The situation involving 15 British sailors and marines now held prisoner in Iran, reminds me of the many accounts I read about the tactics that Adolph Hitler used in the 1930’s. History has a habit of repeating itself, as the old saying goes, and another old saying concerning those who never learn from history are doomed to relive it, is also applicable here.
Once things have gone this wrong, it is difficult to know where to start with criticism, and the Allies’ policy during the current war with Islamic Imperialism, started to go wrong way back. The lack of a ruthless approach to the Sunnis of Iraq and the Media and Leftist campaign (waged throughout the Western world, but most effectively in the US and the UK) against the war, have convinced the Muslim militants everywhere that the Allies have no stomach for war.
Rush Limbaugh remarked during a broadcast last week that Republican politicians were paralyzed by a fear of the Media. He is right, of course, but why stop there? All politicians go in fear of the Media except when they fall into line with the Media Class agenda. And it is not only politicians who are fearful. Church leaders, Business leaders, conservative academics and even pro sportsmen have to watch what they say and do, lest a career be ended by Media exposure. The Media opposes the war we now fight, and so the war is waged halfheartedly and the indoctrinated public is halfhearted too in its support for the troops. How else to explain that a recent opinion poll in the UK claimed that only 7% of the population thought the detention of the 15 sailors and marines warranted military action.
When the 15 were taken by the Iranians, Blair should have held a Press Conference and laid out three courses of action in sequence following from an immediate Enquiry to ascertain what were the facts.
1. If the 15 had inadvertently strayed into Iranian waters, a UK government apology and the return of all of them.
2. If the 15 had disobeyed orders and willfully or foolishly gone into Iranian waters, an apology plus punishment by the UK navy upon their return.
3. If they were not in Iranian waters, and thus were kidnapped, then their immediate return to their ship or Iran and its people would bear the consequences of an act of war.
I dismiss the possibility that the 15 were involved in some spying activity, for it is clear from their composition (a female included and a mix of sailors and marines) and their subsequent lack of resistance, that this was no undercover operation.
I have read some amazing explanations from across the political spectrum, ranging from the accusation (from the Left) that this is a deliberate provocation by the Allies to engineer an attack on Iran, to claims that the Allies were probing Iranian defences. The Media and its Leftist ground troops have predictably already turned this episode into another damaging attack on the Allies war policy.
For those who choose not to believe the worst about the motives and actions of the US and UK, it is pretty obvious that the Iranian Government is ratcheting up its campaign to achieve domination of the Muslim war on the West. The fanatics who govern Iran have calculated that offense is the best line of defence in the pursuit of nuclear weapons, and this kidnapping takes the focus off the nuclear issue, impresses the Muslim world with its belligerence, and reveals the ineffectiveness of Western military power.
As I said at the beginning, when wrong steps are taken early on, it is difficult to do the right thing later. One can understand Blair’s reluctance to be tough with the Iranian Government, for the British public is now against the war it is fighting and the BBC and its Leftists have him on the run.
If the facts are that the 15 were kidnapped in Iraqi waters whilst intercepting Iranian arms shipments to terrorists in Iraq, Blair (with full Allied support) should tell the Iranian Government and its people that war against Iran will begin unless the 15 are returned immediately. This would include bombing raids on Iran, and perhaps some Muslim Holy sites and the Iranian Parliament buildings to begin with. Such last resort action would probably seal the fate of the 15, making it a very tough and initially unpopular decision. But the 15 are being used as hostages and conciliatory gestures will lead to worse consequences than the death of 15 military personnel.
Blair will almost certainly take the conciliatory route and perhaps eventually the 15 will be returned after they have been used to maximum effect to humiliate the Allies before the Muslim world. The cost of such weakness to all of us in the West is not immediately apparent, but it will be great.
Unfortunately, thanks to the power and agenda of the Media Class, the mass of people will not be aware of such consequences until it is far too late. If we are lucky it will fall to historians some 50 years on, to draw the lessons of appeasement.
When Hitler’s forces occupied the Rhineland without French and British military reaction, he gathered strength. Down the road lay Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Death Camps and world war.