Blair’s Last Gamble
by Matthias Chang
Barrister, Inner Temple

The issues surrounding the lawful detention of 15 British soldiers by the Iranian Government should be analysed from two aspects ˆ the Legal & Technical aspects and the Political aspects.

It is a measure of Tony Blair, a Barrister, who instead of approaching the issues objectively and dispassionately has resorted to hype, threats and bully logic in an attempt to compel the Iranian government to release the said soldiers without first establishing conclusively a case against the Iranian Government. In the like manner of his conduct prior to the illegal invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair seems to think that he could, through threats and falsehoods establish the casus belli for an illegal war against Iran.

It is therefore of the utmost importance that the peace loving peoples of the world should be exposed to this insidious attempt by Tony Blair to create the necessary propaganda to demonise Iran and the public opinion for a war against Iran.

First Thing First

We need to ask the question, “What are these British soldiers doing in this part of the world so far from home?”

These soldiers are part of the British contingent of the Combined Task Force 158 (CTF158) comprising of 12 units of naval and marine forces from the U.S., UK, Australian and the Iraqi navies. It was only very recently that Commodore Nick Lambert RN of HMS Cornwall was assigned the role of Commander of the Task Force, taking over from Rear Admiral Garry Hall, US Navy.

He has been quoted as saying, “I am proud to have the opportunity to be involved. This is my fourth tour in the Gulf and HMS Cornwall and my team have received extensive training to fulfil this vital role.” Therefore Commodore Nick Lambert is very familiar with the situation and the geographical scope of his duties and responsibilities. It is also important to note that 8 out of the 15 soldiers detained were also detained in very similar circumstances few years ago and who had admitted on the previous occasion that they were rightly interdicted and detained in Iranian territorial waters. Therefore, these eight soldiers were not inexperience recruits but seasoned military personnel trained extensively as admitted by their commander in the above cited interview.

HMS Cornwall besides being the Command Ship of the said Task Force (CTF 158), is also one of a number of ships providing direct 24 hours-a-day protection to Iraq’s two oil terminals just off its coast. The following taken from the official websites of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the Royal Navy provide interesting reading and I would like to quote in extenso:

“Combined Task Force (CTF) 158 operates in the North Arabian Gulf (NAG) and oversees U.S. and coalition ships involved in Maritime Security Operations
(MSO).”

“Task Force 158 is the maritime contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and is executed by Coalition Forces of the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom working alongside elements of the Iraqi Navy (IqN) and the Iraqi Marines (IqM)..”

The next quotation is most revealing.

“CTF has responsibilities for international water/air space north of 29ºN below 2,500 ft and Iraqi TTW to buoy 36 in the Khor Abd Allah (KAA) and to the South of the Shatt al Arab (SAA). Additional CTF 158 battle space includes international waters west of 29º00′N 049º30′E & 28º25′N 049º30′E.”

To avoid any misunderstanding, I am not saying here that I accept that the occupiers and invaders of Iraq are entitled under International Law to exercise jurisdiction over the said defined geographical area. What I am saying is that the CTF having demarcated their alleged area of operations, they cannot have “strayed accidentally” into Iranian territorial waters. It is therefore abundantly clear that the CTF knows exactly the limits of the military operations which as admitted were part of the illegal Operation Iraqi Freedom. CTF has the latest technologies and equipment and it cannot be said that their forces can be mistaken as to the areas of operations. Finally it should also be noted that at the material time of the detention of the British soldiers in Iranian territorial waters, the Commander of CTF, Commodore Nick Lambert was quoted as saying and as reported by the BBC as follows:

“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they (British personnel) were in Iraqi territorial waters. Equally, the Iranians may claim they were in Iranian territorial waters. We may well find that this is a simple misunderstanding at the tactical level.”

If and it is a big if, Commodore Lambert was absolutely sure of his facts why was there a need to concede that it could be a “misunderstanding at the tactical level.” Reviewing the above facts derived from official military sources of the United States and the United Kingdom, the position taken by the war criminal Tony Blair cannot be sustained. The only point which I am willing to concede to the British is that her soldiers were more matured than Tony Blair in that they had the wisdom and common sense when caught red handed operating in Iranian territorial waters did not engaged in any foolhardy military action. This may very well have prevented a war between the military forces of Iran and the CTF. The pretext or trigger which Tony Blair was hoping to get from this provocation was foiled by his very own soldiers.

But this has not stopped the war criminal Tony Blair from pursuing a reckless policy of further provocations against the Iranian government and people by demanding that the matter be referred to the UN Security Council. If Tony Blair was in fact sincere in resolving this matter peacefully and through diplomacy, and has the interest of his soldiers, he would have pursue other legitimate avenues to address the matter, as both Britain and Iran are contracting parties to the 1899 Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. I am not, in stating this, expressing confidence in the mechanism of the Hague Convention but merely to expose the hypocrisy of the Blair regime and its double standards. Being a war monger and a war criminal, Tony Blair has no interest in resolving such disputes peacefully.

Blair criticises the Iranian government for displaying the captured soldiers on Television in good health and condition. But condones and sanctions the blind folding and the brutal treatment of captured Iraqi civilians contrary to the Geneva Conventions. This war criminal is beyond redemption!

The Political Scenario

The present political situation is very favourable to peace loving peoples of the world. They now know that the leaders of the sole superpower, the United States and its principal ally, the United Kingdom lied and engaged in forgery to justify their invasion of Iraq. To that extent, it has become much harder for the war mongers and the war parties in the US, UK and Israel to create conditions for another war in the Middle East. Both Bush and Blair are lame ducks but they still thirst for blood and chaos to achieve their evil ends.

The US is very isolated and knows that without the UK military involvement in the next reckless adventure in the Middle East, the Zionist agenda for regional hegemony would not be achieved. Contrary to conventional wisdom and political pundits - that the US will be the one who will trigger a false flag operation ˆ I am of the view that such a gambit has to come from the Zionist Money Centre in the UK. This is because there is no support for war against Iran in the UK. Therefore the British war party must create a casus belli for an initial military operation against Iran so that the twin objectives of:

(i) Committing UK as an ally to the US and Israel

(ii) Establishing the “legitimacy” for the military operation

The second phase in the “long war” (the first being the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq) ˆ a more devastating war against Iran could then be launched with a subdued British opposition. The propaganda has already started. Observe the use of the word, “kidnapped” by Tony Blair and the British mass media to described the lawful capture of the British soldiers. This is the same propaganda tactic adopted by Israel to justify the barbaric invasion of Lebanon last year. The concept that soldiers trained in warfare and conducting military operations in a defined “battle space” have been “kidnapped” as opposed to being “captured” reveals to what extent, ordinary people can be manipulated by brainwashing methods to accept such a state of affairs.

We must therefore expose that the incursion into Iranian territorial waters was a deliberate military operation sanction by Tony Blair to provide the casus belli for an illegal war against Iran. But for the common sense and survival instinct of the soldiers who were intelligent enough to surrender (though against orders) another “Gulf of Tonkin” incident (which sparked off the Vietnam War) was prevented.

Iran must make every effort to inform the British people the slimy tricks of Tony Blair to bring Britain to another war in the Middle East, not for any national interest of Britain but that of Israel and the United States. And as a gesture of good will to the British people, Iran should invite the parents of these soldiers to come to Iran and visit their sons and daughter. Tony Blair must be exposed for having no interest at all for the wellbeing of the soldiers but hell bent to provoke a war.

Matthias Chang

Notes:

1.
www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/HmsCornwallArrivesInTheGulf
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http://usnisa.org/neucache.html

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 7:41 am and is filed under Editor's Zone, Political Zionism, Iran, Iraq, United Kingdom/politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.