Blogroll Me! How This Old Brit Sees It ...: US Forces Forcibly 'Snatch' Some Iranian Diplomats ...

11 January 2007

US Forces Forcibly 'Snatch' Some Iranian Diplomats ...

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Well, barmy Bush didn't waste much time did he?

Within hours of his public pro-more-war pronoucements, we hear this has happened.

Obviously, operations such as this are/were carefully planned well in advance.

Some people are now saying Bush has finally gone completely crazy, and doesn't any longer realize what he's doing.

We disagree.


We say, sure he's crazy - but he knows exactly what he's doing. Damn him.

Because being the belligerent, bloody barmpot that he is, he simply doesn't give a shit.

Increasingly people are asking if we're already well & truly (and possibly irreversibly), way along the road to the next world war.

We wish we knew.

What we do know, is this.

US forces storm Iranian consulate

US forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized six members of staff.


The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior local officials.

The US military would only confirm the detention of six people around Irbil.
The raid comes amid high Iran-US tension. The US accuses Iran of helping to fuel violence in Iraq and seeking nuclear arms. Iran denies both charges.

Tehran counters that US military involvement in the Middle East endangers the whole region.

A local TV station said Kurdish security forces had taken over the building after the Americans had left.

Irbil lies in Iraq's Kurdish-controlled north, about 350km (220 miles) from the capital Baghdad.
Reports say the Iranian consulate there was set up last year under an agreement with the Kurdish regional government to facilitate cross-border visits.

Pressure

Iranian media said the country's embassy in Baghdad had sent a letter of protest about the raid to the Iraqi foreign ministry.

One Iranian news agency with a correspondent in Irbil says five US helicopters were used to land troops on the roof of the Iranian consulate.

Dozens of casualties resulted from a truck bombing in SamarraIt reports that a number of vehicles cordoned off the streets around the building, while US soldiers warned the occupants in three different languages that they should surrender or be killed.

In December, US troops detained a number of Iranians in Iraq, including two with diplomatic immunity who were later released.

Thursday's raid came as US President George W Bush unveiled his new strategy in Iraq, which included increasing troop numbers and a commitment to stop Iranian support for "our enemies in Iraq".

BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the raid could signal a ratcheting-up of pressure on the Iranians, in line with the rhetorical thrust of his speech.


Read a full BBC report right here.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The loony Bush WANTS a world war. He thinks it's possible for him to WIN!

Win what though? The world?

Jeeze - dont ask me - nor anyone else who's sane.

5:56 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know the exact diplomatic status of those who worked in the consulate, but if they have diplomatic immunity, then this is indeed a grave and humiliating provocation.
Now I'm aware, that the Iranians in the 70's also detained diplomats, but one wrong thing doesn't justify another.

We will have to see, how things develop. This by itself, doesn't necessarily have to lead to a war, but sure as hell it doesn't help to fight the already established impression about the US, as an out-of-control bully and a rogue state, which is prone to play havoc with the established International(Westphalian) System.

7:02 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's as if Bush is living out his persoanl revenge fantasies.

He said Saddam tried to kill his dad - so Saddam had to die.

This time he's even rubbed salt in the Iranians wounds by having helicopters lift the 'prisoners' from the embassy.

The man is mad.

7:30 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

whose side you bums on anyways?

12:21 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm almost nostalgic for the cold war days. Here we have a barely literate, inarticulate, uneducated, uncultured, uninterested, indifferent, perpetually smirking, (questionably dry) alcoholic, whose CV reveals one failure or cop-out after another in his personal life, running the most powerful nation on the planet. What does this say about America's evolution? That it chooses to elect people like this?

The problem with Bush is that he's deeply incapable. He could learn if he wanted to, but he's lazy. For him this everything from 9/11 to Katrina to Iraq to Afghanistan is a game to play between extended visits to his precious ranch in Crawford. It's like having Paris Hilton running the country. She'd probably do a better job, though.

It's going to be interesting to see how Blair responds to this event. I can't imagine him going along with an invasion of Iran and Syria, especially considering how most Brits feel about the war in Iraq. The rest of the industrialized west should protest strongly. A few small and insignificant countries (economically) may still go along, but the majority likely will not.

6:13 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who knows what Blair will say, but Blair will do as he's told .... as always

6:50 am  

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