The Weakest Link
or at least the slowest beast at the waterhole
RED STATE BLOG
"Britain's Royal Navy Chief Jonathon Band says the Navy has suspended boarding operations in the Gulf and is reviewing all procedures after the seizure by Iran of 15 British sailors and marines.
He defended the Navy's handling of the affair and said the 15, released by Iran on Thursday (local time) and flown to London, were being debriefed to find out exactly what happened.
"For the moment we have stopped United Kingdom boarding operations," the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff said.
"We will obviously do a complete review."
Like any other predator, or bully, the Iranians don't go after strong healthy victims. They go after the sick, the lame, the weak. They have been engaged in bullying their neighbors in the Gulf for some 20 years, dating bact to the Tanker War. The only reason the Gulf States haven't completely captiulated and become Iranian vassal states is due to the presence of the United States military in the Gulf.
But the Iranians have played the river to our mountain. They have avoided our strength and moved to erode alliances and cause difficulties but have avoided a direct confrontation.
The Iranians have taken the full measure of the British military and they have found it wanting. Back in June 2003, six lightly armed British military policemen were placed in an unconscionably dangerous position and killed by a local mob. There were no repercussions and no one has been brought to justice. In 2004, eight British servicemen were detained by the Iranians in the Shatt al-Arab waterway. While many have praised the manner in which the British have managed their zone in Iraq, many of us have warned that the the absence of conflict there did not equate to either peace or pacification.
The Iranians have obviously decided that they can drive the Brits out of Iraq and out of the Gulf. They have degenerated from a force to be reckoned with to the three-legged gazelle at the international watering hole.
This is not fatal to American operations. The few thousand British troops will be made up by US forces assuming greater risk in other areas. The handful of Royal Navy vessels will be missed but their absence will be a mere inconvenience. The danger in the slow motion Dunkirk that I believe the Brits are carrying out is that it will embolden the Iranians and their allies to take ever more aggressive actions and it will certainly convince the Iranians that they have nothing to fear from Europe by their continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. In one respect, our Navy is probably better off with the British taking up operations in some place where the the odds of their overly restictive rules of engagement and seeming lack of elan and situational awareness precipitating a crisis will be reduced.
This incident may in the fullness of time be recognized as the British equivalent of our own Task Force Smith. korea50.army.mil Wednesday four British soldiers were killed in an bombing near Basra. A bombing that was almost certainly carried out by the Mahdi Army which took refuge in Basra after being thrashed by the US Army at Najaf and Karbala. The same Mahdi Army that receives training, arms, and advisors from Iran.
Will the British government finally realize what the Iranians are up to? Or will these dead men and women be simply another of the indignities heaped upon a hapless and increasingly feckless British government?
redstate.com |
