Why Didn't They Fight

I didn't understand why the Brits didn't fight the Iranians. First I thought that they just were overwhelmed, but now I'm not so sure. Wasn't anyone watching for other combatants? Where were reinforcments and the bigger guns?

Lt-Cdr Erik Horner, who has been working alongside the task force to which the 15 captured Britons belonged, told The Independent that his men would have fired on the Iranian Republican Guard rather than let themselves be taken hostage.

"I don't want to second-guess the British after the fact, but our rules of engagement allow a little more latitude. Our boarding team's training is a little bit more towards self-preservation," he said.

"The unique US Navy rules of engagement say we not only have a right to self-defense, but also an obligation to self-defense. They (the British) had every right in my mind and every justification to defend themselves rather than allow themselves to be taken. Our reaction was, 'Why didn't your guys defend themselves?'" he added.

It was also reported that British intelligence had been warned by the CIA that Iran would seek revenge for the detention of five suspected Iranian intelligence officers in Iraq two months ago but refused to raise threat levels in line with their US counterparts.

I'm just not certain I would have put down my arms. I'm thinking that there isn't a party in the middle-east that I'd feel any safer as a hostage than I would as a participant in a live fire incident. I wish there was more information on exactly the circumstances, because it's pretty damn hard to tell what the options were.

Captain Ed points out that the Iranians claims that these Sailors and Marines will be tried as spies is in direct conflict with the Geneva Conventions.

The Iranians cannot try the men for espionage if they captured the sailors in uniform. Article 46 of the Geneva Convention states this clearly:

2. A member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict who, on behalf of that Party and in territory controlled by an adverse Party, gathers or attempts to gather information shall not be considered as engaging in espionage if, while so acting, he is in the uniform of his armed forces.

The indictment of British sailors in uniform as spies will violate the GC. Can we expect the same level of outrage over this explicit violation as the supposed violations of the US government?

I pretty much expect that the international community and the MSM don't understand that Iran should be held to the same measure as the US or any other country. I'm sure you won't be hearing a peep from any human rights group either.