Real Men Don't Take Hostages

In which we express our ire at an international situation

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Fifteen sailors of the Royal Navy were captured by Iran's Revolutionary Guard while running a routine inspection of a vessel suspected of trafficking in contraband autos in the Shatt al Arab waterway between Iran and Iraq. Iran now reports that the Royal Navy mariners have "confessed" to violating Iranian national waters. One wonders under what duress did they "confess."

Real men don't take hostages, which is exactly what Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, has done. It's a cynical move designed to postpone, if not scuttle outright, the negotiations over Iran's suspect nuclear program that Ahmadinejad was scheduled to enter into a couple weeks ago at the United Nations. It's intended to buy Iran's nuclear bomb-builders more time to finish their work.

Here in the U.S. we have a phrase for men who pull these kinds of shennanigans. It's "asking for it."

Now, in support of these brave boys in blue, let's all sing:

When Britain first at Heav'n's command
Arose from out the azure main;
Arose, arose from out the azure main;
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves!
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves!

Addendum: The Daily Show's John Stewart -- a man who already owns a pair of cajones of considerable girth -- augmented his balsiness last night with this report on the Iran / British hostage crisis...

Meanwhile, writing in the L.A. Times, David Rivkin and Lee Casey, two fellows from the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, have called for tough international action on Iran for violating the Geneva Convention, a treaty to which that country is a signatory.

Even Timothy Garton Ash has come out condemning Iran's hostage-taking, saying that the E.U. must step up to protect its people regardless of how Europeans feel about Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq.