Everyone's a winner!
T.A. Barnhart
This is such good news! Happy families, happy leaders, happy nations. Happy days are here again! Let's rock!
Iranian coastal patrol captures 15 British sailors and marines — and no one is hurt. Why no exchange of fire? If the British were in Iranian waters, wouldn't they seek to escape? And if they were in Iraqi waters, wouldn't they defend their right to be there and avoid an illegal capture?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got to spend nearly two weeks boldly denouncing the British, and by proxy, America, for illegal activies.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his legacy of rescuing his nation from the destructive reign of Thatcher now being lost to his foolish support of Bush in Iraq, has a final opportunity to stand tall for his country. He refuses to back down.
George W Bush gets to point at Iran and say, "See? See? Bad Iranians, Axis of Evil, nukes nukes nukes ..." His naked desire to go to war against Iran is given leverage — at least in his own mind.
Iranians get to luxuriate in the powerful glow of holding captive Western invaders. America may have the great army and navy, but we have bodies in chains. Don't mess with us.
Britons get to enjoy a bit of the World War II stiff-upper-lip, we'll-get-through-this-together-lads feel-good spirit that's been lacking since, well, since the Luftwaffe stopped visiting. For a moment, back in the spotlight and it's not about soccer hooligans or Camilla.
American Congressional leaders get to act world leaders. That they can probably do nothing to stop Bush from starting another insane war is irrelevant. Perhaps Pelosi could get Bush and Cheney into the same room and stage a coup, but beyond that, not even the will of the American people plays a role in this matter.
Speaking of the American people, at least it's not us this time. We've done our time as Iranian hostages.
And then with the release of the British captives. Right? They are going to be released, right?
Medals for the brave Iranian coastal guards.
President Ahmadinejad gets to puff himself up mightily before his people and supporters around the world. What a generous, brave leader!
Tony Blair gets to breathe a huge sigh of relief. As if he could have done a damn thing except climb up on Bush's lap again and asked for America's saving grace.
Bush, knowing the time is not ripe for his next invasion, still has "proof" of Irans ultimate intent.
And America watches intently, knowing how important the next few weeks are.
I mean, it's not like we're a world of self-righteous assholes, is it?
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8:50 p.m.
Apr 4, '07
I for one was relieved to hear this situation had come to an end. Hopefully the US and Iran can sit down and figure out what their differences are and at least work to better the situation in Iraq.
I have my doubts though, with Bush in the Whitehouse. He seems to have a boner for going to war with Iran. The sad thing about that is there are many of Bush's fans that wanted to see us bomb Iran as well. For the life of me, I can't understand why people would think like that.
Apr 4, '07
Ahmadinejad got to play the role of a statesman. More importantly, he showed the world that you can negotiate with Iran and get results. He also made it obvious that the Brits (and probably Americans) are meddling in Iran. (Both sides can now play the charges of meddling game.)
Ahmadinejad made Blair and his puppeteer look like bumbling and blathering idiots, which they are. If Condi had gotten involved with her non-diplomacy, the Brits would probably still be held in January, 2009. Oh, and Iran got back one of their hostages back in advance. I expect more will be released soon. Score Iran 1-USA 0.
Apr 4, '07
Sanjaya made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All is right with the world.
Apr 5, '07
Haha that's great.
Apr 5, '07
Seymour Hersh gave a great speech on this topic last night. He thinks Iran is confronting the US on its own timetable. Iran is confronting the US before the US is ready to attack. The Bush administration has been fishing for a casus belli palatable for the American public unsuccessfully. Now the world sees that bilateral negotiations with Iran can work, making it that much harder for the US to launch an attack.
Also he pointed out - if those sailors were not in Iranian waters there would have been plenty of satellite and/or radar images released to show it. How much coverage do you think the US has in that region anyway? Answer: A lot.
Apr 5, '07
This situation has proven that President Ahmadinejad is far better at out-manuevering the West, then the West is at out-manuevering him. However, he wasted an opportunity here to take the high road. Yes, he released his hostages with gifts and sweets, but taking the hostages to begin with was a diplomatic mis-step. He gains very little from his "kindness" in the public square.
Tony Blair isn't a winner in this either. He has bloodied his hands in Iraq and this "victory" for him does not recover any portion of this popularity.
The ultimate loser in this, however, is Bush. He wants war with Iran. Now, again... he stands alone. Bush's cause would only be helped by a prolonged hostage situation and likely even one where the hostages were killed.
Apr 5, '07
I suspect this is a very sad moment at the (Texas) White House, not to mention the VP's residence in DC. I can just hear Dick C. shouting at George: "G*& Damn it George, you waited too long to drop the bomb!"
12:01 p.m.
Apr 5, '07
Wow, those bloodthirsty Iranian evildoers let hostages they held go with no harm done to them... again!
Savages!!!!
/snark
12:17 p.m.
Apr 5, '07
Curious, can anyone name a time when Iranian's killed hostages, or shot down American airliners (oh wait... WE did that to their airliner, not the other way around) after engineering coups to install a despotic dictator with state-of-the-art US military hardware, then setting up their nuclear program and then later screaming that Iran has no legitimate need for nuclear power and that same nuclear program was proof they wanted the bomb, while making sure they had a US trained secret police (i.e. death squad/torture regimes)... so I ask again, when have hostages been killed by Iran?
Apr 5, '07
Well, we now see how Iran treats their prisoners.
Maybe we can follow that lead as opposed to our current track record with Abu Ghraib?
Apr 5, '07
Iran is a peace loving nation. ALways has been, always will be.
crowd gathered to hear President Ahmadinejad speak
Alah Akbar!
3:36 p.m.
Apr 5, '07
Posted by: TJ Bartlet | Apr 5, 2007 2:07:18 PM
Not quote sure I get your snark with the Alah Akbar! line.
10:22 p.m.
Apr 5, '07
Score Iran 1-USA 0.
It's World Cup France '98!
Bonus points if you can name the scorer. No fair googling.
Apr 6, '07
John Dunagan: please give us some hints. Was the goal scored by someone wearing a Halliburton jersey?
Apr 7, '07
Sounds like the Brits were tortured:
"All 15 of them had been blindfolded, handcuffed and pushed against a wall by their Iranian captors. Then they heard the sound of guns being cocked - and believed they were about to be shot by firing squad"
I thought only the bush admin did that? What's going on?
Apr 7, '07
Barnhart: Britons get to enjoy a bit of the World War II stiff-upper-lip, we'll-get-through-this-together-lads feel-good spirit that's been lacking since, well, since the Luftwaffe stopped visiting. PLUS a photo of some schoolkids sitting on a pile of rubble.
Now this is nice stuff. Sensitive. Go spend some time in any English city that was within range of German planes and missiles, get off the tourist route, and you will find memorials dedicated to the thousands killed, and even some fenced-off bombed-out buildings intentionally left as reminders.
Apr 7, '07
At first, I couldn't undestand this post. Was there a point? Will there a "Bush-is-an-evil-idiot" ending? No, it's about Blair. It couldn't be a criticism of Iran. Then I read the asshole part at the end. Then I got it. Americans are idiots. Got it.
After 911, they said humor could never involve cynicism again. That lasted 6 months. Now, cynicism replaces humor.
9:01 a.m.
Apr 8, '07
lin, amazing how little you know about me. i lived in England for 5 years. the AF stationed me at a remote site in Cornwall that meant we lived "on the economy". after that, i did a year of pre-university at Bath Technical College, and i was accepted at the Univ of Warwick, in Coventry. when i visited the university, a local student gave me a tour of the "real" Conventry, including the shell of the old cathedral, all that remained after the Germans pounded hell out of that city.
because i did live there and made many friends, i know the English pretty well. they are wonderful people, but there are lots of horrible people, too. there are also, like in the US, those who look on WW2 as the best of times. for the British, of course, it's all been downhill since. the empire is gone, Thatcher nearly eviscerated the country, and now Blair's brought the wrath of al Queda on them. not to mention the loss of Diana.
the English are rightfully proud of how they survived WW2 and the bombings. it's sad what has happened to them since, and just tragic (as i said) how Blair, like Clinton, had a chance to really fix things for the better -- and let one act of foolishness (far more destructive than Clinton, of course) destroy that chance.
please make a basic assumption, lin: on occasion, i might actually have some first-hand experience for the things i write.
12:50 p.m.
Apr 20, '07