BBC - The Voice of Iran

[Teddy Bear]

15 British sailors have been illegally abducted and used as political tools by the Iranian regime. By any other definition this is an act of war and contravenes the Geneva Convention for the treatment of POW's.

So what does our insidious treasonous state media report?

Does it tell of how Iran has been sponsoring terrorism all over the world? - No.

Does it tell of how Iran has been going against UN sanctions and defying exhortations to give up its nuclear ambitions? - No

Does it tell of Iran's threats of annihilating Israel with these atomic weapons once it obtains them? - No

Instead it explains the aggressive and unlawful actions of Iran as a result of being 'isolated' by the rest of the world. It is not Iran's fault - it is the world's. Inasmuch, it boils down to Britain should 'apologize' (for not having entered Iran's territory) and 'beg' the Iranian to return their sailors.

The Palestinians have often been likened to a child who murders its parents and then pleads fo rmercy and compassion because it is an orphan. Here we have the BBC doing the same for the Iranians.

They are despicable traitors.

Iran crisis reflects growing isolation
By Sadeq Saba
BBC World Service Iran analyst

The UK and Iran are in a diplomatic stand-off over the incident
The capture of 15 British Royal Navy personnel by Iranian forces in the Gulf comes at a time when Tehran feels it is under unprecedented international pressure.

The country is diplomatically isolated and feels under a constant and building US military threat.

Earlier this month the UN Security Council passed a resolution against Iran over its nuclear programme.

Iranian diplomats worked very hard to convince some members of the council, such as South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar, to support Tehran's case.

But it failed, and the vote in favour of the resolution was unanimous, further convincing the Iranian leadership that they have few friends left at the UN and that diplomacy is not working in their favour.

Siege mentality

Iran is now also militarily encircled by the US forces. American troops are based in almost every country bordering Iran - Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

The US Navy has been conducting a series of exercises in the Gulf - the biggest war games in the area since the invasion of Iraq four years ago.

Hardliners are arguing that any release of the British sailors should be conditional on the release of five Iranians held by the US

The sense of being under siege is compounded by the US military's detention in January in Iraq of five Iranians.

Tehran says they are diplomats but the US says the men are members of the Revolutionary Guards with a mission to support Iraqi insurgents.

There has been no consular access to them, no charges brought against them and no information about where they are being kept and under what conditions.

And in December a former Iranian deputy defence minister disappeared in Turkey. Some Western media reported that he had defected to the West.

But the Iranian government and his family say he was abducted by the US or Israel.

All these events and pressures have created a siege mentality in Tehran.

Act of desperation?

It was in this setting that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently made a significant statement.


The UN Security Council has voted against Iran on the nuclear issue
He said that so far Iran had acted legally to defend what it saw as its right to pursue a nuclear programme.

He went on to say that because the international community had responded with "illegal acts" - by which he meant the Security Council resolutions - Iran itself would from now on feel justified in acting illegally.

Ayatollah Khamenei emphasised that Iran would use any means available to it to defend itself.

It is not clear whether the capture of the British sailors and marines was premeditated or not, but the ayatollah's comments could have given a green light to Revolutionary Guards to seize them.

If it was premeditated, the capture could be interpreted as an act of desperation by a government which feels isolated and threatened.

President missing

Iran officially says there is no connection between the detention of the British personnel and its own grievances.

But some hardline elements make a link between their release and other issues.


President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has faced domestic criticism
The Iranian authorities themselves are under mounting pressure domestically to ensure the release of the five Iranians held by the US military in Iraq, and hardliners are arguing that any release of the British sailors should be conditional on the release of the Iranians.

Noticeable by his absence in all this is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

From the Iranian side, the crisis has been managed by the country's Supreme National Security Council, the highest body dealing with such important matters.

Its decisions are approved by Ayatollah Khamenei, and all senior officials take part in its meetings.

President Ahmadinejad's silence may suggest that the clerical leadership is deliberately keeping him out of this matter in order to ensure that situation is not inflamed by his usual hardline rhetoric.

[steevo]

Oh my goodness you bet its the voice of Iran. For sure we do know who the real victim is here. Your commentary wasn't as specific as I would have it Teddy. Maybe you were being polite? Big America is playing a big bad role in all this too

Really, what can we expect from an 'analyst' named Sadeq Saba

[ascendinglark]

Well, as everyone expected, those Brits were treated like animals, imprisoned, blindfolded and psychologically tortured to believe they were about to be killed. It seems like a pretty straight forward story to run, to expose the Iranians for the criminal savages they were. And the BBC seems to be doing an OK job, until the end of this story:

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6533069.stm

Iranian TV has said it expected some of the British sailors would come under pressure from the UK government when they returned home to change their story.

Now, I can't be certain here, but it looks to me like the author of this story couldn't resist casting some kind of doubt on the sailors story, by including that statement, which is on the face of it, largely irrelevant. Of COURSE Iran is going to say that. What's the point of even including it in this story? Skeptics will say "it's relevant to the story and so including it was basic journalism"....those who know the BBC and its leftist agenda better, will take that paragraph in the way it was likely intended...."don't take the British side of the story as true by default, there is another side - the Iranian side. They are equally as likely to be telling the truth as Britain".

I just don't see the point of including an opinion taken from Iranian TV in a story about the return of the sailors and their account of what went on. The BBC obviously set out to cast doubt on their story by including this paragraph. Once again, I am disgusted with their apparent intentions and their journalistic conduct. It's not something I can prove of course, just rather the instinctive feeling I get from them, based on their shameful conduct in the past. Their message is quite clearly one which says "we are not biased in favor of Britain, the opinion of Iran is just as likely to be true"

[Teddy Bear]

It's certainly common of the BBC to do something like that to bring a particular story around to their desired agenda, and there are many previous threads here that indicate a similar strategy. Your certainly not wrong in having a 'kneejerk' reaction, even if as you say it was done this time genuinely for the news element and some degree of balance. We've been 'bitten' too often not to suspect this insidious behemoth even if it's on occasion 'innocent'.

[ascendinglark]

Here we can see that the BBC is already trying to play down what those sailors went through with their ordeal - in their summary of what the captives went through in Iran, they completely leave out the part which involved being blindfolded and having guns cocked near their faces, which I would have thought would have been the single most cruel and terrifying part of their experience, an acute form of psychological torture.

Lt Carman said they were taken to a prison in Tehran where they were stripped and dressed in pyjamas.

They were kept in stone cells, sleeping on blankets and held in isolation until the last few nights and frequently interrogated.

The BBC makes it sound like their ordeal was merely one of slight discomfort. Notice how the BBC traditionally has no problem getting its opinions across in stories, even when it's subtle. But in the case of this story, you won't detect one grain of disgust from the BBC over the way those prisoners were treated. As soon as it's the behavior of the enemy under scrutiny, the sick stench of nihilism wafts across.

[Teddy Bear]

Actually AL, in the article you've linked to above, the BBC do relate in the second paragraph that the sailors were blindfolded and guns were cocked.

I only wish that the BBC would cover every militant Muslim incident in the manner they have in this particular article, it's one of the few times I believe they're actually reporting the way they should.

The only fault I can find with them around this particular story, besides the leading report I posted above, is that the same day these marines were freed, 4 of our soldiers were killed in Basra. In a subsequent news conference, while Blair didn't accuse the Iranians of being directly involved in their killing, he did condemn them for supporting and inciting terrorism in Iraq. Since this showed he was still antagonistic toward the Iranians, other news agencies like AP and Reuters made this story part of their main heading. The BBC however, 'buried it well inside the article about the 4 killed. I think it increases the feeling of humiliation and appeasement fo the Iranians the way the BBC 'concealed' it.

Released sailors tell of ordeal

The crew spoke for the first time about being held captive
Royal Navy personnel seized by Iran were blindfolded, bound and held in isolation during their 13 days in captivity, the crew have said.
They were lined up while weapons were cocked, making them "fear the worst", one of the 15 freed sailors revealed.

The crew were told that if they did not admit they were in Iranian waters when captured that they faced seven years in prison, a press conference heard.

Opposing their captors was "not an option," they said.

And after the 15 marines and sailors were seized they were subjected to random interrogation and rough handling, and faced constant psychological pressure, they said.

The navy has already begun a review of the circumstances surrounding the incident.

[ascendinglark]

My apologizes Teddy Bear, I actually somehow omitted the link to the story I was talking about in that last post, which would have led anyone to assume I was still talking about the story I first linked to. The actual story is here:

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6534335.stm

As you can see, it's "summary" of their ordeal neglects to mention the psychological torture and extreme fear they were put through.

The aspect of their account which stood out the most to me (and to most other people, I presume) was when they told of being blindfolded and of guns being cocked near their heads, which led them to believe they were going to be executed. THIS is what they will remember most about their ordeal, THIS is what made their treatment so disgusting, and yet the BBC looks like it will leave out this detail from future reports. Here again, another story about their accounts which fails to mention the nature of their psychological torture....

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6533907.stm

[Teddy Bear]

Yeah AL, now I see what you mean, and I agree with you. The Beeb are letting accounts get 'out of context' and leaving Iran in a softer light. I think we're actually seeing the strategy behind this kidnapping as far as Iran is concerned on the international scene.
1. They show that they can 'take on' a western power with impunity.
2. They put our forces on show, apologetic and fawning.
3. They reveal the weakness of our own regime in getting international pressure to bear against this illegal act.
4. They achieve some sort of dialogue with our government, with definite 'loss of face' for us, basically having to ask if we can have our marines back.
5. They then show themselves as humanitarian in releasing our marines, even adding insult to injury by 'pleading' with our government "not to put them on trial for illegally entering their waters".

Bear in mind that militant Muslims are prepared to die for their cause, and probably feel they will face death without giving in to any torture or threats in the event of their capture. Seeing our marines 'cave in' as they did, probably empowers them even more.

All in all, a win/win situation for the Iranians. I made the comparison between this incident and the kidnapping in Gaza of the BBC correspondent. Certainly Hamas are behind it and will also be able to 'turn' it to their advantage.

One thing we can say for sure, with the likes of the BBC assisting the Iranians or Hamas with the appearance of victory, as they are doing, it is one more treasonous and seditious example of their agenda, and will surely invrease the likelihood of further incidents of this nature.