“We’ve got the ability to capture a nice bunch of blue-eyed blond-haired officers and feed them to our fighting cocks,” he said. “Iran has enough people who can reach the heart of Europe and kidnap Americans and Israelis.”By Friday it had become apparent the US was going to "scupper" Ahmadinejad's PR visit to the UN, so in effect the sailor grab appears like plan B--they desperately can't afford more sanctions.
More likely Plan B was actually Plan A, since they knew Plan A would never work. Plan B is more their style anyway and has been successful for them in the past.
What's next? They've already forced the sailors into admitting their own guilt, nothing unusual. It really doesn't matter. Walid Phares believes the move was designed to create a crisis to foster nationalism from their increasingly divided and hostile population, which sounds possible.
We've got our own dissidents (Congress) and Phares believes the Mullahs are playing a waiting game since both Tony and George are nearing the end of their effective reigns with only limited time to make any impact.
With political wolves howling at all doors this situation should be a tad frightening, although the mere fact Tehran would intentionally kidnap British sailors indicates they don't believe we've got the ability (or the stones) to retaliate militarily right now. And yes, we've been down this road before but never to this mile marker. No action in the face of such hostility only justifies the action.
Speaking of taking no action, it'll be interesting to see whether any of this has an effect on the "unanimous" sanctions the UN has on the table today. Any flinching would render the UN completely and absolutely impotent beyond all doubt and should trigger the clearing of the building immediately with it's valuable space put up for bid on the open market.
OTHER OPINIONS 3/24/07
--Right Truth points out the British hostages include women.
--LASunsett compares this to other hostage crises.
--Rick Moran isn't talking about Iran, but notes the Gonzales debacle makes Bush look weaker at the very time he needs strength.
--A.J. Strata wonders if this might in response to a successful surge.
--My Pet Jawa isn't talking about Iran either, but notes a CNN email alert that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi might have been captured. Again. Wonder what he would know about all this?
--Pundita has insight on how certain UN members tend to vote.
--And, Time reminds us (or perhaps informs us) that an Iranian submarine was recently involved in an altercation very close to the King Abdul Aziz naval base in Saudi Arabia. Keep in mind the Iranians have suggested they've obtained a weapon that could knock out aircraft carriers, two of which are on patrol in the Gulf right now.
UPDATE 3/25/07
According to the London Times sources inside Iran indicate they are planning to charge the captured Brits under espionage laws, a euphemism for murdering them. They want their Qods general and others back and figure to use these poor sailors to get them. The bastards are basically trying to leverage the Brit people against the American people, and we shouldn't let them get away with it.
That said, whenever someone tries to goad a person into a fight it usually doesn't turn out well, and that's what Iran is trying to do.
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