So it looks like Iran is blinking and letting the Brits go.

[shadowknows69]

All praises to Allah. Sincerely. WWIII delayed for another week at least.

[Donnachaidh]

1. why is it a blink? WE still hold Iranian hostages

if anyone needs to blink, it's the Chimperor.

[plcdude]

2. the hostage trade

has been agreed upon.

[aquart]

3. It's not a blink when you get to embarrass George.

Doing it while Pelosi is in the MidEast? Priceless.

[mac56]

4. I don't think it's a blink at all.

I think Nancy Pelosi helped work out a deal via Syria.

Plus this puts pressure on us to let the Iranians meet with the hostages we're holding in Iraq.

This isn't a blink.

[shadowknows69]

7. Well whatever "big people" games are being played

I'm just glad bombs aren't falling yet. Although it isn't the 6th yet.

[WinkyDink]

5. I'd say they called Blair's bluff.

[mmonk]

6. Not a blink. It actually forced negotiations.

And now, they are carrying through.

[CJCRANE]

11. Yes

the Iranians basically said - talk to us in a civilized manner and we'll think about it.

[soothsayer]

8. I see it as a smack-down of jr and his toy poodle. Brilliant, and

will make it harder to justify Operation TIRANT, coming soon to The Iranian Near Theater.

[tiptoe]

9. Perhaps more like a "wink" (and nod?) to Pelosi and Syria (and Saudi Arabia?)

[CJCRANE]

10. I get the feeling

they wanted to release them sooner but Blair ratcheted up the rhetoric and threats near the beginning instead of going the more pragmatic route.

Looks like things have calmed down in the last 48 hrs.

[donsu]

12. I don't think it was a blink

deals where made

[Iwasthere]

13. Not a blink imo.

We better start talking. Thank God for nancy over there negotiating. More of that!

[TheBaldyMan]

14. It's symptomatic of wily Persians,

The rumour mill has an air attack against Iran scheduled for early morning (2am local time) April 6th.

[Golden Raisin]

15. Certainly there was some behind the scenes

quid pro quo deal negotiated between the U.K. and Iran. Meanwhile I'm very relieved as I was dreading that Bush was going to use the British captives as an excuse to bomb Iran.

[Suich]

16. How are you feeling, shadow?

Better, I hope!

:)

[Bake]

17. Ahmadinejad comes off looking like a statesman

He pardons and releases the Brits, and even calls on Blair not to prosecute them for violating Iranian waters! He gets not only to save face, but to improve his image! (And I'll go ahead and say it: How f'ed up is THAT???).

Georgie Boy, on the other hand, just looks like a tool. Nothing new.

Bake

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. Britain admitted their troops were in Iranian waters.

And shortly after that scandalous Independent report.

It ain't the Iranians blinking.

[gatorboy]

19. The botched US raid that led to the hostage crisis

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2414760.ece

A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines.

Early on the morning of 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and still holds.

In reality the US attack had a far more ambitious objective, The Independent has learned. The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment.

Better understanding of the seriousness of the US action in Arbil - and the angry Iranian response to it - should have led Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence to realise that Iran was likely to retaliate against American or British forces such as highly vulnerable Navy search parties in the Gulf. The two senior Iranian officers the US sought to capture were Mohammed Jafari, the powerful deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council, and General Minojahar Frouzanda, the chief of intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, according to Kurdish officials.

[ContraBass Black]

20. Not blinking, but smiling, saving face, and walking away gracefully, all at the same time.

They're making themselves look reasonable and diplomatic.

[Javaman]

21. There is no blinking, we were duped plain and simple.

as I stated in another post, the mission was accomplished.

during this whole charade the price of oil went up 7 bucks.

Iran made money, the oil pigs made money, and whether or not moron* was part of it, he* made money.

to quote the retarded chimp*,"mission accomplished"

if you thought that all this world staged melo-drama has anything to do with "national security", "fighting them over there, blah, blah, blah" etc ad nausem, then I have a bridge to sell you.

we are in the dim hours of easy oil, the pigs are marching fast to they can make the last few dollars before the gas riots begin.

Get your bike ready, if you haven't already done so, gas is only going to get more expensive from here on out.

boiling the frog don't you know.