You’re Missing The Point: Our Boats Were Captured By A Foreign Power, And We Did Nothing.

ht_soldiers_video_02_jc_160113_4x3_992Some on the Right are tearing their hair and hyperventilating about some mild violation of the Geneva Conventions by Iran with their videotaping and photographing of our captured sailors. I see nothing outrageous about that, even if it is a technical violation of the Conventions. We show video of enemy combatants at Guantanamo and elsewhere, and nobody seems upset by that.

What has me exercised is that the United States Navy let 10 sailors be captured! This wasn’t a jaunt around Coronado or Portsmouth. This was movement of sailors and equipment through one of the most contentious and volatile areas in the world. That our navy was sufficiently inattentive to the possibility that these boats might encounter difficulties while traveling near the territorial waters of Iran is simply outrageous. That we didn’t forcefully demand the immediate release of these men and their boats, backed up by a significant show of force is cowardly.

I recall the U.S.S. Enterprise running into a rock off San Diego in the 1980s. That was a big deal, even though there was no damage to our international reputation and San Diego was a friendly port, although it was California. The captain was relieved of his command, even though the pilot was in nominal charge. That is as it should be.

So who is going to be cashiered for allowing the capture of United States military personnel  by a foreign power?

Oh….xbradtc gets it.

It’s humiliating to the US, and the Navy, and  massive propaganda coup, but hardly a war crime. In fact, it is something of a defense against charges of war crimes. Had the Iranians paraded the troops through the streets and permitted throngs to abuse them (something the North Vietnamese routinely did with captured American aircrew) that would have been a war crime.

5 comments to “You’re Missing The Point: Our Boats Were Captured By A Foreign Power, And We Did Nothing.”
  1. Why the Navy didn’t have air assets overhead within minutes of getting a call from the boats is simply beyond my understanding. I know Choom Boy doesn’t give a damn about our military, but I would think someone along the line must still want to protect them.

    Said assets — gunships, fighters or whatever — should have been on the horn warning the Iranians to stand down and stay the hell away, or face being blown out of the water. Isn’t that what you do to take care of your own people?

    I guess not. Better to cave in to the savages, so they don’t get mad and refuse the billions we’re supposed to give them. That’s the Mocha Messiah Way.

    In any event, heads should roll as a result of this monumental failure to safeguard fellow Americans. And they should start rolling at Pennsylvania Avenue, and in the P-gon. These people need to be removed from any authority. They are, simply put, traitors. And it is only a matter of pure luck that our sailors weren’t hurt. President Historic First wouldn’t have given a shit if they had been.

  2. “Why the Navy didn’t have air assets overhead within minutes of getting a call from the boats is simply beyond my understanding.”

    Oh, probably just another order to stand down.

    It may be jaded of me to assume every screw-up like this is a feature-not-bug of this Administration, but you know, this Administration has earned the suspicion it gets.

  3. Perhaps several years ago it would be jaded.

    Now? It should be a call for impeachment.

    But I keep forgetting that we have no loyal opposition.

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