Mick Hartley

I sneered last week at John Derbyshire’s comments on the British sailors in Iran, where he suggested they should be shot, and pronounced that his old Mum would never have behaved like Faye Turney did, wearing that scarf (“I’ll be damned if I’ll wear the filthy thing”, is what she’d have said apparently, probably adding “you Persian fiend!”). I thought the piece was self-evidently absurd, but from the reactions I’ve been reading in America to the release of the sailors, it looks like Derbyshire was only articulating a common sentiment over there. The level of vitriol is astonishing, from Charles Krauthammer ranting about Britain’s humiliation, and how it was the Americans, as usual, who had to rescue the pathetic Euroweenies (did I miss something?), to some military type linked at lgf who says it’s the most disgraceful thing he’s seen in 40 years (and OK, I know lgf comments should be avoided, but still…). Best of all here’s Ralph Peters in the New York Post:

It was a fitting image of the 14 wimps and a sob sister arriving back in the United Kingdom yesterday: skulking away with pink goody bags in hand.

The color was no accident – although yellow would’ve been more appropriate. […]

In a sharp signal of the difference between our military and the politically beleaguered Brits, our chief of naval operations gave an interview to CNN (which he knows the Iranians watch), making it clear that if Tehran tried such a stunt with our sailors and Marines, we’d feed their thugs to the sharks.

The admiral also stressed that if captured, our troops are still taught to give name, rank, service number – and very little else.

Those blubbering Brits were only playing dress-up in the military uniforms they happily swapped for Iranian loan-shark suits at Wednesday’s kissy-face meet-and-greet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I’m genuinely baffled. What is it with this comic-book tough-guy heroism? No doubt there’s more to come in the way of revelations, but I thought the service men and woman behaved with dignity in a difficult situation, and I thought the whole thing was handled reasonably well by the Blair government. We got them released, unharmed, without any concessions. And I don’t see this as a propaganda triumph for Iran at all: far from it, I think they’ve ended up doing their international image no good at all.

So why this wave of disgust from across the Atlantic? Is it an anti-British thing? Or is there a raw nerve? – you know….hostages….Iran….that type of thing. Remember Operation Eagle Claw, to rescue the US hostages in Tehran in 1980?

An unforeseen low-level sandstorm caused two of eight helicopters to lose their way en route to Desert One, but only after men and equipment had been assembled there. A third helicopter suffered a mechanical failure and was incapable of continuing with the mission. Without enough helicopters to transport men and equipment to Desert Two, the mission was aborted. After the decision to abort the mission was made, one of the helicopters lost control while taking off and crashed into a C-130. In the ensuing explosion and fire, eight US servicemen were killed: five USAF aircrew in the C-130, and three USMC aircrew in the RH-53. During the evacuation, six RH-53 helicopters were left behind intact (5 of their serial numbers are 158686, 158744, 158750, 158753, and 158758). These six helicopters now serve with the Iranian Navy. In their haste to quickly evacuate the RH-53s, the aircrews inadvertently left behind classified plans that identified CIA agents within Iran.

And if you want real toe-curling abasement before Iranian power, it’s difficult to beat those American Christian leaders in their recent audience with Ahmadinejad.

Am I being petty here, scoring cheap points? Well yes, I am, but I find this all strangely annoying. It brings out the nationalist in me. Maybe it’s a minority view in the US – I certainly hope it’s a minority view – but really, if this is how Americans react to the difficulties of their closest ally, then – how would Oscar Wilde have put it? – fuck ’em.

It’d be sad if this Iranian stunt had the unforeseen consequence of driving a wedge between Britain and the US.