“HOSTAGE SAILORS – BRITAIN’S IMPOTENCE”
Depressing:
IT’S been a tough month for the British Navy. On March 7, it learned that Tony Blair’s Labor government was going ahead with drastic cuts in its budget and number of ships. By this time next year, the once-vaunted Royal Navy will be about the size of the Belgian Navy, while its officers face a five-year moratorium on all promotions.
If that wasn’t demoralizing enough, last Friday the Iranian Navy seized a patrol boat containing 15 British sailors and Marines, claiming they’d crossed into Iranian waters. They’re now hostages and may well go on trial as spies.
The latest report is that the Britons were ready to fight off their abductors. Certainly their escorting ship, HMS Cornwall, could have blown the Iranian naval vessel out of the water. However, at the last minute the British Ministry of Defense ordered the Cornwall not to fire, and her captain and crew were forced to watch their shipmates led away into captivity.
Now read this:
Following Britain’s claims Iran’s embassy in London issued a statement in which it said the sailors and marines had been 0.5 km inside Iranian waters at the time.
Am I the only one wondering a) Why Iran has an embassy in London and b) Why said embassy isn’t a pile of rubble?
— The Ace