Among the responses to the Iranian hostage crisis, this one: it serves the Brits right. In the LA Times, Niall Ferguson puts it all down to Tony Blair’s weakness over slavery (h/t Kevin Drum):
Let that be a lesson. Even before Britain’s politicians had finished saying sorry last Sunday for depriving millions of their liberty, the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, 15 Britons found themselves deprived of their liberty by the Iranian government. When will Tony Blair ever learn that, in international relations, nice guys finish last?
In the New English Review, another British ex-pat, John Derbyshire thinks the cowardly sailors are to blame.
I certainly think that those British captives who have let themselves be put forward on Iranian TV, that woman wearing a headscarf, and the young man apologizing to the Iranian gangster-rulers, should be court-martialed for dereliction of duty when they get back to Blighty, with shooting definitely an option.
This stuff plays well with the American right – who are busy building British weakness into their ‘how-we-woz-betrayed-in-Iraq’ narrative. Mario Loyola:
The most tragic aspect of this whole drama is the window it has opened into the tortured psyche of our British allies. True enough, Britain is given to bouts of world-weary fatalism—a similar once hit Britain after World War II, and swept Churchill out of office. Still, I could never have guessed the extent to which Britain has accepted the loss of its national power. Our greatest ally, this people who have done so much to spread modernity, to protect and advance human civilization, to better the human condition, seem to have come under the spell of some mixture and pessimism and self-hatred.
Update. Some more quotes:
John Derbyshire on the Brit Wimps: “When it happened, I said I hoped the ones who’d shamed their country would be court-martialed on return to Blighty, and given dishonorable discharges after a couple years breaking rocks in the Outer Hebrides (which, believe me—I’ve been there—have a LOT of rocks). Now, I confess, I wouldn’t shed a tear if some worse fate befell them.”
And again: “Your opening remark that, “In surrendering without a fight, those marines were, apparently, obeying orders,” is neither here nor there. I certainly agree that the current British ruling classes are scum. It is still open to British soldiers and sailors to behave honorably. Were these particular ones obeying orders in truckling to the Iranian barbarians? Pshaw! Outer Hebrides, I say.”
Victor Davis Hanson: “This was the hour of Europe to step forward and show the world what it can do with sanctions, embargoes, and boycotts, and how such soft power is as effective as gunboats—and it is passing. The incident also redefines “asset”. A European naval vessel, under current rules of engagement, seems to me more a liability, a floating diplomatic embarrassment waiting to happen. In this Orwellian logic, the British decision to mothball some of the ships now on duty in the Gulf makes sense: fewer chances that one will be challenged, humiliated, or attacked by Islamists.”
Ralph Peters: “While criticizing our military’s approach to everything, the Brits made an utter balls of it in Basra – now they’re bailing out, claiming “Mission accomplished!” (OK, they had a role model . . .) In Heaven, Winston Churchill’s puking up premium scotch. The once-proud Brit military has collapsed to a sorry state when its Royal Marines surrender without a fight, then apologize to their captors (praising their gentle natures!) while criticizing their own country. Pretty sad to think that the last real warriors fighting under the Union Jack are soccer hooligans.”
John O’Sullivan: “The Brits are developing a quasi-pacifist European sensibility on military affairs. They are “entering Europe” psychologically as well as economically… [This] is the result of two policies pursued by the Blair government over many years: the running down of Britain’s armed forces and the deliberate official discouragement of British patriotism in favor of the European Union and international institutions.”
