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maquiladora The Ministry of Defence has presented evidence which shows that the fifteen personnel detained by Iranian authorities on Friday 23 March 2007 were operating in Iraqi waters when they were seized. The briefing, at defence headquarters in London, was given by Vice Admiral Charles Style, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments). Vice Admiral Style, who is responsible for providing strategic advice to operational commanders, explained in detail where the Royal Navy personnel were located when they were seized: "The aim of this brief is to provide a factual account of the incident during which fifteen Royal Naval personnel were seized by the Iranians last Friday. By way of background, HMS CORNWALL was in charge of the coalition force, which - alongside the Iraqi Navy - is operating in the Northern Persian Gulf. "This force maintains the sovereignty and integrity of Iraqi territorial waters under UN Security Council Resolution 1723, and with the approval of the Iraqi Government. The ship - and others in the coalition - maintain a presence patrolling there. They are also charged with protection of the Iraqi offshore oil infrastructure - economically very important - and the security of merchant vessels. "On 23 March a boarding team consisting of seven Royal Marines and eight sailors - who were embarked in two of HMS CORNWALL's boats - conducted a routine boarding of an Indian flagged Merchant Vessel which was cooperative throughout. They investigated this vessel after witnessing her unloading cars into two barges secured alongside. Since early March the force has conducted 66 routine boardings. So the one that I'm talking about was entirely routine business, and conducted in a particular area where four other boardings have been completed recently. "As shown on the chart, the merchant vessel was 75 nautical miles south east of the Al Faw Peninsula and clearly in Iraqi territorial waters. Her master has confirmed that his vessel was anchored within Iraqi waters at the time of the arrest. This places her 17 nautical miles inside Iraqi territorial waters. This fact has been confirmed by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. "The Iranian government has provided us with two different positions for the incident. The first we received on Saturday and the second on Monday. As this map shows, the first of these points still lies within Iraqi territorial waters. We pointed this out to them on Sunday in diplomatic contacts. "After we did this, they then provided a second set of coordinates that places the incident in Iranian waters over two nautical miles from the position given by HMS CORNWALL and confirmed by the merchant vessel. The two Iranian positions are just under a nautical mile apart - 1800 yards or so. It is hard to understand a reason for this change of coordinates. We unambiguously contest both the positions provided by the Iranians. "I should just explain at this point that the boats remained connected at this point. One of the seaboats was connected via data link, which communicated its position continually to the ship where it was displayed, superimposed on an electronic chart, on a purpose built console. During the boarding this console was constantly monitored and indicated, throughout, that the boats had remained well within Iraqi territorial waters. "Our boarding started at 0739 local time and was completed at 0910 with the merchant vessel having been cleared to continue with her business. Communications were lost with the boarding team as the boarding was finishing ... HMS CORNWALL's Lynx helicopter, which had been covering the initial stages of the boarding, immediately returned to the scene to locate the boarding team. "The helicopter reported that the two seaboats were being escorted by Iranian Islamic Republican Guard Navy vessels towards the Shatt 'Al Arab Waterway and were now inside Iranian territorial waters. Debriefing of the helicopter crew and a conversation with the master of the merchant ship both indicate that the boarding team were ambushed while disembarking from the merchant vessel. "On Sunday morning, 25 March, HMS CORNWALL's Lynx conducted an overflight of the merchant vessel, which was still at anchor, and once again confirmed her location on Global Positioning System equipment. Her Master confirmed that his vessel had remained at anchor since Friday, and was in Iraqi territorial waters. HMS CORNWALL with her boarding party was going about her legal business - in Iraqi Territorial waters, under a United Nations Security Council Resolution, with the explicit approval of the Iraqi government. "The action by Iranian forces in arresting and detaining our people is unjustified and wrong. As such it is a matter of deep concern to us and the families of the people who have been taken. We continue not only to call for their safe, but for their safe and speedy, return, and we continue to seek immediate consular access to them as a prelude to their release."
View Replies To: maquiladora If the UK proves its case enough and explains enough to the Iranian leaders, I'm sure that the Iranian leaders will see reason and make amends.
View Replies To: maquiladora I wish that we would take this opportunity to take out Iran's mad leadership, we are going to have to do it sooner or later- why not now? These Iranians will not stop until they have a nuclear bomb that they can use to blow up Israel and threaten anyone trying to stop them from establishing an Islamic "utopia". Let's quit pussyfooting around these bullies and give them a bloody nose and multiple limb amputations.
View Replies To: familyop Does the British public care at all? I asked this on an earlier thread, but nobody has responded - it seems to me that there is very little outcry over this in Britain. Maybe one of the reasons Blair has been proceeding in such an apparently sluggish way is simply that there's no popular support for doing anything else. But I am puzzled that it doesn't seem (from here, at any rate), that the British public is particularly upset about this.
View Replies To: livius """Does the British public care at all? I asked this on an earlier thread, but nobody has responded - it seems to me that there is very little outcry over this in Britain. Maybe one of the reasons Blair has been proceeding in such an apparently sluggish way is simply that there's no popular support for doing anything else. But I am puzzled that it doesn't seem (from here, at any rate), that the British public is particularly upset about this. Right now I am listening to a British phone in radio station where this is the top subject. Most Brits on the show are angry and want something done.
View Replies To: peyton randolph Trying to argue with the Iranians over this in a legalistic way just adds legitimacy to the Iranians taking these prisoners if they can say it was just a mistake. The mistake was to think they can take Western soldiers prisoner and get away with it. They MUST NOT get away with it or they will just be further emboldened. You would think we learned our lesson of trying to use diplomacy with the Iranians.
View Replies To: kopite Do the Brits appear to want an immediate military strike or a sharply-worded written reprimand with threats of future actions against Iran?
View Replies To: RobFromGa It is up to the USA to make sure that doesn't happen. This is only the first of a series of hostage taking and other terrorist events that we will see over the next few months and years. Losing wars has consequences as we saw in the post-Vietnam era. Yes, Bush will veto cut and run but the Congressional vote of "we give up" has not gone unnoticed nor has the proposed vote that would limit Bush's ability to take any substantive action against Iran.
View Replies To: kopite "You are wong, and I'm correcting you. Right now I am listening to a British phone in radio station where this is the top subject. Most Brits on the show are angry and want something done." But are they willing to invade, occupy and denazify Iran? Or are they circulating fantasies about diplomacy and/or sending special operations teams on a miracle mission? Granted, we're also too often hearing an...
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