Could capture of British sailors be Bush's excuse for attack on Iran?

[dajoki]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17782123/

Blair calls Iran capture of sailors ‘very serious’
U.K., Iranian ministers speak; 15 held in unknown location

Updated: 1 hour, 14 minutes ago

LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday that 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran as they searched for smugglers off the Iraqi coast had been outside Iranian waters, and warned that Britain viewed their situation as “very serious.”

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett spoke by telephone with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki late Sunday, and reiterated her country’s stance that the British sailors and marines were operating in Iraqi waters as they searched for smugglers at sea.

<<snip>>

“I want to get (the situation) resolved in as easy and diplomatic a way as possible,” Blair said, but added he hoped the Iranians “understood how fundamental an issue this is for the British government.”

“This is a very serious situation,” Blair said.

Rice calls for their release
On a visit to the Middle East, Rice said the sailors and marines should be released immediately and said “we all fully trust the British” that they were not in Iranian waters when they were seized Friday.

But the Iranians also stuck by their view that the British had violated Iranian territory.

[PDJane]

1. Welllllllll.............yeah. Of course.

That's why the sailors were in Iranian waters in the first damn place.

The US and Britain have been pushing the situation for years, and are getting decidedly antsy.

Of course it's an excuse. It didn't work in Iraq; Saddam didn't take the bait, so they had to go for faked intelligence and outright aggression.

Stupid. It's stupid, but they're determined.

[dajoki]

2. Reminds me of Gulf of Tonkin...

Our excuse for escalating in Vietnam.

[Solo_in_MD]

3. Check your facts...

They were there under a UN mandate and given that it is the Brits, who tend not to be cowboys, I expect they were in disputed or international waters. If the Brits were being provacative, there would have been a "rescue" mission standing by complete with air support.

[Solo_in_MD]

4. Considering it was the Pasdarn and not the Iraqi Navy, its just as likely that the mullahs

are using this as a distraction for their populace. The threats of trying them for spying adds credability to that line of thought

[LiberalFighter]

5. Gee... bushwad didn't declare war against China in April of 2001

when our spy plane was downed by the chinese.

I guess bushwad was too chickenshit.