December PLUS January = March to WAR in April???

Dear ZENistas,

Can we ignore the fact that 15 British sailors are now in Iranian custody?

Certainly not!

But!! But!!
Where were they found?

Do we remember when the US-led forces captured, in December and January, a string of Iranians, including "...the highest ranking Iranian ever held by the United States", being Brigadier General Mohsen Chirazi. (ZENwonders how we say 'Brigadier General' in Farsi??)

Do we remember where Saddam Hussein first attacked Iran, in 1980?

ZENmud learned in researching this, that this Waterway has been a source of contention for millennia: the first 'Treaty' covering its use by the neighboring states was in 1639!

So we start putting their people in prisons (Abu Ghraib? Or otherwise??), and they start picking off Brits in boats... let's go back to the old map... Iranians claim the 'incident' happened on their territorial waters: the Brits claim that the Iranians came into Iraqi waters. Neither case allows the Blair-Bush consortium of horrors to look intelligent. As was stated over at good ole Bartcop, by a reader named 'Mark':

can you tell us WHY an Iranian military vessel was allowed and actually capable of entering the Iraqi territorial zone without any other kind of reaction or response, other than letting a few grunts get picked up for a propaganda exercise?

Mark, you're right: satellites, BBC film crews aboard... maybe; this is from the BBC itself:

BBC world affairs correspondent, Ian Pannell, who was earlier on board HMS Cornwall, said the mood on the ship was "quiet and determined" and that "the aspiration here is that this will be over sooner rather than later".

And the BBC's Bridget Kendall said the big question was whether the capture was part of a bigger political game, ahead of a UN Security Council vote in New York over further sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme.

Anyone can guess, whether correspondent Ian Pannell, and Bridget Kendall, were actually on-board, or 'mysteriously put ashore', during the time of capture of these sailors and marines. Were they off the cruiser long enough to provide cover for this action? Did they participate and provide video evidence that the world wants to see???

Interesting ZENfact: a photo of Bridget is easy to come by on GOOGLE Images; a photo of Ian is not so easily procured... (Photo credit: BBC)

There is an interesting correlation between such incidents, wouldn't ZENers agree? Makes you wonder if 'Ian' has two roles in life?

ZENers, it's time for a bike tour, to clear out ZENwebs and COBthoughts, and get on with a beautiful spring day... oh!

One last thought, from the gang at BUZZFLASH: , who provided this link to yet another excerpt, in a Guardian web-article about the Lancet Report on Iraqi deaths:

The Ministry of Defence's chief scientific advisor said the research was "robust", close to "best practice", and "balanced". He recommended "caution in publicly criticising the study".

When these recommendations went to the prime minister's advisers, they were horrified. One person briefing Tony Blair wrote: "are we really sure that the report is likely to be right? That is certainly what the brief implies?" A Foreign Office official was forced to conclude that the government "should not be rubbishing The Lancet".

The prime minister's adviser finally gave in. He wrote: "the survey methodology used here cannot be rubbished, it is a tried and tested way of measuring mortality in conflict zones".

There's a lotta killin' going on, in that part of the world OUR OIL comes from: when'z EXXON going to advertise "Drive while they DIE for your pleasure?"

COURAGE!

ç*”*”*””*ç”*”* ZENmud ”*””*ç*”*”*””*ç”