Iran

So, the terrorists have taken hostages again. In case you hadn't heard, 5 days ago, Iran siezed 15 British service members in Iraqi waters, claiming they were actually in Iranian waters.

The GPS records indicate that the boat was clearly 1.7 nautical miles inside IRAQI waters. Quoting CNN now:

"Earlier, the British Ministry of Defense gave what it said was proof that the British ship carrying the sailors and marines never strayed into Iranian waters.

British Vice Adm. Charles Style said the global positioning system on the ship proves the vessel was "clearly" 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters and that the boat was "ambushed" by the Iranian forces.

Iran insists the ship was inside its territorial waters and, according to Style, provided a map with coordinates on Saturday in attempts to prove the point.

Blair said those coordinates actually "turned out to confirm they were in Iraqi waters," and Iraq has supported that position.

Iran on Wednesday provided different coordinates that placed the vessel inside Iranian waters.
The "change of coordinates," Style said, "is hard to legitimate."

Even if the ship had somehow strayed into Iranian waters, Beckett said, "under international law, warships have sovereign immunity in the territorial sea of other states."

"The very most Iran would've been entitled to do if they considered our boats were breaching the rules on innocent passage would've been to require the ship to leave their territorial waters immediately," the foreign secretary explained."

I look forward to the day Iran finishes its nuclear aspirations and Israel sends them back to the stone age. My only regret is that we won't have the cojones to do it first. Iran disgusts me. They represent everything that is soulless and wrong.

Aloha.

Protests and my response

The following link includes pictures, one of which has a picture of vulgarity on a sign carried by a protester.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1803499/posts

In response, I feel a Jack-Nicholson-in-A-Few-Good-Men-level tirade coming upon me. To quote, and it sums up my thoughts nicely,

"We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use then as the backbone of a life trying to defend something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you," and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest that you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to."

Aloha.

Body Count

As many have heard, there is a very popular movie out now called "300". The movie is about the 300 Spartans that held off the Persian Army at the battle of Thermopylae. A good article describing what happened is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae

I watched a documentary on the 300 this weekend. As I watched, I was amazed at the thought that 300 Spartans (the Delta Force of the day) could hold back the Persian Army of 2.6 million. In reality, on the last day when the forces were surrounded and died to the last man, there were 300 Spartans and 1000 other Greek troops there, bringing the body count on the Greek side to a total of 1300 (for this battle).

The Persians lost 10,000 the first day. Then they sent in 10,000 of their special forces (the Immortals). They were cut to pieces. Then they sent in another 20,000 troops. After that they sent in 10's of thousands more. Finally, they were able to flank the Spartans and defeat them. The Persian body count was over 40,000. Total time for this battle was 2-3 days.

The United States in the Iraq war has lost fewer than 3,500 troops. That includes those killed in accidents, heart attacks in the combat zone, etc. (not just combat related injuries or IED's). We have been in this particular war 4 years now.

We have lost 3,500 people in 4 years. The Persians lost over 40,000 in 2-3 days and kept going. We lose 3,500 in 4 years and we can't wait to quit.

We should be ashamed.

Aloha.

God, Google and Wi-Fi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airespace