For Iran its Hostages, for America its Suspects

Once again the mainstream media has successfully reported a story accurately and achieved American Imperialist propaganda at the same time. Iran's claim that the British personnel were in Iranian water seems, perhaps, a bit specious. Only with GPS can the actual position of the boats be determined. Britain claims to have proof of the boat's position, but this has not been made public...why? HMS Cornwall is a sophisticated communications and fighting ship. It was supposed to keep watch over the mobile patrol boats carrying out inspections. Standard procedure included a helicopter cover for the boats. Why did the ship not use standard radar to track local boat movements? Why did the helicopter not notice the closing Iranian boats? Why were no warning shots fired to deter the Iranians? I can only think of two possibilities...The first possibility is that the boats were all VERY near the line with the Iranian border. This would allow the possibility that drifting on the current could have led them across into Iranian territory. If this were the case, it would be an act of aggression against Iran on the part of Britain to intervene as they would in fact be guilty of the alleged territorial violation. The second possibility is that this was allowed to happen on purpose. Which Commander has been given a dressing down over allowing this to happen? None, thus far at least. Why were television observers given access to this particular patrol, and in fact interview Faye Turney before the incident? At best this seems quite peculiar.

The CIA has regularly been conducting renditioning flights out of EU airports. These flights have been condemned by the EU. A direct quote from the Guardian Unlimited,
'The preliminary report was compiled using data provided by the EU's air safety agency, Eurocontrol. It also used information gathered during three months of hearings and more than 50 hours of testimony by human rights groups and people who said they had been kidnapped and tortured by US agents.' In fact, Italy has issued arrest warrants against 13 CIA operatives for violating international law and national sovereignty by renditioning people on Italian soil. In the case of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, the CIA took an approved refugee, kidnapped him, tortured him and released him to Egyptian authorities. His refugee status was granted in Italy because of the threat to his well being in Egypt becuase his 'crime' was seeking the overthrow of the Egytian government. These renditionings regularly take 'terror suspects' unlawfully and transport them to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where it is alleged they are tortured and otherwise mistreated at the hands of CIA operatives or their local counterparts with CIA approval. Many of those 'renditioned' have never entered the United States, and in the case of Hassan Nasr, were being investigated for crimes unrelated to any US terrorists threat. Why are these people called 'suspects' but when Iran takes British soldiers who were, at best, very close to breaching Iran's border, and more likely did breach the border, they are referred to as 'hostages'?

The CIA doesn't provide videos of healthy and seemingly well kept prisoners smoking cigarettes and eating what appears to be balanced meals. Yet these 'hostages' are certainly being cared for. Perhaps Faye Turney has been coerced into saying that the boat strayed into Iranian water, but she certainly hasn't been tortured in the way released victims of the CIA's renditioning program have been. Now Tony Blair cries 'foul' because broadcasting images of prisoner is a violation of the Geneva Convention. So is the practice of rendition. So is the violation of national sovereignty. So is the pre-emptive invasion of a nation. So is the sanctioning of torture. The point here is not to praise Iran's actions. They are certainly acting in an inflammatory way, considering the atomic energy situation and Iraqi insurgency claims. But, why would Britain or the United States expect to condemn Iran for breaking the very legal framework that they themselves have ignored in the 'war on terror'? Unfortunately, the Middle East seems to be degrading into anarchy. The cause for this instability falls squarely on the United States and Britain.