SubscribeAhmadinejad Pronounces: “Sailors Are Free To Go”
From the terrorists at Al Jazeera:
Ahmadinejad: Sailors are free to go
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 04, 2007
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has said he has pardoned 15 British sailors accused of illegally entering his country’s waters.
The shock announcement came at the end of a 45-minute speech in Tehran during a news conference on Wednesday, at the end of which Ahmadinejad said the 15 were to be released and returned to their families.
“Although Iran has the right to prosecute them by following the model of the Prophet, the 15 people were pardoned and their freedom given as a gift to the British people,” Ahmadinejad said.
“After the news conference they can go to the airport and go back home. They will be going back home today.”
He told reporters that Britain was wrong to take the dispute to the UN and awarded the medal of honour to the military commander in charge of the forces who arrested the sailors…
The host of the news conference said Iran was holding a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the release of the sailors and that reporters could attend…
According to Ali-Reza Ronaghi, Al Jazeera’s correspondent at the conference, the decision to wait until the very end of the press conference before making the dramatic announcement was typical of Ahmadinejad.
“It is very typical of him [Ahmadinejad], 40 minutes of history then cut through at the end just when people are making their verdict,” he said…
What a great guy, huh?
Update!
From Iran’s news agency IRNA:
Faye Turney, 26, foreground left, the only woman amongst the British navy personnel, seized by Iran, turns way as Arthur Batchelor, far left, waits and Andrew Henderson, center, talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, third right, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 4, 2007. Ahmadinejad announced that his government would release the 15 detained British sailors and marines Wednesday as an Easter season gift to the British people.
Released British marines meet with President Ahmadinejad
Tehran, April 4, IRNA
In a special ceremony on Wednesday the 15 British marines had a sincere meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and thanked him for the amnesty.
They exchanges discourse one by one with the president and lauded the humane treatment of Iranian government and nation.
Wearing uniforms, they said that Iranians treated them in a friendly and hospitable way.
President Ahmadinejad said that he hoped British Prime Minister Tony Blair would not prosecute the soldiers for telling the truth.
It’s a beautiful thing.
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22 Responses to “Ahmadinejad Pronounces: “Sailors Are Free To Go””
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April 4th, 2007 at 11:21 am
I guess that Iran has proven their point: “We can do anything we want and we know that the western governments are too weak to do anything to stop us.” and “Keep the hell out of our waters…”
April 4th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Here’s an update. The captives got to meet (and thank) the great man.
From the Associated Press:
April 4th, 2007 at 11:39 am
“We can do anything we want and we know that the western governments are too weak to do anything to stop us.” and “Keep the hell out of our waters…”
Well……maybe not. While we would never hear about it, it’s entirely possible that some government, hopefully ours, sent a signal that time was up or else, similar to what happend on inaguration day, 1981.
Hey, I can dream can’t I?
April 4th, 2007 at 11:47 am
The question is, what did we (the United States) or the United Kingdom give him?
April 4th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Give them? Maybe a hint of what would happen if the Brits weren’t released. Nah. Just wishful thinking.
April 4th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I keep imagining some SAS stealth-dude sneaking into Ahmadinejad’s bedroom at night (past s-loads of security), putting a knife to his neck, and whispering “release them or else”, and then evaporating into thin air.
Then doing it AGAIN the next night!
Those SAS guys - gotta love ‘em.
April 4th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
The question is, what did we (the United States) or the United Kingdom give him?
The answer is, A specific deadline.
April 4th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
The real question is how long the sailors will keep up the “we were guilty” story once out of the country.
After all, right now they’re all heroes of the left and likely have promising post-military careers at the BBC and at various London newspapers; if they recant they’re merely puppets of the Blair administration and unwilling to admit the realities of a dangerous and illegal war in which they should not be taking part.
April 4th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
kucharsk,
Good point. Based on the computed odds (i.e. pulled out of my butt), I’ll bet one - or two, at most - out of the fifteen do not recant their “confessions”. Could be zero, though.
I just hope the chick wasn’t molested.
I hope the guys weren’t either, for that matter.
April 4th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Appeasement wins again. We can expect hostage-taking to increase.
I’ll be damned, but Pelosi helped build bridges of peace just by brushing up against a country’s air space.
Perhaps the dispatch of the U.S.S. Nimitz to the Persian Gulf had something to do with this.
April 4th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
From the AP article on the sailors release:
“Shortly before the announcement, Iranian state media reported that an Iranian envoy would be allowed to meet the five Iranians” (detained by the US in Iraq).
Could the future release of these Iranian ‘diplomats’ be the cost of freeing the British sailors? Of course, if the Iranians are released, we’d be violating our policy of never negotiating with terrorists. Time will tell, but I fear the worst since the whole situation appeared to be handled from a position of weakness.
April 4th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
You really think that Bush or Blair had the guts to actually threaten them? Hell, Bush doesn’t have the guts to tell the Democrats or anyone else to go screw off it seems.
April 5th, 2007 at 6:19 am
Meanwhile, all those white-coated Iranian scientists and their Russian/Chinese/North Korean helpers are still busy, busy,busy; toiling away in their secret labs 24/7 to create the Islamic A-bomb and still no one’s doing anything serious about it and everybody’s looking the other way and once again, they’ve played us for suckers.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Mahmoud and the Mullahs created an incident which they themselves could solve and now they are being hailed as humaitarian heroes. how could such a supposedly sophisticated western world buy into this?
Can there be any doubt now that Islam will easily take over the world? Hell, we’re practically giving them the playbook and the resources, so how could they fail?
Can you imagine what great PR the iranian leadership would get if they captured some US sailors, then graciously gave us a “gift”? I can’t wait.
April 5th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Personally I think it is time to give the Iranians the GIFT of Nukes.
April 5th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
I think its clear - Ahmadinejad was pressured by internal forces to release them - with a tone of “brevity”, in that psychotic Iranian leadership way.
The unrest and unpopularity in Iran is slowly trickling out - combined with recent failures at local elections. Add the higher gas cap pricing and the fact they import more oil than export - Irans leadership has over played their cards - ala circa 1000 AD.
As much as Ahmadinejad likes to talk - actions speak louder than words. Iran is not flush with unlimited wealth, nor do they have a large majority of supporters - this is Iranian history over the past 100 years or so. Its a power struggle that flourishes when necessary - and flounders at the most critical moments.
Add the external pressure of military movements, and Russia and China starting to change course, due to money of course - the tide is turning in Iran. As much “independence” that Iran claims to be - Russia and China pull their strings.
April 5th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Add the higher gas cap pricing and the fact they import more oil than export
I have to take exception to that statement. For some reason , The Iranians seem to be unable to refine oil into gasoline.
They export oil but have to import gasoline, thus the sudden and huge rise in prices of gasoline in Iran due to sanctions.
April 5th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
1sttofight -
Its actually both - they are importing gasoline AND crude oil.
And your post brings up a valid point as to the oil “ownership”. I dont know if people realize it - but it is the US who first discovered oil - to gasoline as fuel - in Pennsylvania - and it is the western nations who have the brains and money to refine it. So when moonbats gripe we are “stealing the Middle East’s oil” - I simply educate them to this fact and point out - had we not taught them how to refine - they would be swimming in black , sticky crude, with little use at all.
And I stand firm - Russia will dominate the world in oil production in less than 10 years due to the eastern Siberian oil reserves being tapped, that account for roughly 75% more than the current output. Putin isnt nuts - he is just making sure it gets done.
April 5th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
“[B]ut it is the US who first discovered oil - to gasoline as fuel - in Pennsylvania - and it is the western nations who have the brains and money to refine it. So when moonbats gripe we are “stealing the Middle East’s oil” - I simply educate them to this fact and point out - had we not taught them how to refine - they would be swimming in black , sticky crude, with little use at all.”
And if it weren’t for us and the British, they would have never found it and never been able to get it out of the ground.
To this day we (the West) are still the people who get it out of the ground and do all the work. They simply collect the money.
April 5th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
“Russia will dominate the world in oil production in less than 10 years due to the eastern Siberian oil reserves being tapped, that account for roughly 75% more than the current output.”
Russia also needs the West to find the oil and get it out of the ground.
April 5th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
SG -
Very true.
Sakhalin II oil and gas project : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakhalin-II
A 14 plus year ongoing battle to just “get er done”
April 6th, 2007 at 11:31 am
It is true that Western Oil companies provide expertise and capital to discover, produce and refine much of the oil in the world. Here is a link that summarizes Iran’s situation as related to oil:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/ca.....round.html
Iran Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal
Iran’s problems stem from the fact there is no foreign investment to find new oil and offset declines in their existing fields. Couple that with the fact that they subsidize internal gasoline prices, thereby using oil revenues as subsidies versus creating revenue by producing more oil. The end result is a downward economic spiral, since oil is the Iranian economy.
Will the Iranian economic decline result in the Iranian people becoming fed up and kicking Imanutjob and the Mullahs out? It is possible, but time is not on our side. Iran’s developement of a nuclear weapon will likely occur first, which is the end game, requiring a military response from the US.