts an air wing of F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers, EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft, S-3 Viking antisubmarine and refuelers, and E-2C Hawkeye airborne command-and-control craft.
Also taking part were guided-missile destroyers USS Anzio, USS Ramage, USS O'Kane, USS Mason, USS Preble and USS Nitze; and minesweepers USS Scout, USS Gladiator and USS Ardent. Plus A French naval strike group, led by the aircraft carrier Charles DE Gaulle, was operating simultaneously just outside the Gulf but not participating in the exercise. http://www.cnn.com/...
With all this sea and air power concentrated in one small area it is just the perfect recipe for confrontation. No wonder we are beginning to collide. What else could be the expected outcome? Whose cause does this U.S. Naval exercise serve anyway, ours or Iran's? Both sides of this threatening conflict appear to be doing their damnedest to get this war going. There does not appear to be any way of stopping this desired war between Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Bush and his interests. Someone please tell me if I am wrong!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

1 comment:

Michael Wales said...

An exercise planned long in advance of this conflict would probably not be canceled because of it. Exercises take thousands of dollars and man-hours to pull off correctly - definitely don't want to flush all of that down the toilet.

As far as the two carrier groups - if the war were to actually pop off we'd be in a bad position. At a tactical level you don't want two carrier groups in such a confined space as the gulf. If we start seeing one carrier group pull out of the gulf, prior to the end of the exercise, then we have cause to worry - that's a true war preperation.