No Real Help
UPDATE: Here’s the position plotted on Google maps with an overlay by bbs.keyhole.com. I would note that the position shown is using the helicopter GPS, which is commercial , and only accurate to 10 meters, and it reflects the location of the helicopter, not the ship, which appears to be some unknown distance away.
The British Navy has published the GPS readings, and pictures “to try to prove that its naval party had not gone into Iranian waters and ridiculing Iranian claims to the contrary.”
But there’s a major problem:
Richard Schofield, an expert in international boundaries at King’s College London, questioned whether the dispute would be eased if the Royal Navy released co-ordinates of where the sailors were seized.
[snip]
“Iran and Iraq have never agreed a boundary of their territorial waters. There is no legal definition of the boundary beyond the Shatt al-Arab.”
The line on the British map has never been agreed to by anyone, so there is no agreement as to whether the coordinates the British published are in Iraqi or Iranian waters. The British personnel could be held up waiting for Iraq and Iran to agree on the border, which might be what the Iranians were after when they made the seizure.
5 comments
I think the Iranians will hold on to the sailors until the U.S. wargames are over…. say past the April 6th suggested date of our attack on Iran? Especially useful because the Brits have no idea where the sailors are being held….
Hostages are a very old Islamic/Middle Eastern tradition. They are said to be in Tehran, which is in the north of Iran and away from the important facilities, but I don’t see the Brits as being very happy about any US aggression while their people are in the “target” country.
Unless they are incredibly stupid, the Navy won’t do anything stupid while they have a carrier in the Persian Gulf. There isn’t enough room for a carrier to maneuver in the Gulf and it would be a sitting duck for Iranian defenses.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Tony Blair is helping create an “excuse” to invade Iran, so that Dumbya can sneak in there and steal all of THEIR shit, too?
Blair needs to watch his act, because I don’t think his constituents or party will put up with anymore adventures with George. If those people don’t come home soon, he takes the heat.
He’s been taking the heat for YEARS now, but they haven’t done anything to curtail his sycophantic ass-licking of Dumbya, or to remove him from his job.