Editorial: 'Rescued' or captured?
It could have been much worse, we're told. The 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran were released yesterday morning - unlike the four Americans, including journalist Jason Rezaian, still being held hostage.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry took his bow, crediting the quick resolution of the affair to the "critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country secure and strong." Well that and his personal relationship with his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javad Zarif.
Then U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter provided some additional cover for this hapless administration, thanking Kerry and noting that "the U.S. Navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress."
Did neither of these guys watch the propaganda videos released on Iran's state-sponsored TV? Did they not see our 10 young Americans forced to their knees, their hands over their heads while members of the Revolutionary Guard rifled through all the weapons, papers and equipment on board their vessels? Did Kerry and Carter have no knowledge not simply of the humiliation of our troops (including the one female sailor made to don a head covering during her "rescue") but of Iranian efforts to force an apology on that video?
Do they not care? Or - another theory - do they simply think that the American people are stupid enough to believe their version of events?
Let's just say that comparing the capture and rifling of a U.S. Navy vessel to "providing assistance to foreign sailors in distress" is right up there with blaming the terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on a video.
"This incident in the Persian Gulf, which probably will not be the American forces' last mistake in the region, should be a lesson to troublemakers in the U.S. Congress," Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, head of Iran's armed forces, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
Ah, yes, those troublemakers in Congress - the ones who really aren't sold on turning over $150 billion to the most notorious state sponsors of terrorism on the planet. And if Iran's behavior before sanctions are lifted is troublesome, imagine what it will be like after.
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