IRAN'S LATEST HOSTAGE GAMBLE

By Austin Bay

The sailors call them "RHIBs" -- rigid hull inflatable boats. Add powerful outboard motors, and the agile, shallow-draft RHIB becomes an ideal watercraft for scooting around the Tigris and Euphrates estuary or for slipping among suspicious dhows in Iraqi coastal waters.

Light boats like RHIBs, however, aren't fighting vessels. Use one for patrol, boarding and police duties (missions 15 British sailors and marines were conducting last week), and the sailors have no protection other than the craft's swiftness and their own individual body armor. One long burst of light machinegun fire will likely sink the boat, as well as kill several of the sailors on board. Life vests worn over body armor will keep survivors bobbing, but make them easy targets for the next machinegun burst.

In 2005, I spent several days with American sailors who were conducting inspection operations in the northern end of the Persian Gulf. The sailors used RHIBs for the close work. The sailors were armed with shotguns and light automatic weapons (as the 15 Royal Navy personnel taken hostage by Iranian Revolutionary Guards most certainly were).

Even a routine boarding has its moment of doubt. A young petty officer acknowledged a fishing dhow could be a floating bomb, with the fisherman a potential "martyr." But he judged the possibility to be remote. "We know a lot of these fishing boats," he said. "We've watched them."

The U.S. sailors, however, weren't alone. A U.S. patrol boat with automatic cannons was never more than a few hundred meters away. A British frigate and an American cruiser patrolled nearby. We were in fairly deep water, 15 kilometers offshore.

The Royal Navy sailors and marines were apparently closer to shore in small open boats when the sailors were surprised and surrounded by Iranian craft. They surrendered in order to avoid a bloodbath and a larger international incident.

Britain says it has definitive evidence its personnel were in Iraqi territory. Even if they strayed into Iranian water, the fact the sailors and marines were surrounded and outgunned suggests a planned operation.

The British sailors are now hostages in an intercontinental game of brinksmanship. Once again, a tactical (small-scale military) engagement in the War on Terror has strategic (large-scale) political and psychological consequences.

It's also a reminder that when confronting terrorists and terror states, everyone is a potential hostage. In 1979, Iranian theo-fascists took the entire U.S. embassy hostage, in what many have come to regard as the first attack in the War on Terror.

But this latest hostage-taking incident smacks of desperation, not revolutionary fervor.

Late spring 2007 finds the Iranian "revolutionary government" facing an extraordinary range of internal and external problems.

There's a war inside Iran -- several wars, actually. Minority Baluchis, Azeris, Kurds and Arabs are restive.

The mullah's core problem is the Iranian people. Under-30 Iranians have had it with the mullahs' failed revolution.

A recent visitor to Iran described a twenty-fold increase in "the standard bribe" Tehran bureaucrats demand for a building permit. Call it indicative rumor, supporting the assertion that Iranians now believe their current government is more corrupt than the Shah's. Moreover, Iranians are aware of Iraq's political progress. There's a war in Iraq, yes, but also an emerging Arab democracy -- and that irritates Iranians who regard themselves as being more sophisticated than Arabs. The latest U.N. sanctions resolution increases political and economic pressure. It also freezes the economic assets of 28 people and organizations -- so the sanctions are tailored to hit specific Iranian actors (bad actors). The resolution passed unanimously, meaning the mullahs cannot count on China and Russia.

Confronting these problems, Iran's Islamist hardliners take Western hostages.

"These people have to be released," Britain's Tony Blair said on Monday. At the moment, Britain and its allies are pursuing diplomatic means. If they fail, Blair says, "then this will move into a different phase." Two U.S. aircraft carrier groups are now operating off Iranian shores. They are not small, open boats.

TOP 10 MOST EKS CONTAINED IN WAR SUPPLEMENTAL

Ranked by the office of Sen. Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.).

The Democrat-controlled Congress is currently fighting to pass a $124 billion emergency war supplemental laden with pork projects. Last week the House voted 218-212 to pass the bill and the Senate is expected to pass it shortly. Senate Republicans said they expect President Bush to veto the bill because it sets a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal in Iraq. The following list highlights the most egregious earmarks contained in the Senate's version of the bill, as ranked by fiscal hawk Sen. Tom Coburn's staff.

10. Allows transfer of funds from holiday ornament sales in the Senate gift shop

9. $3 million in funding for sugar cane

8. $3.5 million in additional funding for guided tours of the Capitol

7. $12 million for the Forest Service money which the President requested in the non-emergency fiscal year 2008 budget

6. $20 million for insect damage reimbursements in Nevada

5. $24 million in funding for sugar beets

4. $75 million for salaries and expenses for the Farm Service Agency

3. $165.9 million for fisheries disaster relief, funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

2. $40 million for the Tree Assistance Program

1. $100 million in funding for the 2008 national party conventions.

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

There are 600,000 illegal alien fugitives in this country that our government cannot account for. The people charged with the responsibility of keeping up with these people are claiming inadequate resources. How about lack of will? But hey, no worries. We learn that the Feds expect to have them all of these fugitive criminal aliens out by the end of 2012. So only another 4 years or so before we round up all the murderers, rapists and thieves from the Mexican invasion and ship them back from whence they came. Of course, by then, another 600,000 -- likely many more --- will crossed the border heading north.

Criminal aliens? Yeah .. that's what I call them. A little insensitive reaction of mine to seeing these people carrying their "I'm not a criminal" signs. You cross the border illegally, you work illegally, you stay here illegally ... you're a criminal. Plus you have the fact that a significant percentage of illegal aliens are committing a large number of crimes. Sexual predators especially...all courtesy of our neighbor to the South. But the media isn't anxious to report this wave of crime courtesy of Mexico. Next time you're watching your local news and you see a report about a crime committed by someone who could be an illegal alien, noticed they never mention their immigration status. That would be politically incorrect.

So the invasion continues. One of the excuses being given as to why the fugitive backlog is so high in this country is because there aren't enough places in the jails for them. Here's an idea...how about shipping them back to Mexico and letting them deal with it? We used to do that....it was calling deporting somebody. Look it up...it used to happen. A long time ago.

IRAN MAY BE CHANGING ITS MIND

Iran is changing its tune on the 15 kidnapped British soldiers, saying it is questioning them to see if they're innocent. It seems the Iranians think now maybe their supposed trespassing in Iranian waters was an accident. More accurately .... perhaps the Iranians have some hint that their little kidnapping ploy isn't working out all that well for them and they had better find a way out of this mess. By the way...one of the 15 is a woman. Just how much of this is the world going to put up with?

By the way, the Blob (that's Rosie O'Donnell for those of you who are new to the show) thinks we made the whole thing up. That's right, theBlob implied on 'The View' that the United States somehow set up this whole thing so as to provoke the Iranians into giving us an excuse to start a war with them. Yeah, that's what happened. George W. Bush probably did all this in his spare time while he was planning more plane hijackings so he could continue the War On Terror. I'm starting to think that this hideous woman really is as stupid as she sounds. Stupid --- not ignorant. You can fix ignorant.

Anyway, it could be that mounting international pressure is changing the Iranians minds...but it's still astonishing that nobody is doing anything about it. Snatching those 15 soldiers was an act of war....except Britain hasn't reacted. Why? Evidently because they're continuing their policy of Islamic appeasement...and letting the Iranians slide. The strongest words Tony Blair could come up with was that they were taking the matter very seriously. That's it. Which is too bad...because this would be a great opportunity to put the Mullahs in Tehran in their place.

But instead, the UK is holding Iran's hand...softly telling them to please return the soldiers. I wonder if they're going to pay money for their release? Perhaps a prisoner swap? It's really that absurd.
Where are the Islamic fascists going to push next?

IRAN PUSHINGTHEIR LUCK

Iran continues to play games regarding these British sailors they took hostage in Iraqi waters the other day. These were our allies operating in a war led by the United States. Is it time for a showdown? Is it time for Bush should give Tehran 24 hours to return them without a scratch...or else?

The Islamic fascists are going to continue to push until they find that magic point where we push back. Evidently kidnapping soldiers off the high seas isn't that point. Our response should be no different than if Iran took a group of U.S. Marines hostage from international waters. So what are we doing about all of this? Not much. How about the Brits? Well, not much either.

Tony Blair says they're taking Iran's actions seriously. Yeah! That ought to show them! This is why Iran does the things that it does...because it knows it can get away with it. Ahmadinejad knows he can exploit the weakness of the politically correct Islamic appeasers in Europe. He rightly calculated that he could draw attention to himself by capturing these soldiers and perhaps arranging a prisoner swap. No one is standing up to him thus far. So, perched atop his phone book in Tehran, he continues his nuclear weapons program and has now taken these prisoners.

Britain is an ally and this was an act of war. Why not give them what they seem to want? Reagan wouldn't have put up with this. And just to be bipartisan about it, neither would Harry Truman or Franklin Roosevelt. How long do we wait until we push these dangerous people back?

WHO'S GETTING THE GOODIES...AND WHO'S PAYING THE TAB!

The Tax Foundation has issued a new report entitled "Who Pays America's Tax Burden, and Who Gets the Most Government Spending". You can read the report for yourself right here, though I suspect you already know the answers to the questions.

As you might now, economists and government bureaucrats divide us into quintiles. There's the highest income one-fifth, the lowest income one-fifth, and the three-fifths in the middle. The Tax Foundation study shows that the lowest-earning one-fifth of households in America get about $8.21 in federal, state and local government spending for every dollar they paid in taxes in 2004. If you're in the middle one-fifth, you got about $1.30 in spending for every dollar in taxes. Now, can you guess what happens if you're in the top one-fifth? Right. You get raped. You get about 41 cents in government spending for every dollar you pay in taxes.

Those of you out there who so ardently hate the rich might want to rethink things. Looks to me like you need them to cover your cost of living. Pity you can't care for yourselves. Maybe that's where the hatred comes in. The dependence that those in the lower income brackets have on government handouts breed resentment .. and that resentment is aimed at those who have more. Perhaps instead of resentment these people might want to think in terms of gratitude. Thank goodness there are people out there who do go the extra mile, make the extra effort, work the extra hours to get themselves into those higher brackets. Who is going to create all of this wealth that gets redistributed if they don't? The government?