Posted on 03/25/2007 5:17:55 AM PDT by Dog
I wonder if the rules of engagement have been changed since this incident? I'm sure a lot of seagoing Brits are anxious not to repeat this.
I have to agree that you blokes are not 'poofters'. I also think that the Brits were in an impossible situation. If the HMS Cornwall had opened fire on the Iranians and not being able (I think) to engage all of the Iranians boats, they would have sacrificed the 16 personnel in the rubber boat. May have killed a few Iranians but lost their people.
I think the Brits know what they are doing and we may find out after this is resolved.
Sorry about that. I've just been feeling ornery for personal reasons recently so I decided to do some light trolling.
My prayers are up for the fifteen, but a nice airstrike on a couple of Iranian refineries would help too...
Cheers!
Hopefully we'll never have to. But if a terrorist organization detonated a nuclear device over the U.S. and we could determine a responsible rogue regime, I imagine we would retaliate in kind.
I think it's possible for a terror organization to do this, and in additon to killing hundreds of thousands of Americans with radiation, it would shut down most normal communications in the U.S., paralyzing our economy. The Democrats don't seem to understand the consequences of losing in Iraq, which is the key battle in the war on terror. The Democrats in Congress are undermining our troops, giving aid and comfort to the enemy: treason defined. The penalty for treason should be death by hanging.
I'm sure you don't mean to be offensive mate, but calling the British people cowards and weaklings when we are your ONLY friend willing to lose troops by your side is very disrespectful. Todays British troops are the ones who have won two Victoria crosses in Iraq and Afghanistan to add to numerous gallantry medals. They have also saved the lives of US troops.
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/HistoryAndHonour/RoyalMarineReceivesConspicuousGallantryCross.htm
The British have a superb military record in the modern period. We also have never, and never will, compromise with those holding hostages.
Somewhere Lord Nelson's ghost is weeping at what has become of his Royal Navy...
Ahem...
In fact it's part of in-place nuclear protocol.
Whether lucky, in support roles etc does not mean they were cowards and weaklings.
You are correct in that the slaughter was terrible, it left most families with "maiden aunts", women whose fiances died and then there were not enough men to go around, especially after the Spanish Flu epidemic.
The survivors in my family, from both wars served with distinction whether in infantry and tanks in WW1 or medics and cryptologists and paras in WW2; to imply that they were some sort of weaklings or offspring thereof is not respectful.
thanks for those quotes
C.S. Lewis touches on this in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy:
"Peace to them all. A worse fate awaited them than the most vindictive fag among us could have wished. Ypres and Somme ate up most of them. They were happy while their good days lasted."
Cheers!
How did the British lose last time? We didn't give the Iranians anything for the release of our personnel
MOST of us didn't react to the news that way. SOME of us are well aware that the UK was the ONLY country which stood with us and was shot at with us during all those longly years patrolling the Northern and Southern no-fly zones and allowing the Kurds to thrive and prosper under their own form of self rule - while many other countries were openly profiting from the Blood for Oil Vouchers scam.
The UK has always been our staunchest ally. Well, since the Revolutionary war. ALMOST always ;-)
Anyhow, the US has always been able to rely on the Brits, and at least until Hillary is elected in '08, the UK can rely on us in kind.
You tell everyone you have a chance to that if the left in both countries hadn't been engaging in double digit political posturing with their single digit IQ's, Iran probably would not have been emboldened to take this step, and the ONLY OTHER reason the Iranian government is doing it is to divert the Iranian public's attention from toppeling their evil regime.
No worries, I agree that a couple of airstrikes on certain nuclear sites may be required ! ;-)
I seem to recall that Abraham Lincoln jailed congressmen for obstructing the war.
Most right-thinking Brits are also honoured to be at the side of the US as a force for good in the world. :-)
We Brits are generally a modest bunch, but it is disheartening to sometimes see our sacrifices dismissed by some Americans on this board. Good news from Tony Blair by the way. I've just seen him on the news with his 'serious' face on stating:
'We have certainly sent the message back to them very clearly indeed. They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which is unjustified and wrong."
LOL
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