It seems like the team of Bush and Blair are at it again. They are trying to provoke an altercation between the alliance of UK/US and Iran. The recent detention of fifteen British sailors and marines has heightened tensions and raised the possibility of action from the British toward Iran, and folks I just don't see Bush staying out of this one. Blair backed Bush on Iraq, and Bush has been salivating at the possibility of taking military action against Iran, so what is the most likely outcome. Well it sounds like this could be war. I only have a few questions, because I think before anyone goes to war we should at least make sure that we have no unanswered questions.
The Brits say they were in Iraqi waters, and the Iranians say no, they were in Iranian water. Who do we believe. It is very important we get this right. I don't know if war should be an option in resolving conflict, especially among civilized nations. I think the rhetoric between the Iranians and the British and US representatives are only adding fuel to the fire. I think that the Iranians have a right to detain those who have violated their laws. I believe there is a proper channel for identifying whether or not the soldiers were indeed in Iranian waters. If the Iranians want to put the soldiers on trial then let them. There should be conditions, the trial should be public and the soldiers should have a right to representation from their native country. Transparency is a great way to end differences. Let the Iranians present their case, and the Brits can defend their position. I don't think that we should just believe the British government. We know they have lied to us before.
If we can detain people on suspicion of plotting against us, why shouldn't the next country have the same rights. Isn't America founded on equality? We say that we want all nations around the world to be able to enjoy the benefits of democracy. Well isn't democracy about self government. Why should the Americans decide how the Iranian should run their government. If we found someone in our waters and they didn't belong, wouldn't we want to know what they are doing there. Heck, the American government would go into a country and pluck out anyone we think is going to do us wrong.
What strikes me about this hostage crisis, is the appearance of the hostages. When we showed pictures of Saddam Hussein(who was only allowed to clean up when it was time for his trial) and others detained in the war on terror they always look like they have been tortured and treated in the most inhumane way. Check out the picture of KSM (Khalid Sheik Mohamed), being detained at Guantanamo Bay, by the CIA and US forces. Why would the American government allow these kinds of pictures to be released. Compare that to the pictures that we see of the British detainees. While some argue that it is a violation of Geneva Convention to show hostages on TV, the soldiers don't look abused where as our detainees do. They looked abused and mistreated, and if we say it is OK for us to torture, why shouldn't the Iranians be able to torture. I am sure that they share our fear that someone might penetrate their country and try to bring harm to their people, they should be able to enjoy the right to protect themselves. American and British troops should not be able to violate the sovereignty of the Iranian people, and should be held accountable when they have done so. Let us hope that this new crisis can be resolved without and escalation from rhetoric to strike and counter strike.
I would just like us to be very cautious in our support for war and make sure that we have first given the Iranians to make their case. We like a global society, and somehow there is a certain sense that Americans feel they have a right to violate all the nations of the world and they should still love us. Well we are creating enemies, and we provoke many countries into hating us by exploiting their people whether for oil or cheaper work force we have built tension between ourselves and peoples of the world. Why is it that when hostages held by other nations confess, we say that they were coerced into the confession but when people held by the United States confess, we are expected to believe that coercion had nothing to do with it? It is a known fact that we torture our hostages, so why is a tortured confession presented by the US more credible than a tortured confession presented by the Iranians. We hope for a safe and peaceful outcome to the crisis. In these times I think it should take a lot more for us to go to war, than just a boat veering off course.
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