Comments on: Bush: Capture Of Sailors "Inexcusable"

President Calls For Immediate Release Of Hostages; Britain Softens Stance

[rafterman1]

He he, now that I think about it, when the 444 were taken, liberal Carter tried a military operation to free them. Yet when a number of hostages were taken in Lebanon in the 1980's, conservative Reagan tried to appease the Iranians by trading them hostages for US weapons - only to see hostages get released and others taken in their place.

And the libs were the appeasers? Hilarious!

[neoconrcrazy]

Israeli officer: I was right
to shoot 13-year-old child
Radio exchange contradicts army version of Gaza killing


Thirteen-year-old Iman Al-Hams was killed when an Israeli officer emptied his weapon into her. Israelis have been responsible for killing over 600 other Palestinian children since September 2000.

By Chris McGreal
UK Guardian


An Israeli army officer who repeatedly shot a 13-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza dismissed a warning from another soldier that she was a child by saying he would have killed her even if she was three years old.

The officer, identified by the army only as Captain R, was charged this week with illegal use of his weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and other relatively minor infractions after emptying all 10 bullets from his gun%u2019s magazine into Iman al-Hams when she walked into a %u201Csecurity area%u201D on the edge of Rafah refugee camp last month.

A tape recording of radio exchanges between soldiers involved in the incident, played on Israeli television, contradicts the army%u2019s account of the events and appears to show that the captain shot the girl in cold blood.

AMERICA! STOP ISRAELI ZIONIST TERRORISM AND STOP 85 % OF WORLD TERRORISM! PROTECT OURSELVES !

[rafterman1]

"This is so reminiscient of the CARTER years. For 444 days our nation suffered while Carter did NOTHING to get our citizens released. THAT WAS AN ACT OF WAR for which the wimpy Carter stood by and took it! For all you LIBS out there looking for appeasement, this is a perfect example of emboldening the enemy, for which we suffer for generations."

He did try to rescue them, but the operation in the desert went bad. Learn some history before you rant. By the way, I wonder how many Americans have been killed over the years from the weapons Ronald Reagan sent to Iran in the 80's? Talk about appeasers.

[feelfree1]

Re: "15 British sailors held by Iran could be tried for violating international law"

Thank goodness they were not spirited away and tortured to death, in the manner that the U.S. now applies justice.

It is heartening to see the Iranians providing due process to these captured British soldiers. This is an excellent lesson in decency and honor for Bush and Blair.

This was a pretty obvious provocation by the Brits, in my opinion, and the Iranians offered Blair a very reasonable solution to this incident. The Iranians have offered to return these soldiers, if only Blair was man enough to apologise for this "mistake". Obviously he is not.

[j-whitman]

Rick,,,,
, UAE is funding more terrorism in the world than Iran is... But, getting back to the trial of the British, have you noticed they don't put hoods on thier prisoners ??? They don't lock them up without benifit of council for years either..

[neoconrcrazy]

Ethnic cleansing returns to Israel's agenda
By Johann Hari
The Independent of London


The silence over Lieberman's appointment is a bleak sign of how far Israel has drifted to the right


Johann Hari is a columnist for the major British daily newspaper, The Independent.

In the past fortnight, a startlingly far-right politician named Avigdor Lieberman has joined the governing coalition in Israel %u2013 in the lofty position of Deputy Prime Minister.

His party, Yisrael Beytenu (Israel, Our Home), has campaigned on two ugly issues. The first is the claim that Israel's two million Arab citizens are "a danger to the country", to be dispensed with, in part, by ethnic cleansing. Lieberman wanted to bus thousands of released Palestinian prisoners to the Dead Sea and drown them.

Today, he has moderated his stance and merely wants to "transfer" many hundreds of thousands of Israeli Arabs %u2013 inevitably by force %u2013 to the scraps of remaining land that will be labelled Palestine after Israel has annexed the major illegal settlement blocks. If your name's not on the list, you're not staying in.

"Minorities are the biggest problem in the world." He would like to begin these racist expulsions with a simple, swift move: executing Israeli Arab members of the Knesset. Since they have spoken to the democratically elected Palestinian leadership, they are "traitors", Lieberman argues.

AMERICA ! STOP ISRAELI ZIONIST EXTREMISTS AND STOP 85% OF WORLD TERRORISM !

[tbweb]

IRAN is the kind of enemy that kicks you when you're down, pours salt in your wounds and enjoys exploiting your every weakness. Look around IRAN, you have few friends. If it wasn't for IRANIAN OIL you would have no friends at all. The U.N. vote for sanctions against IRAN was unamimous, not one country supported IRAN. Even if the sanctions don't matter, even if the sanctions will be ignored, no one voted for IRAN, nobody!! So how right are you IRAN? IRAN is only right in its own mind.

[mbcsmith]

This is so reminiscient of the CARTER years. For 444 days our nation suffered while Carter did NOTHING to get our citizens released. THAT WAS AN ACT OF WAR for which the wimpy Carter stood by and took it! For all you LIBS out there looking for appeasement, this is a perfect example of emboldening the enemy, for which we suffer for generations.

[gfox67]

Britain don't wait on the UNITED NONSENSE (UN)to help you........ they are a worthless orginization!!!

You have the right to defend yourself, even though the liberals don't think so...... go in and make Iran pay for their actions!!!

[jebby_one]

with the DEMOCRATS so clearly on the terrorist side, the balance of power has shifted and iran can now advance its influence and domination.

Friendly middle-east countries have good reason to be concerned. When America betrays them will they be any match against fundamentalist islam?

[sharncedar]

If you were tony Blair you would care about the country and the soldiers. but TONY BLAIR does NOT. Have you ever read one of his awful opinion pieces? He is like a Bill clinton, obsessed by what his upper crust peers think about him, posturing about his own importance and his theories about globalization. He really doesn't care about Britain, other than as a stage to promote himself.

these people live in a world you can't even imagine, they aren't sitting there worrying about some grunt soldiers, they are attending parties and such every night, hobnobbing with each other, decorating their fancy new homes in Spain with the latest trends, etc. Just really silly to imagine Tony Blair wastes even one brain cell wrrying about things that actually happen, he has a party tonight with the most wealthy and powerful people in the world, where he will act like a pretend intellectual to get their admiration, don't you get it. He isn't sitting there wondering about what the right thing to do about Iran, he's wondering about Cherie and his new luxury mansion in spain and the house-warming party and whether the "important" people will think he is important and thinking up clever ways to justify himself to those people, the people he cares about.

[zipperhead60]

This is a typical Ahmadinejad (translated to mean *** in English) response to provoke. And this jerk calls himself President?? Civilized. Respected??
He continues to be a puppet of the Ayotolahs ploys. If this is soooo serious a threat to Iran; 15 men believed to take down a country "so powerful" as Iran; then how is it that this statement is contained in the same story :

"If the U.K. government admits its mistake and apologizes to Iran for its naval personnel's trespassing of Iranian territorial waters, the issue can be easily settled," Gholam-Reza Ansari said.

Its a joke, all this "little man" wants is someone, anyone to take notice of him. So he can fullfill his Napolean complex.

[tcsandford]

If I was Tony Blair as soon as I found out where they were I would do what ever I had to do and get them out

[vinncent-2009]

The US arrested Iranian agents in a war zone in which Iran is among the enemies. Iran rode out into international waters to kidnap Brits in timing obviously calculated to be their only vulnerable moment.

Ahmadinejad was a leader of the 1980 kidnapping terrorists, and he obviously still considers this to be a legitimate foreign policy tactic.

Once the soldiers are returned, a couple of well placed cruise missiles would be an appropriate response.

[tuckerndfw]

I'm also out of the loop, when did the US kidnap Iranian citizens?

Posted by HypnoToad72 at 10:03 AM : Mar 31, 2007

That is hard to say with certainty since most US & UK operations are kept secret.

But, the most public was when US forces kidnapped ("detained") five Iranian diplomats. And, is currently holding them despite claims by the Iranians and Iraqis that they are diplomats, not "terrorists."

This is a Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_attack_on_Iranian_liaison_office_in_Arbil

But it was widely reported elsewhere.

[hypnotoad72]

I hope they are put on trial, and not this wishy-washy "may be" stuff. They've admitted they, and not the Iranians, caused this particular stir - in a time when Iran has been mouthing off and pulling other stunts.

I'm also out of the loop, when did the US kidnap Iranian citizens?

[crater7]

What Iran should do is use the Bush Administrations policy regarding illegal aliens who cross our borders every day in our country. Just tell them not to do it anymore, then build a 700 mile fence on their 2000 mile border. This policy, has been major success here, as there are no more illegal aliens entering into our country. OHHHHHH, while the Brits are there, let the apply for any benefits available to them, such as government programs, welfare, social security etc. Again, works here.

[tuckerndfw]

It appears the US & UK do not support the "Bush doctrine" when it is applied to US & UK citizens.

At least Iran is citing international law, something the "Bush doctrine" does not acknowledge.

Maybe the US & UK should return the Iranians they kidnapped so this can be resolved.