U.S. Soldiers, Civilians Taken Captive by Iranians, Later Released

WASHINGTON � Four U.S. soldiers and five civilians in two boats were taken captive by Iranians, blindfolded and interrogated before being released, U.S. Central Command (search) said Monday. Two of the civilians were still being held.

Four soldiers from the Army's 1092nd Engineer Company, a civilian Army contractor, two civilian captains and two boat drivers were sailing up the Shatt al Arab waterway in the al Faw peninsula (search) Sunday to pick up Iraqi South Oil Co. personnel when they were taken by force by Iranians, a spokesman, Cmdr. Dan Gage, said from Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla.

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Its Fox...How could you DragonRider

Originally posted by David
Its Fox...How could you DragonRider

Hey, better than the Clinton News Network

The group may have moved into Iranian territorial waters, he said. The Mini al Bakr platform is very close to Iran's declared international water boundaries.

DR it sounds like Iran was well within there right to question them and release them as they did.

This can't be a good situation since the rhetoric was ratcheted up another notch at the G8 summit. Another reason to tighten the screws on the Iranians I guess.

Smells a little like propaganda to me. No doubt it did happen, seen it widely reported, but it will be no more than the soldiers straying into the wrong area, being confronted, then sent back. It's hyped up to keep up the slow pressure cooker around the Iranians. The other reason, along with them saying North Korea has reiterated it has nuclear weapons, (more like their regurgitating it at a convenient time) is just trying to divert attention from Iraq.

[Edited on 3-6-2003 by kegs]

Yeah you have to wonder what the US authorities would do if two small boats carrying 4 iranian soldiers and 5 civilians wandered into US territorial waters.

Originally posted by John bull 1
Yeah you have to wonder what the US authorities would do if two small boats carrying 4 iranian soldiers and 5 civilians wandered into US territorial waters.

My guess is that we would blow them to smithereens and say they were working for bin Laden.

Or the Criminal News Network

At this point, I think it is going to turn into a CIA-fabricated event which starts a war with Iran. I mean, this thing already seems to be starting up over the oil.

Yeah, id say the Iranians are within thier rights. Knowing alot of my former comerades, I know that map reading and going the right direction isnt a strong point. It sounds like they simply made a wrong turn or drifted too far, and got caught. They werent harmed, they were released, i dont see any problem. Its all pretty legit from what I read.

TEHRAN, Iran � Iran rejected accusations it was trying to build a nuclear bomb and blamed the United States on Tuesday for a warning by the Group of Eight (search) nations that put Tehran (search) on notice for its alleged nuclear ambitions.

Iran insisted it was already cooperating with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (search), as it develops a nuclear program it says is entirely peaceful and aimed at offsetting a future domestic energy shortage.

"We are committed to our obligations under IAEA rules," Gholamreza Aghazadeh, Iran's atomic energy chief, said, according to state-run television. He called on the IAEA to stop American attempts to deny Iran access to more nuclear technology.

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