Turns out the British sailors Iran captured in the Persian Gulf a year ago were not in Iraqi waters after all. “But Buntnessel,” you say, “I thought we knew that all along? Didn’t this ambassador guy say right away that there was no formally agreed border between Iraq and Iran there?”
Yes. WE knew that. (I wish I had a post by me I could link to to prove this but I didn’t have a blog back then. I only remember that I cooked sholeh zard the day the sailors were released to mark the occasion).
Of course, lots of people pointed out back then that the version of the British government was unlikely and that they had squandered their credibility long ago anyway, but most of the corporate media fell in lockstep as always and started calling the prisoners “hostages”, complained about the inhumane conditions the sailors were held in (only one table tennis board, no iPods, ugly striped pullover for the female sailor, teddy bear not fluffy enough, etc.) and generally took the version of the British government for granted.
Now new documents have been released by the Ministry of Defense, showing in essence that the US and the UK simply redefined the Iraqi/Iranian border (…because Iraq is a souvereign country…) and didn’t tell the Iranians about it. When Iranian boats repeatedly “transgressed” into the territory they thought still belonged to them before the incident, occupation forces ignored them (would have tipped them off, after all.)
So. I hope the media learns its lesson this time… oh I’m sorry. I’m only kidding. Ha ha.
(Thanks to The Fanonite. Also, I like his category “War of Terror” so much that I’m going to steal it
)