The British hostage “crisis” is proving to be a real eye opener both for London’s allies and any potential adversary. In fact, in some ways the British response to this outrageous and provocative act of war by Iran has been truly frightening – a sense that for a variety of reasons, the British people and their government are sleepwalking through history, living a dream that reality cannot intrude upon.
Reading the British papers, an American is struck by the fact that there is very little outrage among most of the population – at least as it is reported. Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips has noticed the same thing:
Yet in its response to these events, Britain seems to be in some kind of dreamworld. There is no sense of urgency or crisis, no outpouring of anger. There seems to be virtually no grasp of what is at stake.Some commentators have languidly observed that in another age this would have been regarded as an act of war. What on earth are they talking about? It is an act of war. There can hardly be a more blatant act of aggression than the kidnapping of another country’s military personnel.
What clearly does belong to another age is this country’s ability to understand the proper way to respond to an act of war. When his Marines were seized by the Iranians, the commander of HMS Cornwall, Commodore Nick Lambert, did nothing to stop them and later said it was probably all a misunderstanding. If Nelson had been such a diplomat in such circumstances, Trafalgar would surely have been lost.
The reaction brings to mind the London bombings on 7/7/05. I wrote something similar at that time:
From much of the reaction I’ve seen, with the exception of most politicians (who will probably wait until after the funerals to begin their Bush-Blair bashing) the reaction of the average Brit has underwhelmed me and left me with a sense that the Great Britain of today is a far cry from the Great Britain of my father’s day.Would the British population of today stood up to Hitler? Would they have stuck with Churchill? Or would they have accepted Hitler’s “peace†offer that the Nazi dictator gave prior to the start of the Battle of Britain which guaranteed British sovereignty?
The Brits back then didn’t even bother to respond. In fact, the BBC gave an eloquent response rejecting Hitler’s offer without even consulting the government. Now that was a spirit of resistance.
It’s clear to me that something has gone out of Great Britain in the last decade or so. I am not accusing them of cowardice. Rather it appears to be a disease infecting most of the western world; a curious, debilitating loss of faith in the beliefs and values that animated the west for nearly 4 centuries. Some of those beliefs were pernicious to be sure; a feeling of superiority over the benighted savages in Africa and Asia, a nauseating self righteousness that allowed all sorts of despicable practices like slavery and colonialism to become commonplace, and a moral blindness regarding the effect of many of our policies on the developing world.
But dwelling on the sins of the west ignores the truly remarkable achievements that have accrued to all of humanity as a result of western dominance of the planet. People are living longer and healthier lives despite widespread poverty. Many diseases that scourged the world for centuries – smallpox, malaria, polio, to name a few – have been wiped out or dramatically decreased. Literacy is commonplace. Agriculture has been revolutionized. Communications, travel, education – all have been transformed in third world societies as a direct result of contact with western nations.
But the deadening effect of the guilt ridden western left that so dominates the media and culture in Europe and America have so cowed the leadership, the opinion makers, and ordinary citizens that even when attacked, people sit and wonder if they are at fault for “provoking” such an act.
Ms. Phillips sees an even more immediate and specific cause of Britain’s lack of outrage:
Twenty-five years ago, we re-took the Falklands after the Argentines invaded. Faced with an act of war against our dependency, Mrs Thatcher had no hesitation. Aggression had to be fought and our people defended. It was the right thing to do.Can anyone imagine Mrs T wringing her hands in this way over Iran’s seizure of our Marines?
True, we are now living in very different times. Personally, I supported the Iraq war, and still do. But the undoubted mistakes and disasters made by the coalition since the fall of Saddam have caused this country to throw up its hands over the whole issue of aggression by the Arab and Muslim world.
As a result, many in Britain are failing to see the big picture. Iraq is merely one theatre in a global war which threatens us and in which Iran is a major player.
And Arthur Herman is even more blunt:
Britain has been an exception. In places like Bosnia and the Persian Gulf, and in operations like Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, its help has been solid and genuine, as well as important in a symbolic sense. America always looks better when a couple of frigates flying the Royal Navy’s White Ensignare side by side with those flying the Stars and Stripes. U.S. sailors also know that in a real fight, the men of the Royal Navy, which our navy men still call the “Senior Service,” will never let them down.That contribution has never been vital to America – yet it was a badge of honor for Britain. It had echoes of past glory as an empire, of course, but also of Britain’s historic role as protector of a civilized and stable world order, and specifically the role of the Royal Navy. The British navy had wiped out the slave trade; it had single-handedly defied tyrants from Louis XIV and Napoleon to Hitler; and it served as midwife to the ideas of free trade and the balance of power.
Now those days are gone for good. Yet, if today’s Britons thought that by shedding that historic responsibility they could buy themselves some peace of mind, the current hostage crisis has just proved them wrong
What will it take for Britain and the rest of the western world to wake up? A better question might be is there anything that will accomplish that goal? Have Britain and Europe fallen into a permanent stupor, a languid state of denial and equivocation that will spell the end of the great alliance between America and Europe, allowing the enemies of democracy to simply grow themselves into a majority?
A change of course is desperately needed. Who will lead it and will the people follow are two questions that, at present, cannot be answered with any confidence much less certainty.
12:13 pm
Aren’t you a little premature in condemning Britain? Last time Iraq held American hostages* Reagan and friends shipped over a thousand TOW missiles to Iran (Feb. 86), which money received was used to fund the Contras. Yeah, I know it was never an “arms for hostages” deal, yet the hostages ended up released anyway!
So perhaps Britain is working out some deal along those lines right now and praying for that same happy ending by coincidence.
*Hezbollah was the actual jailer.
12:14 pm
oops-last time “Iran” held American hostages.
12:24 pm
All the stories have been told
Of kings and days of old,
But there’s no England now.
All the wars that were won and lost
Somehow don’t seem to matter very much anymore… – Dave Davies, The Kinks
***
Sadly, those lyrics just keep echoing for me these days. :- (
1:46 pm
Great post, Rick.
2:04 pm
Hah! Yeah where is the OUTRAGE? We need more OUTRAGE. How can you run a government, create a policy, without OUTRAGE.
Maybe we could lend them Rush for a few months. Y’know, help generate some OUTRAGE.
They probably will get their sailors back, and wrap up this whole episode without killing a single Iranian. What a wasted opportunity. Its an OUTRAGE. Maybe we could lend them Bush for a few months. Y’know, to do something OUTRAGEOUS.
3:00 pm
Ah, Tano, another Bush hater. So filled with hate and mistrust for Bush that no act by any country against us or our allies is considered an act of war. Instead, just a trifle to be litigated or negotiated.
A word to the wise, Tano. It is better to thought a fool, than to open your mouth and confirm it.
3:37 pm
Bush hater! A synonym for “I don’t have a real argument to present, so I will call you names.”
We pick up some people who enter our territory and hold them. Would you see this as a declaration of war against, say, Mexico?
And FYI, I am a Bush sympathizer. You have to have sympathy for anyone with this large of a historical feces stain on their presidential legacy.
3:39 pm
It is much worse than indifference. If you read the British comments on the web, many feel that Britain got what it deserved for standing with the US in Iraq.
We should all recall that Lord Nelson at Cadiz / Cape Trafalger signaled the Royal British fleet that “England expects that everyman will do the utmost not to do anything that will upset the French or Spanish fleets” thereby avoiding an ugly confrontation with Napoleon’s naval forces. Nelson pointed out later that the area was really Spanish territory and the British Fleet had no business being there in the first place. Who was to say that peace-loving France or Spain did not have the right to have a powerful navy that could strangle England? Why should only England have a navy capable of controlling the seas? This unhappy situation where Napoleon wanted to conquer Britain was only resolved when King George issued a very strong statement that things would be taken to a “different phase” if Napoleon did not stop attacking Britain. Recognizing the errors of his ways and the righteous gentleness of the British people, Napoleon ceased all hostilities and voluntarily exiled himself to St Helena. Britain went on to live in peace with Europe until the United States dragged the peace-loving British into a disastrous war with Germany in 1914. Long live the Queen – as long as we don’t have to defend her.
3:43 pm
C’MON ED!
Don’t you read anything? The Brits proved beyond all doubt that they were 1.7 miles inside IRAQI waters.
The Brit numbers (lat/long) WERE CONFIRMED BY THE IRANIANS! That is – until they realized that those numbers meant that they had taken the sailors illegally. THEN THE IRANIANS ACTUALLY CHANGED THE NUMBERS THEY HAD PUT OUT JUST HOURS PREVIOUSLY!
For christsake! Apologizing for Democrats is one thing. Apologizing for the Iranian thugs is quite another.
Don’t let your knee hit you in the chin when you jerk it next time in your haste to defend the indefensible.
4:34 pm
Please don’t judge the millions of decent folk here in the UK by our political masters. We may have “sleep walked” half way to the lefty nightmare of PC defeatism, but take my word for it – regular guys HATE this.
My conversations at work are pretty far removed from the multicultural b*llsh*t that gets spouted by the BBC and local and central government.
Please take a minute to reflect what the US response was to the US Embassy crisis and you have a good indication of the distance between our politicians and the bulk of the population.
The British people are patient – but that patience is starting to run out and more and more of us want something done.
With any luck, New Labour is on the way out and we will be able to rediscover our freedoms and our backbone when facing these threats.
Looking back to the WWII - it took the Lion a long time to stir, but when it did the tide was definately turned.
We are currently labouring under the yoke of the EU and its Human Rights directives. With riots in central Paris, I don’t predict that will last long.
Don’t count us out yet!
6:10 pm
[...] Rick at Right Wing Nut House has a very interesting essay on Brits yawn as Iran declares war. [...]
6:44 pm
As a Brit I’m all in favour of a calm and measured response, for the time being.
Yes, it’s a hostile act, an act of war even, but if a cool approach gets our sailors and marines back unharmed, so long as we make NO deals, I’m for it.
Even given the blatant Iranian violation of conventions regarding military detainees, and their obvious barefaced lies about the circumstances.
This seems to a widespread attitude among people I’ve talked with; annoyed but not suprised, and willing to exercise restraint in the short term.
If the Iranians try to drag this out beyond a week or so, or start anything like trials etc., THEN we impose a blockade and reduce their navy to matchwood.
7:02 pm
“You have to have sympathy for anyone with this large of a historical feces stain on their presidential legacy.”
Not when he gets the stain on me.
7:08 pm
Just because the Brits don’t have an in your face with warships leader like Thatcher, doesn’t mean they have gone lily livered on us. The whole thing has gone on for just 7 days. I think the Brits should set a deadline. Release the Marines with no conditions by a certain date or consider Iran at war with the UK and it’s allies. Remember the good old days of Thatcher, she didn’t tolerate the IRA or those Sean Finn thugs even after they tried to blow her up.
7:59 pm
Is Iran Provoking a War With the West?
In 2004, Iran captured some British soldiers also, but that was because they said the British were in Iranian waters, the British were forced to confess and then let go.
The Iranian belligerence in 2007 is a different scenario. This time the British were well within Iraqi waters.
So why did Iran do it? What is in it for them?
8:59 pm
Rick, I do think you’re being premature. Iran’s action is hostile, and can even be considered an act of war; but as you’ve said yourself many times, a hot war with Iran can unleash hellish consequences.
I don’t think GB loses anything (hopefully) by taking a measured tone publicly, while taking a harder line with the Iranians behind the scenes. It has still been barely a week since the incident; let’s see what develops.
On some level though, I think that a military conflict pitting Iran against the U.S. and maybe the Great Britain is looking more inevitable, unfortunately, by the day.
Its effects (along with a quickly crumbling housing and investment market) could be a one-two punch that could knock the wind out of this country for quite a few years.
As an aside, I just read the cover story in this week’s The Economist, not exactly a bastion of lefty-liberalism, and its forecast for the American economy in relation to housing and its effect on Wall Street is positively grim.
3:51 am
“Reading the British papers, an American is struck by the fact that there is very little outrage among most of the population – at least as it is reported.”
There is some outrage, but generally there is recognition that the sailors did the sensible thing. If they had fought back they would all be dead and we would be in a war. Many more thousands of people would die. Oil prices would shoot through the roof. Iraq would explode.
There are times when you have to think strategically.
As for the 7/7 bombing reaction, it was hardly a surprising event, and who were we meant to bomb? Leeds?
4:19 am
In 1941, when advised that it was too dangerous to send in the Royal Navy to evacuate British soldiers on Crete, Admiral Cunnigham stated to the effect that it would take three years to build a new warship, three hundred to rebuild a tradition.
What is the new price of British honor? Is Britain prepared to lose these fine men and women for the sake of its national honor? Or will it make a deal and show the world that Iran has the upper hand over them, now and forever?
I am an American living in the UK, and the ambivelence of the British is truly astounding. The struggles of the English soccer team and the Pakistani criket coach murder are much more vital deabtes these days, it seems. I am not confident that Britain will stand up to the Iranians.
7:11 am
Ahhhh, good old “ed”; always reliable for a brain-addled, BDS-inspired, Anti-American, Pro-Jihadi comment or two!
So sad…..so predictable….such a typical Leftist…...sigh…....
8:22 am
We’ve taken about 200 of their citizens who were in Iraq legally (correct me if I’m wrong). Is that an ‘act of war’?
8:27 am
HAW, HAW!
Greg, you slay me. You absolutely kill me.
Facilitating the killing of Americans by assisting radical Shias with getting weapons and IED’s is not exactly the same thing as sight seeing or visiting one of the Shia shrines there.
Mohammed Atta was in the US legally. So were most of the 9/11 hijackers. By your reasoning, even if we caught them we had no business holding them.
Keep trying…
9:00 am
Rick,
Public attitudes aside, I don’t think the Brits have played this wrong so far. I think the Iranians have overreached here and there is an opportunity to make them pay short of war. I believe in this case that time is on our side and Iran’s bellicosity since they took these hostages will play to our favor.
There is still plenty of time and there will still be cause to kick the crap out of them if the Brits are not released – no need for that yet imo.
The lack of reaction by the British public is curious. There seemed to be a little more outrage when they were shown on TV, but not the level that I would expect.
9:04 am
Andy:
I think the official response has been right on target. I was more concerned with the lack of response by the British people – “curious” as you said but symptomatic of a larger problem I outline in the post.
9:45 am
“The lack of reaction by the British public is curious. There seemed to be a little more outrage when they were shown on TV, but not the level that I would expect.”
Not really all that surprising if you lived here. The whole “Stiff upper lip” thing isn’t just a stereotype. People have, for years, responded to terrorism with a “getting on with it” attitude and this falls into the same category. As an example, the day after the 7/7 bombings most conversation was about how the tubes were going to be cocked up, rather than worrying about whether we were all going to be blown up. That and the standard joke : “The French did it because we won the Olympics” (Oh how I wish the French had won the Olympics…)
In contrast most people in the UK have been agast at the US flag-waving attitude that has been prevalent for the last few years.
It is difficult to describe this effect. We like our patriotism stoical and quiet usually. Just like we like our religion. Don’t mistake that for cowardice, or being war-shy. Most people that I spoke to that were anti-Iraq war took a “But this is just bloody stupid” line rather than a “Make love not war” one.
That having been said, the UK is in no state, militarily, to go invading Iran, so what would be the point in pretending that we were?
9:59 am
The Iranian government is unpopular with their own people. Iranian youth are pro-Western and resent the controlling hands of conservative Islam. The Imams political opposition is rising (with the help of people who know the color of the boathouse at Hereford). Helicopters have been shot down. Towns seized by rebels and drug traders. Kurds, supported by their kin in Iraq, are again rising.
The people of Iran (especially the Persians) are highly nationalistic, but they also remember the 1980 -1988 war with Iraq and the bloodshed it brought them. They question the wisdom of the nuclear weapons program that is isolating them internationally and draining their resources. They are worried about the coalition navies plying the “Persian Gulf”. In spite of all their worries and fears, if attacked, they will rally to defend their country. The only hope for survival of the current regime, is to provoke a military response from a major western power.
Why did they choose the UK? Rules of Engagement. The tone of operations in Iraq has been different with each coalition partner. In and around Basra where the British forces have operated, they had a lighter hold of the reins. Where the Americans would shoot to kill, the Brits try to resolve the differences peacefully. With the Shiites in Basra, it worked. With Iranian Revolutionary Guards, it facilitated their hostage taking plans. Another reason why the UK forces were grabbed – They were there.
The Royal Navy and the US Navy are suffering from global micromanagement. The days are gone when the Captain of a warship was the Master and Commander – the most powerful ruler on the planet. Today’s Admirals are mere Officers of the Deck. Realtime decisions are often made in Whitehall and Arlington.
10:12 am
Web Reconnaissance for 03/29/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
10:23 am
Trackbacked by The Thunder Run – Web Reconnaissance for 03/29/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
1:19 pm
I watched a little bit of CNN international today and they had a lot of outraged Brits from the HMS Cornwall’s home port in southern England. Not surprising considering the local connection.
5:16 pm
I saw Madeline Albright on the Colbert Report the other night. When asked “who is at fault” for the current hostage standoff, she responded something along the lines of “the fault rests with the people who don’t understand the Iranian position.” Not, you know, the people who actually did the hostage taking.
There is just something deeply disturbing about people who are so willingly ignorant of proximate causes. Thinking that “if only we understood them and communicated our views better, everybody would get along” is, in addition to being blatantly a blame-America-first view, a prime example of the racist world view that plagues the modern left. Specifically, that “those brown people” (they like to lump persians, kurds, and arabs as an indistinguishable mass) are just too wild and stupid to obtain a democracy, and a million arab lives are not worth the life of one American soldier.
It’s just amazing that 9/11 was able to cause such a complete reversal of the previous left-interventionist versus right-isolationist positions.