The British Blame Game
A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines.
Early on the morning of 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and still holds.
In reality the US attack had a far more ambitious objective, The Independent has learned. The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment.
First off, I think it's ridiculous that we are being blamed because the British Navy was unprepared. If they would have fired on the Revolutionary Guard, we probably would not be in this mess. I know many Americans support Britain and any actions they need to take to get those sailors back. This is just a slap in the face to those who support them.
Second, those Iranian "security" agents were members of Iranian intelligence and were linked to providing training and weapons to terrorists. We are responsible for security in Iraq and we certainly do not Iran's interference. Iran has already declared war on the United States and we surely would not allow intelligence agents from Iran relay info back or any other type of action that would aggravate the situation.
*** UPDATE ***
Someone who knows a lot more about this kind of stuff has just posted about his. Check out In From The Cold for a better understanding of this situation.
