http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2007/270307iranwar.htm


Ominous Signs Suggest Iran War Close

Seizure of British marines could be "Gulf of Tonkin" long yearned for
by warmongers

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, March 27, 2007


As tensions surrounding Iran's seizure of 15 British navy personnel
continue to build, ominous signs that war is nearing give an
indication that this could be the new "Gulf of Tonkin" Bush and Blair
have long yearned for to justify air strikes on Iran.

The U.S. has escalated war games in the area, "The manoeuvres involve
the USS John C. Stennis and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, marking the
first time the two strike groups have operated in a joint exercise
under the US Navy's Fifth Fleet," reports the AFP.

Russian news outlets are reporting that such activity represents,
"Heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground
operation against Iran," that closely resembles the situation
immediately before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has given the Iranians just days to
return the marines safely before harsher steps are taken.

It's difficult to know who to trust concerning exactly whose waters
the marines were in, Iraq's or Iran's, when Ahmadinejad's slender grip
on power survives only by feeding his own population war propaganda,
while Bush and Blair have become the very iconography of deceit in the
modern age.

A high ranking Iraqi official expressed his surprise that British
forces were even operating in the area.

Brigadier-General Hakim Jassim, commander of Iraq's territorial
waters, told the BBC: "Usually there is no presence of British forces
in that area, so we were surprised and we wondered whether the British
forces were inside Iraqi waters or inside Iranian regional waters."



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet leader in activist media - Prison Planet.tv. Thousands of
special reports, videos, MP3's, interviews, conferences, speeches,
events, documentary films, books and more - all for just 15 cents a
day! Click here to subscribe! Find out the true story behind
government sponsored terror, 7/7, Gladio and 9/11, get Terror Storm!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, slammed the
spin and rhetoric Tony Blair has cased the crisis in, pointing out
that the Royal Navy boarded the ships not to conduct inspections on
weapons smuggling, but to look for tax evaders.

"In international law the Iranian government were not out of order in
detaining foreign military personnel in waters to which they have a
legitimate claim," said Murray, adding "For the Royal Navy, to be
interdicting shipping within the twelve mile limit of territorial seas
in a region they know full well is subject to maritime boundary
dispute, is unnecessarily provocative."

What seems to be unfolding are similar circumstances that led to the
Israeli bombardment of Lebanon last summer, where two Israeli soldiers
were "kidnapped" after they had crossed the border into Lebanese
territory.

It seems highly unlikely that the Iranians would risk further
international condemnation by kidnapping British marines in Iraqi
waters, but whatever the truth, the fact remains that the "coalition
of the killing" are no strangers to violating international rules
defining sovereignty and kidnapping foreign nationals for political
gain.

Bush has green-lighted the CIA policy of globe-hopping to snatch
terror suspects off the streets of foreign countries, the most high
profile case being Islamic cleric Abu Omar in Milan in 2003.

On January 11, U.S. military forces raided an Iranian consulate in
Arbil and detained five Iranian officials who are still prisoners to
this day.

Bush and Blair's denouncements of Iran's actions are accompanied by
more than a whiff of hypocrisy and if this situation continues to
escalate it may become the "Gulf of Tonkin" they have long yearned for
to justify ordering air strikes against Ahmadinejad's nuclear and
military facilities.

It seems highly unlikely that the Iranians would risk further
international condemnation by kidnapping British marines in Iraqi
waters, but whatever the truth, the fact remains that the "coalition
of the killing" are no strangers to violating international rules
defining sovereignty and kidnapping foreign nationals for political
gain.