Britain has secured the release of the 15 military personnel who were kidnapped and held hostage by the Iranians. I am pleased – as is probably everyone in the civilized world – that the 14 men and one woman are safe, but I am deeply concerned by what the British government did and did not do – and the ramifications of same as we move forward.
Edward Turzanski, a senior fellow specializing in national security, political analysis and intelligence with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, summed it up best when he told me, "Britain's actions are a sad testament. Twenty-five years ago, [former Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher acted with resolute courage; today [Tony Blair] is worthy of the Neville Chamberlain award for 2007. He is responsible for the feminization of British foreign policy."
We can agree that the safe return of the kidnapped hostages is a good thing. However, as Turzanski said, "Britain has rewarded the malevolent behavior [of a country] that has taken over 1,000 hostages since 1979."
The international community as a whole agrees the British troops were not in Iranian waters at the time they were seized. Iran further undermined their own position by presenting coordinates intended to show the troops were in Iranian waters, when in reality the coordinates presented showed just the opposite.
It was unconscionable that the British warship, HMS Cornwall, which was at the time positioned between the Iranians and the troops, had to radio for permission from their government to intercede; that the British government denied their request to save the troops is an unforgivable act of political cowardice. The next time Iran kidnaps, tortures and commits murder, the well-being and/or blood of those taken should be laid at the feet of Tony Blair.
To allow the pluripotent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the ridiculous display of pinning a medal on the general responsible for the kidnapping, a person equally as developmentally challenged as himself, is offensive on its face. To provide a platform and audience for one worthy of, at the very least life imprisonment, is sacrilege.
The hostages were put on television and forced to make statements against their country. That alone violates every article of international law governing the taking of prisoners by foreign countries – but despotic potentates like the ghoulish Ahmadinejad are given a pass for such behavior. And of course the cacophony of liberal American voices, who continue to "bleat and baa" over the treatment of the detainees held "Hotel Gitmo," remained silent during this hostage situation, speaking out only to cast the United States as being responsible for the valgus-minded tyrant's actions.
Britain allowed one of the chief sponsors and perpetuators of terror to look magnanimous before a fawning media. They allowed themselves to be lectured by one of the world's primordial oppressors of women on the safety of same.
Their lack of resolve in taking decisive action only served to embolden Iran to be more aggressive in its threatening behavior – not because Iran is isolated, but because it is a rogue state with rogue leaders and a nearly unparalleled history of dark-ages behavior.
Iran's crimes against the civilized world are legion. They are a terrorist state that is developing, and may indeed have, nuclear weapons. They helped Hezbollah fight Israel to a standstill. They have been killing Americans for five years and kidnapping our people since 1979. Now they are allowed to kidnap innocent military personnel with impunity.
Blair's lack of decisive action also gives traction to those who wrongly believe that, simply by reasoning, this Erebusic evil can be persuaded to cease its terrorist activity.
Margaret Thatcher opted for attempts at diplomatic solutions only until Argentine Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri engaged in unprovoked aggression by invading the Falkland Islands. Then she immediately sent troops to help Galtieri understand the error of his ways. Blair would have done well to note.
The Iranian government is akin to a town infested with plague-infected rats. And just as the rats are cunning enough to know when to come out of their holes, so too, Iranian and other rogue terror states have learned the art of sticking their heads out of their holes at the right time for maximum effect.
In the final analysis, both are disease-infected elements that must be eliminated, and said elimination cannot be done by talking – because while you are engaging in talks, they are engaging in breeding and fomenting terror, fortification and continued encroachment.
It is past time to realize that evil lives amongst us, that the evil isn't the United States and that evil cannot be sated with words, gifts and promises – nor can its assurances be believed. It has been a cancer on the face of the earth from the beginning, and the only cure is to make the price for acting out toward civilized nations too steep for them to pay. And you can't do that with embargos.
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