J. Peter Pham calls attention to what ought to be obvious to the meanest political or journalistic intelligence:
Amid all the coverage that Iran’s seizure by force of fifteen Royal Navy personnel — eight sailors and seven marines — from HMS Cornwall, the flagship of joint Coalition and Iraqi naval force that patrols Iraqi territorial waters, no one has mentioned that this latest outrage by Iran has crossed a line of great significance. If satellite tracking proves that the British were indeed in Iraqi or international waters at the time of their capture, then Iran is not only in the wrong, but it has just, according to classical international law doctrine, also committed an act of war which hands the Coalition the legal right to respond accordingly.
Coalition forces have uncovered overwhelming evidence that Iran already supplies terrorists in Iraq. An open attack goes a step further; it is an unambiguous act of war.
Yet does anyone expect Britain and the United States to react with more than limp protests? Coalition naval and air power could obliterate the Iranian navy within hours and impose a blockade. They won’t – because majorities in Congress and Parliament would quickly force a reversal. Prime Minister Blair, already a short timer, would swiftly depart from office, while cries for President Bush’s impeachment would assail our ears for the remainder of his term.
If the mullarchy needed reassurance that the Western “powers” lack the will to forestall its ambitions, it has it now. I wonder whether it will name its first atomic bomb factory after Michael Moore or Nancy Pelosi.
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