Iran forces US sailors to eat foreign food and sit on Persian Rugs.

 “A video released by Iran Wednesday (the one above) shows US sailors detained after their small boats drifted in to Iranian waters. The US said it would take action if they were treated inappropriately.” Wall Street Journal, 1-14-16.

Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

The staggering arrogance of US imperialism!  I can barely get through this tripe and feel so frustrated that when this journal of the US ruling class reports that the “US” says; it is including me. It is including all my friends and people I’ve worked with in the factories, offices and construction sites of America.

But it get’s worse, in fact so bad that workers in countries fiercely supportive of the US, cannot help see the contradiction here, not genuine concern for people, but the lying, arrogant mouthpieces of an imperial power spewing their propaganda yet again. In this case it appears the bourgeois are a bit split with the lunatic fringe, (Trump, McCain et al) wanting blood.

The incident is, “…..raising questions about whether the country’s hard-line military force mistreated the Americans or violated international law…”  the WSJ reports. “Raising questions” “International law” “Mistreated” captured sailors. 

When has the US military/political gang ever concerned itself with international law?

It supports the Zionist occupation of Palestinian land in violation of international law. It mined the harbor of Nicaragua’s capital city in violation of international law back in the 1980's. The US dropped dioxin on Vietnamese troops, on it’s own troops and on the agricultural land of the Vietnamese in order to starve them to death. It invaded Iraq without justification and has basically destroyed it as a nation state.

The mouthpiece of the US 1% even refers to the Geneva Conventions (gasp) as it whines about the possible mistreatment of the sailors. The video “…showed several Americans kneeling, with their hands clasped behind their heads.” the WSJ adds. 

US sailors who mistakenly entered Iranian waters

 Well we see that almost every day in US cities as the very same hypocrites in this situation wage war against US workers, the poor and those protesting domestic abuses, fighting home evictions, police murder, mass incarceration, environmental destruction, you name it.  Nothing new here and we should consider that US ships, a whole flotilla of them are in the "Persian" gulf protecting western oil industry profits. Yes, Persia is the same country as Iran, the gulf is a body of water similar to the Gulf of California.

US citizen protesting police killing of black youth

  “By failing to affirm basic principles of international law, it places our Navy and Coast Guard vessels and the men and women who sail them at increased risk in the future.”
says John McCain who slaughtered a fair few Vietnamese peasants, not in hand to hand jungle warfare but from his luxury position in the cockpit of  a B52. The bombing of North Vietnam surpassed the total tonnage of bombs dropped on Germany, Italy, and Japan in World War II.

This is not to say these young American sailors  would not have been concerned and rightly so.

Iran is governed by a vicious, undemocratic clique of religious fanatics that came to power after the 1979 revolution.  This event overthrew the dictator and mass murderer Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi who was installed in power and kept there after a CIA and British Secret Service coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. Mosaddegh  had introduced land and  housing reforms and most offensive to US and British capitalism nationalized the oil industry owned by the British (BP).

But it appears the sailors were treated well the 24 hours or so they were detained.  The Iranians though did apply the left leg cross torture technique (right) where a prisoner is forced to keep their left leg crossed over the right for as long as 45 minutes. Detainees were also forced to sit on Persian rugs without foam underneath as far as we can tell.

They didn't receive the nicely covered jump suits the US taxpayer afforded detainees that the US government paid Afghan warlords to round up after 911. 

Nope, the folks at the Pentagon and their chums in Congress know how to treat people. 

--> “By failing to affirm basic principles of international law, it places our Navy and Coast Guard vessels and the men and women who sail them at increased risk in the future.” John McCain says in a swipe at President Obama, though why he should do that when Obama has outbushed the imbecile George W Bush when it comes to wiping out foreigners.

 

Even if the US sailor's apology was staged, which would not be surprising, Iran does not have the media clout the US does.  It does not have the same propaganda reach, there's no Hollywood or Iranian Steven Spielberg. The US boats were on an exercise heading for Kuwait and Bahrain. Bahrain is another state governed by a clique like a family business. It slaughtered pro-democracy protesters as 15,000 US troops stood by and did nothing. Kuwait is a another thug regime. And the US is also backing and arming Saudi Arabia's devastating assault on Yemen.  Many of the victims here are Shia Muslims, like the majority in Iran.

Here’s a suggestion. The first step in eliminating terrorism directed at the US and western countries is divorcing ourselves from the “US” when those who claim to represent all its inhabitants make such hypocritical provocative statements like those above, after all, these same forces don't care about us. No one outside the US gives them any credibility whatever.