Today I found yet another example of Iran's (or the Iranian government's) distaste for America and a dangerous willingness to attempt teasing a tiger. Contained in this article MSNBC ran today is an account of Revolutionary Guard boats trying to play pin the tail on the donkey with American warships. According to MSNBC, Iran’s Foreign Ministry seemed to claim a case of ignorance on the part of its forces. For the men of these five boats to have deliberately tried to provoke a confrontation with U.S. military forces would be disturbing enough, but for them to have not realized the ships they were accosting were a United States Navy destroyer, frigate, and cruiser would be down right frightening. Iran has a history of trying to provoke responses from its neighbors, see Ahmadinejad's statements regarding Israel, and trying to provoke the militaries currently in the region, see the capture of fifteen British troops last year.
For a country that has behaved erratically in the international political arena and supports terror and tyranny to become so brazen spells out a recipe for another cataclysmic conflict, not only inside the borders of one Middle Eastern country, but one that boils out of the region and pulls in supporters from all sides and for all side. Russia, with its internal politics increasingly mimicking the politics of a generation ago, has already drawn its line in the sand by selling arms to Iran. China's shaky relations with Iran and burgeoning trade with America only puts a cloud over where that county's imposing military may find itself, should conflict erupt.
I'm afraid it's not so much an "if" Iran will cross the line, it's a "when." When that happens, the world must decide how to deal with this tyrannical state. Will we have the moral superiority of Chamberlain and achieve peace in our time? Ahmadinejad has consistently shown that he has very little respect for diplomatic measures. Why should we extend him that courtesy?
Not good. I wonder if they're looking for a pretext to invade Iraq.
ReplyDeleteIran has never felt the need to justify military conflict with Iraq, the war between them was resolved by cease-fire in 1988 after 8 years of open hostilities. They have had no reconciliation of the issues at hand in that war.
ReplyDeleteWhile they don't need to justify it to themselves, how about their allies? From the tapes released, it looked to me like they were trying to goad the American ships into firing at and sinking their boats.
ReplyDeleteI suppose this could be chalked up to malice or stupidity. The stupidity theory is that it was a bunch of undisciplined sailors having fun, which is scary enough. Or the malice theory: they're trying to provoke an international incedent to further their own ends, and getting revenge on Iraq seems to be the most likely goal they could further by this.
The more I think about it, the more plausible the stupidity theory sounds. Combine a governent that's making a lot of angry rhetoric about Americans with a military that doesn't have a good sense of discipline, and you can get all sorts of trouble.