Despite denials that a deal was made for the release of the 15 British hostages, it looks like concessions were made:
From Charles Krauthammer: Britain's Humiliation -- and Europe's
[...] You would think maintaining international order means, at a minimum, challenging acts of piracy. No challenge here. Instead, a quiet capitulation.
The quid pro quos were not terribly subtle. An Iranian "diplomat'' who had been held for two months in Iraq is suddenly released. Equally suddenly, Iran is granted access to the five Iranian "consular officials'' -- Revolutionary Guards who had been training Shiite militias to kill Americans and others -- whom the U.S. had arrested in Irbil in January. There may have been other concessions we will never hear about. But the salient point is that what got this unstuck was American action. [...]
(bold emphasis mine) Yep, we bailed the Brits out. And what have we got in return? More dirty work to do as Britain suspends operations in the Gulf. I guess we have to pick up the slack?
2 comments:
That cartoon is painful but true!!
I'm afraid so. I read that Argentina is now reasserting it's claim over the Faulkland Islands again. I think they're sensing weakness from the British.
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