If Iran had just boarded a ship in international waters and killed people...

would Barney Frank really be on television saying that the Iranians ought to investigate this and get back to us about what happened? I know, I know, it's complicated. And I'm not singling out Frank, he's just the guy I happened to see suggesting just that for the current situation involving Israel. I'm just asking a question.

The relationship between the US and Israel is identical to the relationship between the US and Iran so it's a perfectly sensible question.

If any non-US-friendly nation had done exactly the same thing, would the US have been as laid-back in its non-response?

and get back to us about whether they did anything wrong and the rest of the world should just accept that and move on that caught my attention. If Iran is too much of a hot button example for you, how about Belgium? or Japan? Would that really be the response we would suggest to the rest of the world?

Even though they were armed and captured in territorial waters near the Shat' al'Arab waterway claimed by Iran. The Bush-Cheney crowd were urging Blair to start a war over that one, even though the worst thing that happened was that a pregnant British sailor was denied cigarettes for a few days. And, yes, the suits they were given were really ugly.

Just goes to show the double-standard at work here.

... but the bar is set pretty low ... :hide:

corporate-run news programming would be screaming 24/7 about the awful terrorists.

we would expect them to defend themselves.

i havent gotten into these threads. been waiting for story to unfold. but there is a lot you leave out of the barney frank interview.

before boarding and could do so for a stated law enforcement or safety purpose for which we have international agreements and protocols in place. I could be mistaken, and someone could correct me on that. In any case, I don't think you will find any examples of our Coast Guard doing something like this.

Great perspective. There's really no way in hell everyone would be reacting this way if it weren't for the fact that the country that conducted the raid in open international waters was the USA's favorite and, if I understand correctly, largest recipient of annual aid packages (that is, our $ keeps that country afloat).

Washington Post
U.S. citizen among those killed in Israeli flotilla raid

By Janine Zacharia, Scott Wilson and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 3, 2010; 10:59 AM

JERUSALEM -- A U.S. citizen of Turkish origin was among the nine people killed in a botched Israeli effort to stop a Turkish aid ship from reaching the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a Turkish official said Thursday.

"It's a Turkish-origin American citizen. We know that," the official said by phone from Turkey, adding that more details were not yet available.

The nine bodies were flown home from Israel to Turkey on Wednesday, along with hundreds of activists, aboard a Turkish plane. Israel was not able to identify the bodies because the dead had no identification on them, Israeli officials said.

The American citizen was identified by the Anatolia news agency as Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old student. His body had four bullet wounds to the head and one to the chest, the news agency reported.

:shrug:

...story has become (at least in the hands of the American media). Were this any other country the response would be through the roof.

It is a detail which is not missed by any corner of the news-reporting Earth. Really.

We throw away valuable credibility earned in no small part by the valiant actions of Americans who fought and died in two World Wars and the economic assistance we have given in friendship to the ruined countries of our enemies afterward to help them back onto their feat.

It is sad that even this "credit" has turned into debt given our behavior- not just on this particular issue, but on a number of issues and actions the United States has taken in just the last decade, alone.

PB

no one questions Israel. But to answer your question honestly: if Iran had done what Israel did (has been doing and continues to do), we'd be a 3rd wasteful war immediately!

And this was the thing that jumped out at me beyond all the rest of the stupid- you NEVER let the people in question investigate themselves. You find a neutral 3rd party to do it if there is any question...but we all know how allergic Israel is to the idea of someone neutral checking their actions out.