Liberals Blaming America First Again: Now We’re Responsible For Iran Taking British Hostages.

The left always blames America first and the Iranian hostage crisis is no different. From ultra-lib Patrick Cockburn in the Independent,

“The botched US raid that led to the hostage crisis

A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines.

Early on the morning of 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and still holds.

In reality the US attack had a far more ambitious objective, The Independent has learned. The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment.

Better understanding of the seriousness of the US action in Arbil – and the angry Iranian response to it – should have led Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence to realise that Iran was likely to retaliate against American or British forces such as highly vulnerable Navy search parties in the Gulf. The two senior Iranian officers the US sought to capture were Mohammed Jafari, the powerful deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council, and General Minojahar Frouzanda, the chief of intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, according to Kurdish officials.

The two men were in Kurdistan on an official visit during which they met the Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, and later saw Massoud Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), at his mountain headquarters overlooking Arbil.

“They were after Jafari,” Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of Massoud Barzani, told The Independent. He confirmed that the Iranian office had been established in Arbil for a long time and was often visited by Kurds obtaining documents to visit Iran. “The Americans thought he [Jafari] was there,” said Mr Hussein.

Mr Jafari was accompanied by a second, high-ranking Iranian official. “His name was General Minojahar Frouzanda, the head of intelligence of the Pasdaran [Iranian Revolutionary Guard],” said Sadi Ahmed Pire, now head of the Diwan (office) of President Talabani in Baghdad. Mr Pire previously lived in Arbil, where he headed the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Mr Talabani’s political party.

The attempt by the US to seize the two high-ranking Iranian security officers openly meeting with Iraqi leaders is somewhat as if Iran had tried to kidnap the heads of the CIA and MI6 while they were on an official visit to a country neighbouring Iran, such as Pakistan or Afghanistan. There is no doubt that Iran believes that Mr Jafari and Mr Frouzanda were targeted by the Americans. Mr Jafari confirmed to the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, that he was in Arbil at the time of the raid.”

See? It’s not the fault of Iranians that they took British hostages. Actually, the people to blame are the Americans, because 10 weeks earlier, they supposedly tried and failed to capture some Iranians in Iraq.

First off, who knows if this is true or not. Even if it was true, the Iranians have committed an act of war against us in Iraq by helping insurgents to kill our troops. Since that’s the case, snatching two Iranians in Iraq who would undoubtedly be involved in directing attacks on our troops, would be totally justified.

But, even if we did try to grab those Iranians and even if we weren’t justified, how would that justify the Iranians entering Iraqi waters and kidnapping 15 British soldiers who were authorized in their actions by the United Nations?

On the face of it, it makes no sense. It’s also worth noting that, “In June 2004, six British marines and two sailors were captured, then paraded blindfolded on Iranian television.” So, it’s not as if they haven’t done this before.

Besides, since when do evil people, like the people who run Iran, need an excuse to do evil? Pirates loot ships. Thieves rob people. Terrorists murder innocent people. The Iranians sponsor terrorists, try to kill American soldiers in Iraq, try to build nuclear bombs, and take hostages. It’s just the nature of this particular beast.

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