Bradenton Herald – Only united front will deter rogue like Iran
Once again, it appears Iran has thumbed its nose at the West – and will get away with it.
Iran’s seizure March 23 of 15 British sailors for allegedly trespassing into Iranian waters was a calculated act of retribution for the Western opposition to its nuclear technology development efforts – a defiant quid pro quo for the economic sanctions imposed as punishment for its nuclear development program. It is similar in method if not scale to the seizure of 52 employees of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 as a protest against the United States providing the deposed Shah of Iran a home in exile while receiving medical treatment. This hostage crisis, however, ended much more quickly, with Iran releasing the British personnel Thursday after just 13 days; the U.S. Embassy crisis lasted 444 days.
Exactly what prompted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to free the hostages so quickly may never be known. There was some speculation that the release of an Iranian diplomat captured in Iraq by Iraqi and American forces a couple of months ago may have prompted Ahmadinejad to moderate his insistence that Britain apologize for the alleged incursion by the British naval force. British Prime Minister Tony Blair denied that a hostage exchange was involved, instead asserting that it was his country’s moderate tone in public and conciliatory attitude in behind-the-scenes diplomacy that led to the captives’ release.
A big win for Iran
A combination of factors doubtless figured in the happy ending to this latest display of Iranian roguishness. Ahmadinejad had made the point that he could stand up to a major power like Britain without suffering any consequence. The alleged trespass incident, which appeared to have been phony from the start, boosted Iran’s stature in the Arab world and the Iranian leader’s status with his people. At the same time, the oil price run sparked by fears of a major oil crisis generated extra revenue for Iran’s treasury – money that will enable Ahmadinejad’s government to continue subsidizing Iranians’ purchase of basic necessities like fuel, inflated by the international embargo against Iran.
Some think Britain wimped out in its reaction to Iran’s seizure of the sailors. Suggesting that if it had been American troops taken captive the response would have been far more harsh, the New York Daily News editorialized that “Iran continues to get away with anything it pleases to get away with. Because it can. Because nobody is going to do jack about it.”
Sadly, that is true, simply because there isn’t much you can do when hostages’ lives are at stake except quietly negotiate for their release. Blair’s government handled this crisis exactly as it should have, avoiding bellicose public statements and, more importantly, military retaliation to avoid making the situation worse.
The fact that Syria said it played a role in resolving the crisis also speaks to the Bush administration’s refusal to talk to that ally of Iran about the Iraq war and to criticize House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for doing so.
When you are dealing with kidnapers – and that’s basically what the Iranians are, since even the coordinates they first gave for the British ship’s position put it in Iraqi waters – you say whatever you need to say to get the hostages freed safely. That goes for the sailors themselves, who are being criticized in some quarters for making gratuitous statements to the Iranians that were televised around the world. The British tabloid Sun newspaper said editorially that “the sight of the illegally detained British forces thanking Iranian tyrants for their freedom will sicken the nation.”
Easy for someone sitting in a nice, safe office back home to say.
Will West get the message?
There’s a lesson for the West, including the United States, to learn from this latest display of Iranian arrogance. That is, don’t try to stand up to a bully all alone. Until the European Union and NATO present a united front with Britain and the United States, rogue nations like Iran will continue to flout international law. Had its allies not allowed the United States to stand alone in the 1979 hostage crisis, perhaps Iran would not have become the belligerent bully-nation it is today.
As Charles Krauthammer writes in the column on the opposite page, “A freeze of economic relations with Europe would have shaken the Iranian economy to the core. Yet nothing was done. . . . The EU is useless as a player in the international arena.”
That applies as well to the global war on terror. The developed countries are allowing the United States and Britain to bear most of the burden for fighting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They need to understand that if they knew the wrath of the rest of the world would be focused on his head, despots like Ahmadinejad wouldn’t dare seize ships or continue nuclear programs that violate international agreements.
Hopefully, this episode will drive home one other absolutely critical lesson to the West: If Iran’s leader got away with this act of piracy with two great military powers practically on his doorstep, imagine what he might try when he has nuclear weapons at his disposal.
