msnbc.com reports right now that Iraq will give the UK an "easter gift"

Anyone with a brain knows the Brits made up their sea-water border charts for the media. All academics will agree that those were not official charts. I'd say all-and-all Iran was almost level-headed on this one.

Can we take that chance? The US military is already stretched pretty thin and the British don't seem to be all that chipper either. I don't think Iran needs to be scared of the US, and they know that a lot of the world is not on our side right now.I don't think we were in the middle of another fight in the situation you are talking about below.

Adam Smith wrote:

Did WWIII start when Reagan bombed Kadafi? Did WWIII start when Reagan got the American hostages released the very first day he was in office because he told the Iranians he wasn't going to put up with the same shit that Jimmy Carter did for four years?

You speak as though Mr. Bush is not rational.

Seriously, imagine, if you can, how Americans who live here and were NOT enamored of anything other than extermination of al-Qaida after 9/11/01 feel?

When he first uttered the phrase "War on Terror" I thought "Terror? It's bin Laden and Al-Qaeda we should be after. What's this Terror thing?"

Action against anyone involved in the hijackings and subsequent crashes was to be expected, yes?

Let me ask this of the non-Yanks posting here, again in all seriousness...and to show I am serious here's wishing you all set PR's in your next races...what would YOU have done, were you President of the US on days following the atrocities?

Well? Have at it.

Happy Easter.

Sockalexis wrote:

You speak as though Mr. Bush is not rational.

Seriously, imagine, if you can, how Americans who live here and were NOT enamored of anything other than extermination of al-Qaida after 9/11/01 feel?

When he first uttered the phrase "War on Terror" I thought "Terror? It's bin Laden and Al-Qaeda we should be after. What's this Terror thing?"

Action against anyone involved in the hijackings and subsequent crashes was to be expected, yes?

Let me ask this of the non-Yanks posting here, again in all seriousness...and to show I am serious here's wishing you all set PR's in your next races...what would YOU have done, were you President of the US on days following the atrocities?

Well? Have at it.

Happy Easter.

Show me one european nation that was against the Afghanistan Invasion and fighting the Taliban, jees even many arab nations helped the US.I would have invaded Afghanistan like Bush but in opposite i would still be there full force fighting Al-Quaeda and searching for Bin Laden in Afghanistan/Pakistan instead of invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and would turn into total chaos if the current dictator gets overthrown.

Adam Smith wrote:

Did WWIII start when Reagan got the American hostages released the very first day he was in office because he told the Iranians he wasn't going to put up with the same shit that Jimmy Carter did for four years?

Umm, if you think this is actually what happened, you've got some serious problems.

Google "Algeirs Accords." It negotiated the release of the hostages. Negotiated by Warren Christopher - Deputy Sec. of State under Carter. Signed on Jan 19th 1981, the day before Reagan took office.

Europe callin wrote:

So the British used diplomatic action first instead of droppin nukes, the result:all sailors back, no one hurt or dead.

Bush would have dropped some bombs, lots of people would have died, the sailors included.

Yeah, like Iran wouldn't give them back eventually after parading them around like circus animals and getting "confessions" from them.

Britain should have dropped a bunch of bombs on them. Iran won this one BIG TIME. They stared everyone down and everyone blinked. They now know ain't no one going to do jack shit to stop them from doing whatever they want to do.

Let me provide an example to our European friends out there. If you were walking on one side of the street and happend to notice or observe that one of your friends was getting beat up by the neighborhood bully, would you just sit there and watch and hope that your friend wouldn't get beat up too bad? Or would you intervene and do something to prevent the act from escalating? The British could have prevented the Iranian hostage taking. They had a ship nearby that could have intervened. For some reason they did nothing. My previous question will be asked once more: have the British decided to adopt the French military model for protecting themselves which is "do nothing (surrender)and hope the invadors are nice to us after they've taken over our country". If they are, God help the free world because there very well could be a WWIII and the Americans will once again have to bail out Western Europe.

Happy Holidays. Hope you guys get some new toothbrushes and toothpaste for Easter.....Just KIDDING. How about some dental floss - has that made it over to the UK yet? How about some deodorant? Just Kidding...take it easy now. We love the Britsh and I'll leave you guys with one question - What Would Margaret Thatcher do?

Six years plus into his presidency and Bush has not used any nukes. The rhertoric was the same when reagan was president but in both cases simply not true. Whatever you think of Bush's strategies, he has bent over backwards, to the deteriment of the military, trying to fight a war 'nice'. You cannot assume that bush would have just bombed away. After 911, the US didn't go into afghanistan for a month.

Good thing the british situation turned out well but those iranians are still idiots for doing it in the first place.

THis has been said a million times but as far as IRaq goes; yes it is totally seperate from afghanistan/911. But, given the violations of the 1992 ceasefire of the war that iraq lost, violating weapons inspections NOT a good idea when the mood is pre-emptive as opposed to reactive. So, although 911 had nothing to do with IRaq, it was not a good idea to mess around with the US at that time. HOw about this? I'm out for a run, get bit by a dog. Next day I buy pepper spray and go running. Dog runs at me and I mace it. Maybe it was going to bite maybe not. I'm not in the mood for dog psychology. The second dog is iraq. It's not rocket science.

I am glad the Iranians are letting the British sailors go.

I also think the Iranians were intentionally being provocative by capturing them, and I think they're trying to play nice now that they have secured "confessions" of their "wrongdoing" to boost their PR machine. This isn't a gift, its a tactical move on their part to try to make themselves appear magnanimous. I'm not buying it.

As far as the overall Iran situation goes, unfortunately something will have to eventually happen. Unless the current Iranian power structure melts overnight, it just isn't compatible with the US. They hate us, we see them as a threat, and they're spoiling for a fight just as soon as they can build the bomb. If things continue the way they are, it is only a matter of time before bloodshed. Same sort of deal with North Korea. Kim Jong-Il really wants his piece of the world scene, and he'll do whatever he can to get the weapons to gain that respect. He's going to bide his time until the American people are unwilling to do anything to stop him, and then he'll move. Europe won't resist them, the UN won't resist them, the people of they countries they control will be silent (or silenced), and the US will eventually ignore everything because nobody likes us anymore(boo hoo, poor us) and everybody will be so focused on political quibbling that nobody has the will to do anything.

They are not reasonable men, they are driven men with (more or less) complete control over their country, their media, and, thus, their people. Unfortunately, their goals and the goals of the US are incompatible. Iran, North Korea, and the US cannot peacefully co-exist, there will always be tension as long as nothing changes. New politicians can come in and make concessions, make everything seem alright, but nothing short of serious change is going to remedy anything. Too many Americans are pussies, too many Europeans are pussies, all of the UN is made up of pussies, and nobody is going to do anything about it for fear of seeming provocative and opening themselves up for criticism. Bottom line, and arguing aside, there isn't a whole lot anyone can do at this point, because nobody is willing to do anything of meaning. Its sad really, but without real leaders, who will do anything?

First of all even british diplomats said that the evidence that was brought up by Blair and Co that the sailors were not in iranian territory was bs.

Second, nobody was "beaten up".

Third, Saddam wasn't a danger for us national security, at best he was a danger for the region and the oil market(and even that was overestimated).

All I can say is that if I were prez of the U.S. the entire Middle East would still be a smoldering crater - or sheet of glass after my major nuke-fest on Sept 12, 2001.

We'd be sharing the oil with China (because we'd have to) and everybody else could get in line and pay us the money.

How is that for an Easter gift?

Even the iranians first gave coordinates of the sailors being in iragi waters. what is the source of this other claim? never saw it.

sadaam lost the first gulf war fair and square. 14 or whatever un resolutions were nice but nothing was done. the us stepped up. Seems like most of europe has the view that doing anything will make it worse. if you want to make an omlette you got to break some eggs. I'm sure that much of the middle east is being kept in check somewhat by knowing that Bush will not put up with much. All the european (and canadian0 whinning certainly doesn't help.

Grabbing those soldiers was a severe violation of their rights as has been pointed out before.

Dark Angels follow me wrote:

All I can say is that if I were prez of the U.S. the entire Middle East would still be a smoldering crater - or sheet of glass after my major nuke-fest on Sept 12, 2001.

We'd be sharing the oil with China (because we'd have to) and everybody else could get in line and pay us the money.

How is that for an Easter gift?

When I was in high school, a long time ago, my idea was to call up russia and go halfers on the oil. After I found out there are gold toilet seats and they seemed kind of whacked religion wise, it was just too bad so much oil is over there.

I think nuking would make it hard to get the oil out though.

Mandingo wrote:

THe original poster said 'Persians'. Aren't iranians persians? what's the problem?

.

If you read the title it says Iraq which is what I was refering too!!

Mandingo wrote:

I would guess that 90% of Americans would laugh if you called them canadian.

Exatly just like the people luagh when the Americans call another coutry some other name!!

Brisket wrote:

ROFLMAO wrote:

the 'easter gift' will be the handing over of the 15 Brit sailors and marines they scooped

ROFLMAO

who said Persians are unreasonable

Oh I would LOVE to know what really happened

It's Iran, bonehead.

hey bonehead, the Persians are the Iranians learn your world history

The Q should have been an N, I admitted the error. I used to work with a drunk who got all excited when he found someone else making an error. Never mind that he could not get to work on time and sober.

How many of you are like that?

I typed it wrong in my haste. I credited the original correctee, who hopefully didn't ejaculate all over his keyboard when he found someone making an error, and I awarded him today's Brown Star.

Goodie goodie for you.

This still doesn't change the fact that something fishy had to have happened in the first place for these Brits to get nabbed.

Want to get back on topic, or do you want to keep busy pointing out errors until Mom tells you supper is ready?

Sucks to be you wrote:

All this wouldn't have happened if the Brits had actually fought back. Who surrenders to the Iranians? I'd expect something like this from the French, but if IRAN is trying to take you hostage, you'd best be pulling the trigger.

no actauly they win, in this particular enviornment. there is STRONG selection AGAINST such boneheaded moves....ah natural selection ....to bad we have domesticated our selfs...and nothing thin our herds anymore..

ROFLMAO wrote:

I used to work with a drunk who got all excited when he found someone else making an error. Never mind that he could not get to work on time and sober.

I credited the original correctee, who hopefully didn't ejaculate all over his keyboard when he found someone making an error, and I awarded him today's Brown Star.

Want to get back on topic, or do you want to keep busy pointing out errors until Mom tells you supper is ready?

Okay I totally missed it; must have seen Iraq but it registered as Iran. Easily corrected, I did in the subject.

All the drunks that everybody used to work with are all posting on letsrun it seems!

Love the dinner comment!