Ominous Signs Suggest Iran War Close
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mar 28th, 2007 9:26 AM
*Ominous Signs Suggest Iran War Close*
Seizure of British marines could be "Gulf of Tonkin" long yearned for by
warmongers
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
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.