*Update*
It appears that the Irans bought their prisoners new grey suits and gave them gift bags (???) to take home with them when they were released. As of this writing it is unclear where the suits came from. The Iranian government denies they bought the suits, and the British government claims they'd never seen them before. A Syrian tailor in Tehran has claimed that the suits may have originated from their shop, but was unable to say for sure. Where did the suits come from? What they heck was in those gift bags? Fascinating. Stay tuned.
Here is the text of the entry I wrote yesterday, and then decided not to publish lest one of my four (three?) readers turns out to be Ahmadinejad. But now that the Brits are back on home turf, I will publish what I wrote. Nothing too insightful, just expressing my annoyance with the situation.
I have a feeling there will some worldwide love thrown Iran's way after they release the 15 Britons tomorrow, perhaps enough to get them out of the company of scoundrels they are in with the 5 least respected countries. Which would be ironic since the whole affair was so well orchestrated by them. Their only hiccup was with the coordinates of the original capture, which was altered only slightly when it was pointed out that their calculations put the incident squarely in Iraqi waters. Oops! Hang on, tongue sticking out, erasers scribbling furiously, THERE! Now they were captured in OUR waters HA! Refute that! I gotta hand it too them, at least Bush scratches his coconut a little over factual innacuracies, the Iranians just march on undaunted.
It will be interesting to hear what the soldiers have to say of their time in Iran, whether they were forced to 'confess' or simply did so to appease their captors. Or, if they believed they had trespassed. Either way you put it, they probably just wanted to get the hell out of there. This is the country after all who debated the likelehood of the Holocaust having ever happening amongst a diverse roomfull of Holocaust deniers.
Anyway, I suspect their shenanigans and consequential 'Easter gift to the British people' will go over well with the region. Which makes me think maybe we should kidnap Ahmadinejad, make him say he believes in Santa Claus in front of a pair of Bush's old Snoopy bedsheets and then return him in time for Ramadan.
Hey all, popping in to quickly make my presence known, but let's be honest, I'm barely there. I have not had a chance to discuss some of the big news stories of late, or even the poll I mentioned last time. The last time I wrote, a man was arrested after crossing the frozen Niagara falls trying to come to the United States. Last week, Iran arrested 15 British troops for crossing the Persian Gulf. London claims that in fact they were not, that they were apprehended in Iraqi waters, not Iranian, but clearly the Iranians, who have somehow extracted the actual story from the soldiers themselves are the easier ones to believe. I mean what better way to gain the trust of the world than to imitate the media saviness of Al-Queda? Complete with shoeless captives reading prepared speeches in front of stained drop cloths. It really inspires confidence.
I think I am gearing up for a major firehole on the subject of the Iranians being petulant babies who are making it increasingly difficult for a knee-jerk lefty such as myself to argue for diplomacy as a means to resolve our misunderstandings with them. Not that we have any other choice, our military having been completely worn out by Bush's war whimsy. For those of you who know what a Firehole is, now is the time to quietly back out of the room, lest you are on the recieving end of what may prove to be an explosive lecture, complete with frothy spittle and violently gesticulating hands. For a LONG period of time.
***UPDATE****
Well the Iranians seem to be considering releasing the Britons. That would be excellent and I would tone down my personal rhetoric about them being "babies". But let's wait for them to be released before I comment any further. Not only do I not want to speak too soon, but in the off chance* that Ahmadinejad is reading, I don't want to upset the balance!
*The chances that Ahmadinejad is reading this blog are, mm, very small. Although it would be sort of funny if he turned out to be one of my four stalwarts.