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Political News, Radio, Ideas, Videos and EventsBritish Manufactured Gulf Maritime Border Map
2007-03-30
No such agreed upon border between Iraq and Iran exists, measurements show ship was nearer Iranian coastPrison Planet | March 30, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson
In claiming HMS Cornwall was within Iraqi territorial waters, the British government and the media have covered-up the fact there is no agreed upon Iraqi-Iranian maritime border, as other bizarre coincidences and dubious circumstances surrounding the hostage crisis begin to emerge.
Former British Ambassador Craig Murray and others are highlighting the fact that the maritime border between Iraq and Iran is contested, and the British have essentially manufactured a border to make it appear as if HMS Cornwall was within Iraqi territorial waters. The mainstream media has uniformly failed to address this issue.
"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," claims Murray.
"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."
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As illustrated in the Encarta encyclopedia territorial map above, the position of the ship denoted by the red circle is nearer the Iranian border than the Iraq border. The blue circumference touches the edge of the Iranian border.
As the Moon of Alabama blog points out, "That boundary is simply not well defined and Iran and Iraq have fought several wars about the Shatt al-Arab and its waterways. There is no binding or otherwise recognized international agreement about the maritime boundaries."
"If one would use a maritime boundary defined by equidistance from the Iraqi and Iranian coastlines, as is commonly (see Art.7) done in such cases, the result would be something like this purple line."
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As becomes obvious from looking at the map, taking the equidistant measurement from the Iraqi and Iranian coastlines, the ship is clearly within Iranian territory.
Iranian news source IRNA claims that this represents Britain's sixth violation and trespass of Iranian territory in the last three years, while also stating that the western media has been complicit in "a wave of propaganda campaign against Iran immediately after Iranian border guards arrested British marines."
Even if you dismiss judging territorial water boundaries by the method detailed above, the fact is that the media parroted carte blanche the British government's version, without even pointing out that there is no recognized and agreed upon Gulf water boundary between Iraq and Iran.
Other highly suspicious circumstances surrounding the hostage crisis have also begun to emerge.
During a BBC Newsnight feature story , it was demonstrated that the Iranian footage of the capture of the British sailors was in large part likely faked and the commentators all but suggested the entire incident was staged or at least constituted "gross negligence" on behalf of the British.
Readers have also pointed out the bizarre coincidence of the fact that immediately before the sailors were captured, they were being accompanied by a BBC film crew onboard HMS Cornwall, who filmed a human interest interview with Faye Turney, who has become the poster child of the whole crisis. The interview was broadcast immediately after the sailors were taken hostage and portrayed Turney in a very humanizing light, with pictures of her loved ones in the background.
With the crisis deepening and tensions being ratcheted up by the bellicose rhetoric of both Blair and the Iranians, this Gulf of Tonkin style incident is starting to look increasingly dubious as the drumbeat for war grows ever louder.
Sharon\'s Office Support (2007-03-31)
It has been reported that the boundaries have been "disputed" over time. What a surprise. But, if Iran is so "sure" of what they believe the boundary is, why did they "correct" where they felt the captured boat was? These military people were doing a job they are supposed to be doing. Even IF they inadvertently strayed across a line (with the correction doesn't sound like the Iranians knew for sure where they were), there is no reason to hold them and incite "the people" to be calling for their Execution. They've demonstrated they will "protect their waters". If they had half a brain, they'd recognize they've proved their point and release the Hostages with the warning "Be More Careful". Blair had already announced his intent to start withdrawing British military. Hopefully, this ridiculous action by Iran will change the mind of the British and they will realize "The West" must stand together against these fanatics. They want trouble and they'll do ANYTHING to incite their people to gain support. The US allowed them to get away with it years ago when they held US citizens for so long. They have no reason to think they can't get away with it again, because we couldn't handle the situation years ago!
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