The country that brought you Admiral Lord Nelson, The Duke of Wellington, the RAF pilots, the Knights of the Round Table is now exhibiting the rebirth of a Neville Chamberlain-like appeasement policy.
‘Peace in our time.’ Chamberlain declared just before the blitz.
The fact of the matter is that the British involvement in Iraq has been anemic at best. They contributed a token number of Soldiers, were assigned the least dangerous areas of operations and put into place rules of engagement that assured their personnel would not come into harms way unless by the most remote chance.
While any coalition military death is tragic, it should be noted that the British have suffered about 200 tragic deaths in this war. Their military has operated in the background while the United States military has done the heavy lifting.
Their last military victory, the Falkland Islands, was celebrated as a great British military success. The fact remains that this victory was over what amounts to a banana republic.
It’s hard to identify the exact point in time at which the British lost their stiff upper lip. Even worse, there appears to be no other remaining stiff anatomical body parts. Do you need any other proof than that their so-called assault troops contained a female whom the males made no attempt to defend knowing she was being taken into a captivity under Shar’ia law.
We will not see Prince Harry making an appearance in a ‘combat unit’ in Iraq after this. Until now it was relatively safe for the Brits in Iraq. It’s obvious now that even for the British, this isn’t a game of drop the hanky. They surely can’t send the prince into a situation in which the British Soldiers are functioning under rules of engagement that leave them high and dry should they happen to encounter an enemy combatant.
It’s fortunate that our response to their crisis in the 1940s was not as anemic as their response to our time of need today.
A further explanation of their delicate handling of this crisis is that they are afraid of upsetting their own muslim population.
So the question remains, what will Britain do? There are those who say they do not want to ’start a war with Iran’. Iran is already at war with Britain. Will the roar of the British lion return, or will they have to settle for a meow.
Never have so many appeased so much to so few. It’s a bloody shame.
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EU Referendum is following this story closely.
Left in the humiliating position of having nothing in the locker with which to take on the Iranians after their abduction of our service personnel, our esteemed government has been running, cap in hand, to the United Nations Security Council for a resolution condemning Iran’s action.
For all we got for our efforts, though, we need not have bothered. The mighty mouse groaned and heaved and delivered what Reuters called “a watered-down statement” which merely expressed “grave concern” at the detention of the 15 British crew members, calling on Tehran to allow “consular access” to them.
Michelle Malkin calls it a national humiliation.
Simply put, I would like the UK with our support to ‘get their pecker up,’ and keep a ’stiff upper lip.’
Verum Serum and A Blog for All have updates.
Brit & Grit is keeping up with this situation and wonders some of the same things many others have been wondering.
What is the UK government doing about this issue? Secondly, where are the human rights campaigners, such as Amnesty International and the UN, when citizens of a Western country are abused in this manner?
Others: No Man’s Blog, Cop the Truth, Crimson Blog, Wizbang, Hot Air
Previous:
- Tony Blair Warns Iran to Release British Sailors and Marines
- US Troops Would Have Fought Iranian Captors
- Britain Demands Iran Free Seized Sailors
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Disclaimer: trackbacks to this post do not necessarily represent the opinions or standards of the Blue Star Chronicles.


March 31st, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Satan’s Saturday Fire and Brimstone…
Satan will never understand how the left thinks. Here we have Speaker Nancy Pelosi, far left San Francisco Democrat, who has fought against U.S. involvement Iraq since coming to power in January. Obviously she is anti-war, but yet she is going to f…..
March 31st, 2007 at 9:48 pm
EU Referendum got it right. Britain has nothing in the “locker” to throw at Iran. I did a quick post some weeks back, looking at the military might of our allies and foes. ( http://thevirtuousrepublic.com/C20070109031855/E20070303184610/index.html)
Here is a quick look at British military power:
1. Two tiny carriers with 16 Harriers each. Compare that to an America carrier.
2. 0 cruisers. Yep. Zero.
3. 8 destroyers.
4. 17 frigates.
5. 13 nuclear subs
6. 480 total fighter aircraft. You would think a country that suffered the German air blitz would have more fighter aircraft, wouldn’t you?
7. Finally, a country of 60 million, has a total military active force of only 190,000.
Even though Britain has the world’s 5th largest GDP, it seems it decided to disarm long ago. Don’t worry about gasoline prices, because all Britain can do is kiss Iran’s ass and hope they send their sailors home soon.
BSC: :sigh: that’s depressing
March 31st, 2007 at 10:30 pm
so falls a titan…
Since 1588, the English Royal Navy has been one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, naval forces on the face of the planet. It helped support an empire upon which the sun never set; it fought off……
March 31st, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Pet Food Problem Starts to Spread…
Purina has recalled its Alpo Cuts-in-Gravy products. Previously, it had recalled some of its Mighty Dog food because it had been manufactured by Menu Foods. This new recall is because the wheat gluten used in the Alpo Cuts-in-Gravy is of……
March 31st, 2007 at 11:27 pm
‘M in the UK’ - FOX NEWS just made a great point my friend that your EU - Eurabian Union - wants to downsize your British Navy from 28,000 to 14,000 personnel? NATO has blown the Queen off so don’t make your Afghanistan mission
excuses. Your 15 sailors & royal marines were abandoned by their HMS Cromwell so get used to how our hostages felt in 1979 - 444 days of captivity! Americans will NEVER negotiate with Iraniac nor Islamomaniac terrorists and neither will our #1 ally - Israel. England has great ale and soccer and Sun Page 3 Girls…but that’s about it. Britain is no longer GREAT and is currently purring like a paper lion. 007 is shaken, stirred and dead…so very sad.
April 1st, 2007 at 5:16 am
SKY NEWS UK…
Iran Protests Over ‘British Shooting’
Iran has sent a formal letter to the British Embassy in Tehran protesting about an alleged incident in Iraq, in which British troops are alleged to have surrounded an Iranian consulate and fired shots into the air.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1258576,00.html
This is the second time that this story has been put forward by Iran this week. When it first occured on Thursday - it was said by the UK MOD that there was apparently a British patrol “passing in the same street” and someone took a shot at them - and they didn’t return fire.
This Iranian statement - is merely an attempt at propaganda - an attempt to recycle a story that had no basis when it was first dealt with on Thursday.
Iran - stop trying to gain the moral high ground! You have absolutely no chance - you illegally took them and are threatening “legal action” against them individuals - BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT.
How on earth can they NOT be called “HOSTAGE”?
April 1st, 2007 at 6:02 am
Bert said:
“†… the Knights of the Round Table … “
And let’s not forget the Knights who say ‘Ni’.
Ours is truly a glorious history, M.”
The Iron Duke (Wellington)… Waterloo ???
Lord Nelson ….. Trafalgar ???
Sir John Fieldhouse & Sir John Woodward … Falkland Islands ?
I suggest you read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_military_history
Machiavelli and darthcrUSAderwt2007 points:
Our defense budget:
FY2007-8 - ranked 2nd (behind the US - which is the same as the next 10 combined….)
GBP £33.4 billion
USD $66.225 billion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_military
So your aware:
The EU does not determine INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN MEMBER’S DEFENSE POLICY. That is up to each member. It is unlikely that this will change fundamentally in the next 20 years if ever due to the fact that the EU is NOT A FEDERAL STATE - it is an affliation of independent sovereign states.
Each nation merely makes it’s own contributions to the EU rapid reaction force (which we are a major contributor), and to the EU “ready battlegroups”. http://www.euractiv.com/en/security/eu-battlegroups/article-150151
Those are likely to be used primarily in Europe… we wish to see them used further - but THE FRENCH ARE AGAINST THIS.
(What do you expect?)
… And to NATO again behind the US we are probably the second largest contributor in terms of overall Hi-tech assets.
I also make the point - that the MUTUAL relationship we have with the USA is one where WE BOTH get something out of it… even if some of my (the more vocal but very misguided or extremely biased) country people don’t agree - it’s often because they are told by the vocal … NOT TO AGREE.
The alliance we have is smething I don’t wish to see the end of.
Either way - UK defense policy is determined in Westminster and will be for the forseable future.
Our recent defence policy: (see: the extension to the SDR…. the “2004 Delivering Security in a Changing World: Future Capabilities”) has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, Desert Fox and Telic), Sierra Leonne etc may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last large scale military action in which the British armed forces fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_military
and
http://www.britainusa.com/sections/articles_show_nt1.asp?d=10&i=41062&L1=41012&L2=41062&L3=1&a=22277
This has meant that in the early 2000’s Britain was “in a transition period”. I have personally been rather annoyed by “over-runs” in programmes which the government itself says it needs to do better. But these over-runs are seen in the US and elsewhere…
Britain is known to be about to embark on possibly one of the largest defense spending programs in it’s peacetime (if we are in such a thing?) history…
It is going to purchase the REPLACEMENT for TRIDENT…. and is going to purchase 2 super-carriers of a similar size to the US Nimitz/Ford (CVN-78) classes.
These two ships are expected to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The two ships are due to enter service in 2012 and 2015 respectively. Their primary aircraft complement will be made up of F-35B Lightning IIs (BEING DEVELOPED JOINTLY WITH THE USA), and their ship’s company will number around 1000.
But a note to Machiavelli and darthcrUSAderwt2007 I am personally annoyed that we have converted - two Invincible class ships to amphibious invasion ships (we now have 3! plus two major supporting ships - (See HMS Albion”) so that now without OUR OWN CRUISE MISSILES we have no seaborne LONG RANGE striking or “power projection assets” until the two new ships are built and operational.
I’d say that along with the US - we are now the best “joint operations” orientated military in the world…
I’d end with this … if the US is going to war tomorrow… would you want us with you or not?
On that point I’ll leave you to make up your own minds…
April 1st, 2007 at 6:23 am
“6. 480 total fighter aircraft. You would think a country that suffered the German air blitz would have more fighter aircraft, wouldn’t you?”
I don’t see many German bombers being readied - to bomb London currently…
Indeed, the threat is from ballistic missles - hence despite (the usual MORE VOCAL idiotic and irresponsible neo-communist? or whatever they are “peace protesters”) - I am pro-ballistic missile defence programs in Europe and the US.
But mind - I don’t subscribe to the mind numbing claims of the usual suspects that the US is not a good influence in the world on the whole….
If these people weren’t “protesting” about the US … they’d be causing trouble in some other way.
April 1st, 2007 at 7:18 am
darthcrUSAderwt2007:
“Your 15 sailors & royal marines were abandoned by their HMS Cromwell so get used to how our hostages felt in 1979 - 444 days of captivity! Americans will NEVER negotiate with Iraniac nor Islamomaniac terrorists and neither will our #1 ally - Israel.”
Purring like a paper lion???? #1 ally????? THIS ISN’T A COMPETITION!
In saying that you give ammunition to people saying that Blair is a “poodle” which I doubt he is - Blair just better at seeing the long term bigger picture… for Britain - unlike some of the other ideologs in the EU. Hence moving more forces into Afghanistan… unlike other members…. (”the usual suspects”)
I’m sure Bush is thankful he’s had Blair around if anything as much for being “a sounding board” for things… last years G8 summit at Gleneagles shows that (but the media and the leftist lobbyests “spin” it the other way).
Personally, I see Hezbollah were gearing up to have a go at Israel in Lebanon last year. And Israel was certainly in it’s rights to respond. By-proxy games going on there…
Israel finds it hard maintaining the moral high ground however… due to the tactics employed by its enemies.
Blair’s managed to handle the politics of it all rather well. The media is just out to get him… for lack of a better target - THE ROYALS!!!
(We’re not all ideolog “socialists” here you know! - it’s just that the Blair government is better than any alternative in my view. I don’t like some of the back bench Labour MP’s or the Liberal Democrats. - but the Conservative policies simply weren’t good for the country - and the jury is still out on them for the time being I doubt they would have done any better than Blair in the past 10 years)…
PAPER TIGER?????????????????????????????!!!!
SEE THESE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FcXWZ0XVuw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6qHcd4imKk
STOP EQUATING THE “POLITICAL WAR” with IRAN currently with a “HOT WAR” … with fighting.
This is what causes certain criticisms of American’s military and viewpoint…
American people (or media) should view them not as “heroes” - BUT AS “PROFESSIONALS” - i.e. professional soldiers doing their duty and their job….
“cheesy” media in the UK doesn’t play well… it’s just the way we are…
I think this is why Britain has been more resiliant to the gradual drip drip effect on morale that has been seen in the US (that and the lower casualty rate I add…).
The US media doesn’t see that their forces are professionals and that getting killed or injured is a hazard of their job.
This is a cultural difference with the UK. All forces sign up of their own choice… and realise this themselves in the main.
Not to say we’ll abandon our servicemen - indeed quite the opposite in fact!!!
Anyway - we share more similarities with the US far more than differences. For this I am glad.
Paper tiger???? “England has great ale and soccer and Sun Page 3 Girls…but that’s about it.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhHqce3SVQw
I think you should have a think about that….
April 1st, 2007 at 9:05 am
Oops just to clarify:
when I said:
“last years G8 summit at Gleneagles”… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/31st_G8_summit
I actually meant the G8 meeting at St Petersburg, Russia, on 17 July 2006…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo,_Blair
Just remembered… and that this is indeed a case of spin being put on something… that was not what elements of the media said it was.
Since the looney’s take over the asylum at times…