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Ominous Signs Suggest Iran War Close
Seizure of British marines could be "Gulf of Tonkin" long yearned for by warmongers
Posted By Paul Watson watson@prisonplanet.com
As tensions surrounding Iran's seizure of 15 British navy personnel continue to build, ominous signs that war is nearing give an indication that this could be the new "Gulf of Tonkin" Bush and Blair have long yearned for to justify air strikes on Iran.
The U.S. has escalated war games in the area, "The manoeuvres involve the USS John C. Stennis and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, marking the first time the two strike groups have operated in a joint exercise under the US Navy's Fifth Fleet," reports the AFP.
Russian news outlets are reporting that such activity represents, "Heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," that closely resembles the situation immediately before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has given the Iranians just days to return the marines safely before harsher steps are taken.
It's difficult to know who to trust concerning exactly whose waters the marines were in, Iraq's or Iran's, when Ahmadinejad's slender grip on power survives only by feeding his own population war propaganda, while Bush and Blair have become the very iconography of deceit in the modern age.
A high ranking Iraqi official expressed his surprise that British forces were even operating in the area.
Brigadier-General Hakim Jassim, commander of Iraq's territorial waters, told the BBC: "Usually there is no presence of British forces in that area, so we were surprised and we wondered whether the British forces were inside Iraqi waters or inside Iranian regional waters."
Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, slammed the spin and rhetoric Tony Blair has cased the crisis in, pointing out that the Royal Navy boarded the ships not to conduct inspections on weapons smuggling, but to look for tax evaders.
"In international law the Iranian government were not out of order in detaining foreign military personnel in waters to which they have a legitimate claim," said Murray, adding "For the Royal Navy, to be interdicting shipping within the twelve mile limit of territorial seas in a region they know full well is subject to maritime boundary dispute, is unnecessarily provocative."
What seems to be unfolding are similar circumstances that led to the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon last summer, where two Israeli soldiers were "kidnapped" after they had crossed the border into Lebanese territory.
It seems highly unlikely that the Iranians would risk further international condemnation by kidnapping British marines in Iraqi waters, but whatever the truth, the fact remains that the "coalition of the killing" are no strangers to violating international rules defining sovereignty and kidnapping foreign nationals for political gain.
Bush has green-lighted the CIA policy of globe-hopping to snatch terror suspects off the streets of foreign countries, the most high profile case being Islamic cleric Abu Omar in Milan in 2003.
On January 11, U.S. military forces raided an Iranian consulate in Arbil and detained five Iranian officials who are still prisoners to this day.
Bush and Blair's denouncements of Iran's actions are accompanied by more than a whiff of hypocrisy and if this situation continues to escalate it may become the "Gulf of Tonkin" they have long yearned for to justify ordering air strikes against Ahmadinejad's nuclear and military facilities.
Paul Watson, an American writer,
journalist, and publisher of books and documentaries on
International Relations and Current Affairs, has volunteer to
contribute to www.esinislam.com.
Paul Watson can be contacted at watson@prisonplanet.com |
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