Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

A Fake British Map?

Posted by Barry Lando at 10:07 AM on March 28, 2007.


Barry Lando: The newest chapter in the saga of the 15 captured British sailors and marines.

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form

Get PEEK in your
mailbox!

 

Former British Ambassador Craig Murray is now challenging the legitimacy of the map just published by the British government in the current dispute with Iran over those 15 captured British sailors and marines.

"Fake Maritime Boundaries
I have been unpopular before, but the level of threats since I started blogging on the captured marines has got a bit scary. It is therefore with some trepidation that I feel obliged to point this out.

"The British Government has published a map showing the coordinates of the incident, well within an Iran/Iraq maritime border. The mainstream media and even the blogosphere has bought this hook, line and sinker.

"But there are two colossal problems.

"A) The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British Government. Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf, only inside the Shatt because there it is the land border too. This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.

"B) Accepting the British coordinates for the position of both HMS Cornwall and the incident, both were closer to Iranian land than Iraqi land. Go on, print out the map and measure it. Which underlines the point that the British produced border is not a reliable one.

"None of which changes the fact that the Iranians, having made their point, should have handed back the captives immediately. I pray they do so before this thing spirals out of control. But by producing a fake map of the Iran/Iraq boundary, notably unfavourable to Iran, we can only harden the Iranian position."

When I spoke with the former Ambassador he told me how dumbfounded he is by the way in which the mainstream media continues to treat this dispute.

The BBC for instance has already interviewed a supposed expert regarding the map, who vouched for its authenticity. But the point is, as Craig Murray, points out, how can such a map exist if the subject of boundaries has never been settled between Iraq and Iran? Turns out the expert had been referred to the BBC by the British Ministry of Defense--who also turned out the plan.

Sounds like the rerun of a bad movie we've already seen.

Digg!

Tagged as: iran, iraq, british navy

Barry Lando, a former 60 Minutes producer, is the author of "Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush." He also blogs at Barrylando.com.


Why Is Obama Caving to Fox?
"President Obama will give an interview to Fox News' Major Garrett, Drudge reports."
Post by Adam Bink. November 12, 2009.
Breast Flaunting for Jesus
The life of a failed California beauty pageant contestant gets even weirder.
Post by Thers. November 11, 2009.
Dobbs to Quit CNN
Dobbs, under fire, to seek greener pastures.
Post by Staff. November 11, 2009.
Advertisement
Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
Bait in a Trap?
Posted by: writerman on Mar 28, 2007 11:41 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I wouldn't trust Tony Blair if he told me the sun rises in the East! The man is a delusional, practiced and proven Liar. He doesn't want the soldiers back, at least not too quickly. They are serving a purpose and that is to manipulate public opinion in Britain to support war with Iran. Simply put, the soldiers are merely bait in a trap, and the Iranians have fallen into it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

UK should hire Colin Powell to help shlep their "evidence"
Posted by: YinRising on Mar 28, 2007 11:41 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
An AP story now shows a picture of a GPS devise as PROOF that the Brits were in Iraqi waters.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world /la-fg-sailors29mar29,0,7998090.story?coll=la-home-headlines
(erase space after "world ")

Ha! Reminds me of a certain Power Point slide show...

"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."
- Secretary of State Colin Powell before the United Nations, 2/5/03

Oh, and who helped prepare that "intelligence?"

Powell's presentation relied in no small part upon an intelligence dossier prepared by the British Government entitled, "Iraq - Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation." That report plagiarized large swaths of an essay written in September of 2002 by a graduate student from California named Ibrahim al-Marashi. Al-Marashi's essay appeared in the September 2002 edition of a small journal, the Middle East Review of International Affairs.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/020803A.htm

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It's pretty much irrelevant...
Posted by: pball on Mar 28, 2007 12:27 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...whose waters they were in. Warships enjoy "sovereign immunity from interference by the authorities of nations other than the flag nation...[m]oreover, warships are immune from arrest and seizure, whether in national or international waters.." (The Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, Chap. 2.1.2)

AFAIK, all Iran was legally entitled to do was demand the Brits leave their territory. While I certainly agree the MSM is being deliberately disingenous about this story, Iran has definitely overstepped their bounds here as well and I hope they wise up, let the sailors go ASAP, and avoid a potentially huge mess.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» I just wonder... Posted by: xconservative
the Poodle
Posted by: JSquercia on Mar 28, 2007 5:01 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bush's poodle does his bidding again providing a provocation so the war with Iran can begin .

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]