Iran: Captured British Sailors "Confess"

15 U.K. Sailors And Marines Seized Off Iraqi Coast Brought To Tehran

(CBS/AP)  The Iranian military questioned 15 detained British sailors Saturday and said they confessed to illegally entering the country's territorial waters, as Iran accused Britain of "blatant aggression."

Britain has demanded the return of the sailors and denied they had strayed into Iranian waters while searching for smugglers off Iraq's coast.

The Britons were brought to Tehran for questioning, and a top military official, Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, said they "confessed to illegal entry into Iran's waters."

"The said personnel are being interrogated and have confessed to aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran waters," Afshar was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

"The detention of British sailors and marines by the Iranian government is a clear escalation of Iran's defiant approach to the international community and has the potential of escalating to a military confrontation with so many U.S. and British troops and aircraft carriers in the Gulf," said CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk from the U.N. Saturday.

"The detention of British military personnel appears timed to distract from the Security Council vote against Iran today, particularly since the waterway in which they were taken into custody is an area of long dispute between Iran and Iraq and the border difficult to distinguish."

The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines had just searched a merchant ship when they and their two inflatable boats were intercepted by Iranian vessels Friday at around 10:30 a.m. near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway, U.S. and British officials said. The Iranian vessels surrounded them and escorted them away at gunpoint.

Navigational equipment on the seized British boats "show that they (sailors) were aware that they were operating in Iranian waters and Iranian border guards fulfilled their responsibility," Fars quoted an unidentified official as saying.

The agency said the 15 included "some women." In Britain, officials told the Press Association news agency that at least one woman was among the group.

U.S. and British officials said the incident occurred during a routine inspection of a merchant ship near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway, which flows between the two countries and empties into the Gulf. The inspections were part of an ongoing operation to intercept smugglers, insurgents and terrorists, and to protect Iraqi oil terminals, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports.

The inspection went without a hitch and the British inflatable rafts that the service members use were on the way back to their mother ship when six Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval vessels surrounded them, Pizzey reports.

The incident came at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and allegations that Iran is arming Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq, but Britain was treating it as a mistake rather than a provocation.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran was carrying out a "further investigation ... of the blatant aggression."

"Violating the sovereign boundaries of other states and illegal entry denote unusual goals in violation of international commitments, the responsibility for which cannot be evaded under any justification," Hosseini said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Hosseini described the incident as a "suspicious move" and accused Britain of trying to cover up the illegal entry.

"The British officials instead of making up for their blunders should try to refrain from putting the blame on others by way of irrelevant interpretations," he said.

Iran summoned the British charge d'affaires to the Foreign Ministry on Friday and demanded an immediate explanation.

Britain, in turn, demanded Tehran release the 15. In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office, and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the Iranian envoy "was left in no doubt that we want them back."

Britain's Defense Ministry said the Royal Navy personnel were in Iraqi territorial waters when they were seized. Cmdr Kevin Aandahl of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain also said it was "very clear" they were in Iraqi waters.

"We've been on operations there for several years," Aandahl said. He said coalition vessels respect a 1975 treaty between Iran and Iraq that sets the boundary between the two countries as running down the middle of the Shatt al-Arab.

But the boundary has long been in dispute around the 125-mile-long channel Shatt al-Arab — known in Iran as Arvandrud, Farsi for the Arvand River. Saddam Hussein canceled the 1975 treaty five years later and invaded Iran, triggering an eight-year war. Virtually all of Iraq's oil is exported through an oil terminal near the mouth of the channel.

[radiob-2009]

radiob

--Lars a long day for you.
Posted by radiob at 09:43 AM : Mar 25, 2007

No radiob! Lars has just mastered the art of cut and paste and is showing off his new skills! LOL
Posted by tbweb at 03:21 PM : Mar 25, 2007

And all that Meth helps too.
Posted by RandalDS

If you follow these posts back on this story, he has been at it for almost 20 hours.

[randalds]

--radiob

--Lars a long day for you.
Posted by radiob at 09:43 AM : Mar 25, 2007

No radiob! Lars has just mastered the art of cut and paste and is showing off his new skills! LOL
Posted by tbweb at 03:21 PM : Mar 25, 2007

And all that Meth helps too.

[tbweb]

--karlimhof

Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial,

Posted by karlimhof at 07:06 AM : Mar 25, 2007

Only someone with some loose screws in their head would grab 15 hostages on the eve on a U.N. sanction vote!

[tbweb]

--radiob

--Lars a long day for you.
Posted by radiob at 09:43 AM : Mar 25, 2007

No radiob! Lars has just mastered the art of cut and paste and is showing off his new skills! LOL

[lars008-2009]

WHY DO MUSLIMS WANT TO KILL MANS BEST FRIEND?

Is it true that dogs can sense when people have an evil spirit?

Muhammad made strange and harsh statements about dogs and these edicts affect dogs in a tragic way. His teachings may have come from cultural bias, Pagan concepts, or his own imagination, but wherever they came from they led to the cruel treatment of dogs.

None of the statements regarding dogs are found in the Quran but they abound in the various collections of traditions (hadith). These traditions are a primary foundation of Islamic theology and are the basis of many Islamic laws. They render dogs as "impure" and worse. Per Muhammad%u02BCs orders most dogs were to be killed and all dogs of a specific color (black) had to be killed.

Muhammad claimed to be a prophet of God and as such his word was to be obeyed. With the teeth of Islam biting worldwide it is vital that Muhammad%u02BCs teachings be scrutinized to determine if he were a nut or a prophet.
http://www.answering-islam.de/Main/Silas/dogs.htm

[radiob-2009]

Lars a long day for you.

[lars008-2009]

there is no peace with fascist nazi islam%u2026.. there never has been in it%u2019s 1400 year existence%u2026

dnc are like john adams and want to give the jihadist their lunch money hoping they will leave us alone....

gop are like thomas jefferson and want to spend their lunch money on weapons and go kick the jihadists in their arses.....

What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad

Thomas Jefferson knew about fascist nazi islam..... he killed plenty of them....

In 1786 Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). They asked him by what right he extorted money and took slaves. Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay, and to the Congress:

The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2007/691/
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2002_winter_spring/terrorism.htm

[lars008-2009]

Ali Sina, an ex-Muslim from Iran. He is the creator of Faithfreedom.org.

Yet I know that by eradicating Islam we can save the world from the dangers of a catastrophe that otherwise is looming over our heads and could cause more disaster than the 1st and 2nd World Wars combined. Eradication of Islam means restoring peace among humanity and civility, democracy and prosperity in the Muslim world.
http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/sina/why_i_left_islam.htm

[lars008-2009]

SAVAGELY BEATEN, TORTURED & RAPED

Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was savagely beaten, tortured and raped while in Iranian custody in 2003, according to Dr. Shahram A%u2019zam, an emergency-room doctor who examined her before she died.
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2005/april-2005/kazemi_report_1405.shtml
http://www.buzztracker.org/2005/04/01/Tehran.html

[lars008-2009]

I NO LONGER SUPPORT THE OCCUPATION

The real %u201Coccupation%u201D
1400 years of muslim occupation

muslims, whose home is Arabia, have occupied and brutalized for centuries.

During that time, non muslims have...

been murdered en masse
had their land stolen
their holy places destroyed and desecrated
been sold into slavery
their women raped
their children butchered

and the arabs have the nerve to whine about "occupation" when non muslims fight back

I NO LONGER SUPPORT MUSLIM OCCUPATION

[lars008-2009]

COWARDLY HEZ-BALLESS-AH HIDES BEHIND...
WOMEN AND CHILDREN...............

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/blog/israel_palestine_cartoon.gif

Hezbollah was using UN post as 'shield'
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=37278180-a261-421d-84a9-7f94d5fc6d50

U.N. CHIEF CALLS HEZ-BALLESS-AH COWARDS
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205349,00.html

[karlimhof]

Since East Jerusalem was annexed in 1967, the government of Israel%u2019s primary goal in Jerusalem has been to create a demographic and geographic situation that will thwart any future attempt to challenge Israeli sovereignty over the city. To achieve this goal, the government has been taking actions to increase the number of Jews, and reduce the number of Palestinians, living in the city.

At the end of 2005, the population of Jerusalem stood at 723,700: 482,500 Jews (67 percent) and 241,200 Palestinians (33 percent). About 58 percent of the residents live on land that was annexed in 1967 (45 percent of whom are Jews, and 55 percent Palestinians). With the Palestinians having a higher growth rate than the Jews, Israel has used various methods to achieve its goal:

Physically isolating East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, in part by building the separation barrier;


Discriminating in land expropriation, planning, and building, and demolition of houses;


Revoking residency and social benefits of Palestinians who stay abroad for at least seven years, or who are unable to prove that their center of life is in Jerusalem;


Unfairly dividing the budget between the two parts of the city, with harmful effects on infrastructure and services in East Jerusalem.

www.btselem.org (israeli human rights org)

[karlimhof]

Since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada, Israel has employed a policy of house demolition, uprooting of orchards, and destruction of farmland in the Gaza Strip. This policy has been used mostly in areas surrounding the settlements, on both sides of the bypass roads along which the settlers drive, and around army posts, mostly along the Egyptian border.
This policy is part of Israel's defense strategy in the Gaza Strip. The Chief of Staff had good reason to say that, %u201CThe D-9 [a bulldozer] is a strategic weapon here.%u201D As a safeguard against Palestinian attacks, Israel is creating %u201Csecurity strips%u201D around places where Israeli civilians or armed forces are located.

The houses are usually demolished at night, without giving the residents any warning. In certain cases, where there were exchanges of gunfire between Palestinians and Israeli forces, some residents left their homes and moved to safer dwellings. However, in most instances, some members of the family remained in their house to protect their property. Dozens of testimonies given to B'Tselem indicate that these residents were given no warning and were forced to flee after hearing the noise of tanks and bulldozers at their door. Their personal possessions were buried under the ruins.
www.btselem.org (israeli human rights org)

[karlimhof]

Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial, authorized by administrative order rather than by judicial decree. It is allowed under international law, but, because of the serious injury to due process rights inherent in this measure and the obvious danger of abuse, international law has placed rigid restrictions on its application. Administrative detention is intended to prevent the danger posed to state security by a particular individual. However, Israel has never defined the criteria for what constitutes "state security."
Israel's use of administrative detention blatantly violates these restrictions. Over the years, Israel held Palestinians in prolonged detention without trying them and without informing them of the suspicions against them. While detainees may appeal the detention, neither they nor their attorneys are allowed to see the evidence. Israel has therefore made a charade out of the entire system of procedural safeguards in both domestic and international law regarding the right to liberty and due process.

www.btselem.org (israeli human rights org)

[karlimhof]

Israeli soldiers use two Palestinian minors as human shields
During the army's operation in late February, soldiers ordered two children, a fifteen-year-old boy and a eleven-year-old girl, to walk in front of them as they searched houses in the old city of Nablus.

www.btselem.org (israeli human rights org)

[lars008-2009]

NO LONGER SUPPORT THE OCCUPATION

The real %u201Coccupation%u201D
1400 years of muslim occupation

muslims, whose home is Arabia, have occupied and brutalized for centuries.

During that time, non muslims have...

been murdered en masse
had their land stolen
their holy places destroyed and desecrated
been sold into slavery
their women raped
their children butchered

and the arabs have the nerve to whine about "occupation" when non muslims fight back

I NO LONGER SUPPORT MUSLIM OCCUPATION

[lars008-2009]

COWARDLY HEZ-BALLESS-AH HIDES BEHIND...
WOMEN AND CHILDREN...............

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/blog/israel_palestine_cartoon.gif

Hezbollah was using UN post as 'shield'
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=37278180-a261-421d-84a9-7f94d5fc6d50

U.N. CHIEF CALLS HEZ-BALLESS-AH COWARDS
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205349,00.html

[karlimhof]

Since 1967, Israel has established 135 settlements in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) that have been recognized by the Interior Ministry. Sixteen settlements were established in the Gaza Strip; these were dismantled in 2005 during implementation of the "disengagement plan." In addition, dozens of outposts of varying size have been established. Some of these outposts are settlements for all intents and purposes, but the Interior Ministry has not recognized them as such.

Israel has established in the Occupied Territories a separation *** discrimination regime, in which it maintains two systems of laws, and a person%u2019s rights are based on his or her national origin. This regime is the only one of its kind in the world, and brings to mind dark regimes of the past, such as the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
www.btselem.org (israeli human rights org)

[karlimhof]

The restrictions on movement that Israel has imposed on the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories over the past five years are unprecedented in the history of the Israeli occupation in their scope, duration, and in the severity of damage that they cause to the three and a half million Palestinians who reside there. In the past, Israel has imposed either a comprehensive closure on the Occupied Territories or a curfew on a specific town or village to restrict Palestinian freedom of movement, but never has Israel imposed restrictions as sweeping and as prolonged as those currently in place.

Israel has divided the West Bank into a number of sections and makes it hard for Palestinians to move from one to another. Israel has set up dozens of checkpoints, prohibits Palestinians from traveling on dozens of roads, and forbids Palestinians without special permits to enter the Jordan Valley and East Jerusalem, both of which are integral parts of the West Bank. Also, Israel almost completely forbids the movement of Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and impedes Palestinians from entering Israel and from going abroad.
www.btselem.org (israeli human rights org)

[karlimhof]

From the beginning of the intifada on 29 September 2000, until 31 December 2006, 3,944 Palestinians were killed in the Occupied Territories. Among them were 809 minors (under the age of 18). At least 1,915 of those killed were not participating in fighting at the time, and 210 were objects of targeted killing. Thousands more were wounded.

www.btselem.org (israeli human rights org)