Diplomacy trumps machismo
What should the US do about Iran? Britain's successful effort to free its 15 marines offers useful lessons.
from the April 11, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 2
provo, Utah - There is now an unhappy irony besetting the Bush administration's involvement in the Middle East.
It went to war in Iraq, which turned out not to be producing the feared nuclear weapon.
Now it is probably not going to war in Iran, which almost certainly is intent on producing the feared nuclear weapon.
Thus the Israelis, who have long argued that Iran is more dangerous than Iraq, can uneasily claim credit for being right.
So the question now is what the United States should do about Iran. It is more of a conundrum than a question, for the options are few.
There is a lot of talk about the lessons America can learn from the recent capture, imprisonment, psychological pressuring, and ultimate freeing of 15 British marines and sailors by a smiling, handshaking Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As he bade them farewell in their Iranian-provided civilian clothes, it was as though he was saying goodbye to them after a two-week holiday on the sun-splashed Iranian "riviera." All that was lacking was the phrase "Do come back and see us again."
I doubt that there will be much enthusiasm from the Britons for an early return to Iran given the treatment they now tell us they received. Seized at gunpoint in the waters between Iraq and Iran, they were flown to Tehran, blindfolded, their hands shackled behind their backs, and backed up against a concrete wall while their Revolutionary Guard captors clicked and cocked their weapons. This kind of intimidation was very similar to that given American hostages seized by Revolutionary Guards at the American embassy in Tehran in 1979.
At a press conference in Britain after their release, some of the marines said they thought they were to be executed. Instead, they were photographed and hustled into a cell, where they remained for six days without seeing anyone. Then they were separated, stripped, put in pajamas, and placed in small separate isolation cells, there to undergo psychological pressure.
RSS feed