Heritage In Focus: Facing Iran After the British Hostages

[GemistusPletho]

I have no idea why a normally lucent Heritage foundation hired this pompous air head. I don't agree with many Iranian policies but Mcnamara's tactless rhetoric, not only creates perpetual political instability but she even threatens to destabilize NATO itself. The last time Europeans had to listen to this sort of hateful intolerant drivel t was coming from the Nazis. It's very disappointing that the Heritage foundation has given a platform for fascists like Mcnamara.

[FreddieBambino]

@GemistusPletho

Lol, while I couldnt agree with you more, I still dont think the rest of the commentators of Heritage foundation are any better.

At least I automatically think that after viewing a few scetches from this silly goat. My opinion is that "Think tanks" should put a bit more thought in their tanks before hiring people like her that totally destroy their credability and therefore making their ideology fall short of winning any public support.

[Molego1984]

She's sooooo hot !!!!!

[UltraProle21]

if anyone listens to this corporate shill they are so fucking stupid it's almost unbelievable

[tgwIIIno1]

The "Chosen" word........

[Jon68Iran]

No efence but Great Britian is america and should be punnished for its bad behavior to others. Who gives the authority to spy on a country that means no harm.

[mazgan86]

sailors entered iranian territory. did u expect iranians to do what? what would u do if the same happened to ur country?

[StarTrekRocker]

Sally MacNamara do yourself a favour and shut up =)

[Alaniarepublic]

Sally MacNamara fuck yourself!

[AlexiMalexi]

ey sally go on using some more make up and don't meddle in male affairs dollybird....

[odin422]

FREE PALESTINE!!!!!!!

PULL OUT OF IRAQ!!!!

SUPPORT THE G.I. Resistance!!

[markanthony2050]

Wow, How funny is this lady. Tell me what the English aramy doing right by the Iranian border? Is England has shared border with Iran? As far as I know and checked the world may last time. England was 10,000 Kilomiters away from Iranian border. So you tell me who is in the violation of the international law? Iran or England?

[Mike1977a1]

She is a PR spokeswomen for the London Corporate Elite!

[Farshad1975]

Wonder why, as soon as US-soldiers or thier "allied" soldiers are capptuerd the "free world" media refer too them as "hostages". It wasnt exactly that they were harmless, bringing birthday cakes over the Iranian border, they were armed from head to toe.

[catobear1704]

Terrible advice from a neo-conservative think tank. I will disregard her rhetoric completely, therefore.

[gmfutube]

Just like "we" had a right to run the natives off this land because, as John Wayne (another draft doger) put it, "they weren't doing anything with it."

[ORIGINALDESIGNS]

Sorry, Shock and Awe from stealth aircraft does not win hearts and minds. But it will create mega-bucks for the corporations that fund the "Heritage Foundation".

These people are saying we should be at war with Iran now!

[Rickdeckard2020]

'Iran destabalizing Iraq', is this a comedy act? The US/UK have directly and indirectly killed countless thousands of civilians and open the gates to a civil war.

'the capture and release of Brit soldiers' not to be tolerated? How about plancing sanctions on the US/UK instead until Iranian diplomats are released and until you end the military occupation of Iraq

[brotherblues2112]

Sally and Mat, You two sould be enlisting. If this is what you want than get on the front lines.

 When you get back more poeple may actualy listen to your BS.

[mlbalan74]

Ah, why am I not surprised that there are the same leeches commenting on here as on the rest of YouTube. They can parrot the same old repeated cliches and ad hominum attacks, but they don't have anything of substance.

[Slippojo]

There are an estimated one million refugees who have fled Iraq for Syria. Another million have sought refuge in Jordan. Another two million are displaced within Iraq itself. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's are dead as a direct result of the US invasion and occupation.

[Slippojo]

Ah yes, the "Heritage Foundation". Part of the right-wing cabal that got us to invade Iraq. How'd that turn out? Turned out that it was based on a pack of lies. These people are nothing but Chicken-hawk warmongering liars. They should be identified, isolated, and disenfranchised for the good of America and the world.

[opiate69]

She appears to be well within the military age range..why is she sitting in front of this camera? She should be down at her local recruiter's office signing up.. oh, that's right.. right-tards only want the "less advantaged" to actually fight the wars they wage. Sickening.

[randy1745]

well stated and right on point

[Habitt5253]

Sounds to me the conservative Heritage Foundation is acting a little hawkish...

[disturbed663]

the USA cant invade iran there ganna have to nuke them and bring back to the stone age even though there kinda there and for taking those brits on international waters we shoulda toke out there oil refinary iherd they only got one then they would be broke as dirt (kinda are already) but the problem is russia is to much an ally with them so the jews are ganna take them out then everone will hate the jews agian and attack isreal

[runningchance]

Great idea! We definitely could use the oil.

[MoonBranFrank]

hope we get a new power source soon.. than they will be history..

[runningchance]

AMEN!!!!!! We need the oil and we deserve it!

[gmfutube]

"We"??? Do you meant the oil companies? Where is the we in that.

Why do we deserve it?

[bernalyckan]

I'm not convinced that the british sailors, soldiers,

were there on a peacefully mission. I think they was

too near the coast of Iran.

[TAMARLANE]

Iran will overplay here cards. Someday.

The results will be swift and sure. It will be a terrible scourge that befalls Iraq.

All because of a megalomaniacal tyranny of the Ayatollahs there.

[alaplume]

policy analyst or policy wonk?

[faithys]

iran had every right to arest those who intered in to irani waters british and americans have no business in iraq or iran

leave muslims alone because of your stupidity muslims around the world are takeing up arms against west and america

[drmark1995]

I have had the same experience. The comments on this vieo are being censored.

[id341i57]

this has a f i l t er, obviously... I guesss you can't say anything.

[id341i57]

as I mentioned in my not-published comment, Stealth0ught's account is closed... why?

[id341i57]

my last comment was not published. so much about democracy.

[tamagochita]

we have heard that line many times before and we WONT be deceived again ..

they said the same thing about Afghanistan nesting and hosting terrorism and then Iraq now they are trying to convince us that Iran and Syria are our next coming battle...

well.. its getting old man

[Stealth0ught]

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.

Thomas Jefferson

[Stealth0ught]

My coments are being selectibly posted.

Canada here i come.

[Stealth0ught]

my coments are being selectibly posted.

Canada here i come.

[NathanielMeyer]

This is a hopelessly arrogant, over-simplistic report. It is true that Iran have been doling out propaganda for years, in much the same way as this bulletin is propaganda personified. It's just that in light of recent verbal skirmishes with the Iranian regime, Britain and America (primarily) seem far more sensitive to the repurcussions of a propaganda 'loss'. This is a multi-faceted issue, but this report couldn't be more reactionary and just bulldozes through room for reasoned debate. x-NM-x

[Husko272]

Bullies!

[Stealth0ught]

FACT: Iran is a country that has not attacked another country for about 250 years.

[gunzmith]

iran has been attacking lebanon for the last 20 years

[Stealth0ught]

Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous information in the first place.

[Stealth0ught]

There are those who have fallen under the hypnotic spell of the TV talking-heads and "experts" whom they worship as authority figures. Unaccustomed to thinking for themselves, no amount of truth can sway them from their preconceived prejudices.

[Stealth0ught]

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.

George Orwell

[Stealth0ught]

All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.

George Orwell

[Jitpring]

Drop the obnoxious, fashionable term "world community." Rather, simply say "world."

[claytongault]

It is embarrasing that the world community is being so utterly passive to what the Iranian government is doing. The U.K. should have immediately taken economic action and diplomatic against the Iranian government after their soldiers were taken to show that what Iranian government did is truly not acceptable behaviour. The Iranian President is already weakened inside Iran so increased international economic pressure will surely make the ruling priesthood support other more moderate factions.

[93current93]

And of course, that would have secured the release of our sailors much faster?

If there is change in Iran, it should come from inside Iran. Does anyone still remember Woodrow Wilsons 14 points?

[claytongault]

By being passive, the U.K. showed that the Iranian government's actions did not have any serious negative consequences for the Iranian leaders. That lays the ground for a future where they will continue acting that way whenever it fits their purposes, with much higher stakes that the lives of those sailors. That we would like a change in Iran to come from inside Iran does not mean that the outside world should be passive to the actions of the Iranian government.

[93current93]

So, wait, Iran isn't allowed to act in its own interests?

[claytongault]

When the interests of the Iranian government are to promote an oppressive theocratic agenda where every aspect of society is dictated by the ruling priesthood's interpretations of 1500 year old texts, those of us who oppose such an ideology must stand against them. Do you support such a theocracic rule?

[93current93]

So, what's the difference between that and the oppressive theocratic agenda of the American religious right? Oh yeah, the religious right base their screed on 2000 year old texts. I don't support theocracy, but I don't support capitalism either, and I definitely don't support war. Just mind your own damn business.

[claytongault]

In the U.S. you are able to vote your representatives out of office if you do not agree with the way they rule. In Iran, you only get to choose from candidates who have been given the stamp of approval by the ruling priesthood. How can you not see the difference?

I would very much like to mind my own damn business, if only theocratic regimes such as the Iranian government was not determined to convert the rest of the world to their faith, by the sword if not by choice.

[93current93]

Do you know how much money you need to run for President of the US? I see little difference between having your candidates rubber stamped by the Ayatollah or Halliburton. The Iranians hold elections, as you just admitted. Also, when has Iran ever seriously threatened to over-run the whole world? Come off it.

[claytongault]

You need no money to run for President in the U.S. However, if you want your face in commercials all over the place, that does of course take money, which is true in any country that has free elections and where candidates are allowed to run political advertisements. In the U.S. you are not pre-screened by the priesthood whose blessing you need to be a candidate for any office. Thinking that the Iranian elections are anything like those in the West is delusional.

[claytongault]

Do you know anything about the mind of a person whose worldview is based on the texts of an expansionist religion? The expansion of the influence of their religion is not an opition but a religious moral imperative. Thinking that the ambitions of the theocracy of Iran is limited to that country is just ignorant.

[93current93]

I know a lot about them. Almost all my videos are anti-religious. I'm not saying that the Iranians are right, or that I like their position. I'm merely saying that there is no moral high-ground from which they can be pre-emptively attacked. If they try to invade Iraq or Turkey or something, by all means, but at the moment all I see is a convenient excuse for expanding US/Isreali imperialism in the middle east.

[claytongault]

I am not talking about a pre-emptive attack, and I don't consider that as a realistic response to the threat of the Iranian government. What I am saying is that the policy of the U.K. when it came to the kidnapping of the British sailors was highly inadequate if the goal was to deter such behaviour from the Iranian government in the future. Economic and diplomatic sactions should have been taken to send a clear signal to the Iranian government that their actions were not acceptable.

[claytongault]

Instead of sending a clear signal to the Iranian government, the U.K. chose to appear weak in the eyes of the Iranian government, and that is what will ultimately lead to greater danger for that region and the world as a whole as the Iranian government is emboldened to take further actions along the same lines.

[93current93]

Your argument makes it out as if international diplomacy is a bad gangster movie. How would imposing sanctions (which would, as always, harm only the poorest people in Iran) in any way strengthen the U.K.? It would simply make them hated by the Iranians, as the Americans became hated in Iraq for the sanctions of the 90's. Cutting off connections with the outside world strengthens the grip of an authoritarian regime.

[claytongault]

It is funny that you would mention gangster movies, considering that the way the Iranian government is acting. If sanctions, diplomatic and/or economic, had been taken against Iran, the message would have been sent that the U.K. is not to be pushed around. Instead, the U.K. came across as a weak nation that isn't able to respond to this kind of behaviour in the international arena. And as if you haven't already noticed, the U.K. is already hated in Iran for siding with the U.S. and Israel.

[93current93]

I don't quite frankly care if my nation seems weak, as I'm not a nationalist moron. The only things I care about for my country are the safety of its citizens and the fairness of its government, neither of which are served by idiotic macho neo-imperialism. Also, your comments on the attitude of the Iranian government make no sense. Iran hasn't launched an act of open aggression against another nation for longer than the US has existed.

[claytongault]

If your nation is perceived as weak and incapable of protecting itself, the safety of its citizens is at risk. Wanting to defend your country, including its system of government and its citizens, does not make your "a nationalist moron". How can you equate diplomatic/economic sanctions with "idiotic macho neo-imperialism"? The Iranian government knows that open aggression would not serve their purposes yet, so they conduct their aggression through third parties (such as Hezbollah and Syria).

[93current93]

I am really, really failing to envisage a scenario where Iran launches a war of aggression on the UK. If they did, the UK could easily defend itself: you can't defend a nation by bullying others (especially when your reason for bullying others is because the others are bullys). I mean, look how that plan worked out for the US on 9/11...

[claytongault]

The Iranian government may not be so foolish as to attack the U.K. in an open strike that could be directly traced to them, but they would support other parties such as terrorist groups (they are already doing this with Hezbollah) to commit atrocities such as those that were committed against your people in London in 2005. Diplomatic/economic sanctions against a government that kidnaps your soldiers is not "bullying", it is simply self preservation, something that you are obviously not into.

[93current93]

Yeah, you see, I just don't see how escalating tensions in the middle east can possibly make anyone safer. What, you think that Britain would be LESS likely to be attacked if we'd done all in our power to antagonise Iran over a cruddy little border dispute that started and ended without a shot fired? International politics requires more organs to think with than just your balls.

[claytongault]

"Escalating tensions", as you say, come from allowing the Iranian government to in effect commit acts of war against your country without any serious response to it. What do you think that the Iranian government learned from this episode? They learn that they can act in the region without fear of a reaction from the U.K.. It is sad that you do not remember the British historical experience when it comes to appeasement of totalitarian regimes.

[93current93]

An act of war? They took some prisoners when one of our vessels strayed into disputed waters, then they kept them back. You can't commit an act of war without firing a shot. Your comparison to Chamberlain is absolutely HILARIOUS, especially considering how the country you are so obviously proud of didn't even care one or another about global fascism until they were directly attacked.

[93current93]

Lets face it: you care nothing for the strength of British international relations. You're simply itching to open hostilities with Iran before a possible Democrat victory in the next election scoots most of the hawks out of the administration. You want to run American geo-political power roughshod over the people of the middle east. You couldn't care less about Britain.

[claytongault]

Kidnapping the military personnel of another country is an obvious act of war. It is clear that you choose to believe the claims of the Iranian government over those of your own government, and this explains much about your sickening antipathy for defending your own country, if indeed you are British. You prefer to assign opinions to me that I have never held, instead of being honest about your hostility toward your own country.

[claytongault]

And then you say that _I_ couldn't care less about Britain... Now that's the definition of irony. Since you are obviously not even bothering to register what I am writing, I see not point in continuing this exchange of comments.

[93current93]

My country right or wrong? No indeed, I don't see the point of this at all, since your conception of international politics seems to be struck somewhere in the nineteenth century.

[mk21073]

Her whole arguement is based on AMERICAN intel on Iran's sponsorship of terrorism. To us in the rest of the world, American intelligence has lost its credibility after being so unbeleiveably wrong about Iraq. If tougher sanctions are imposed which creates more anti-western attitude within the country this alone fester up support for terrorism... which as I said is based on American intell. This is a very dangerous idea...

[majorunderscore]

Yes, I agree that it is a very dangerous idea - for the Iranian government. Not taking some sort of serious action against the unacceptable behaviour of the Iranian government is what is truly dangerous for the Iranian people as well as the rest of the world. Passively watching these transgressions only emboldens the Iranian government to go even further next time...

[rhth79]

you get paid for this dont you?

[majorunderscore]

Get paid for what? For telling the truth? I do that for free and so should you. Do you get paid for questioning my motives?

[Ven0m1985]

this wont matter in the year 2012 because the robot war will begin they will wipe out all humans on the face of the earth. SKYNET project activated

[gunzmith]

skynet is already flexing her mental powers,and yes it is a female,this amazing mind made up of billions of computers world wide

[silencergroup]

Lies to spread hate. They were legally arrested for trespassing. Calling them "hostages" is not only completely the wrong use of the word, it is a deliberate lie to promote hatred.

I believe this video is posted to support a campaign of war for America.

[jimisback]

So you believe Iran? Why?

[mk21073]

Its not that I believe Iran, my argument was not about whether the soldiers were in their waters or not, just that its hard to believe someone who claims that a nation supports terrorism based on intelligence that in the most previous and similar situation proved to be false. Simply put, another state or organization (UN) other than the United States needs to provide evidence of terrorism for this threat to be seen as valid through out the world.

[brotherblues2112]

so basicly what she is saying is starve the country out with sanction and watch.."silly me they never show the real effects" a million children die while we wait for any reason at all to invade and occupy yet another souvern nation. How the hell can you stand to think like this???

[regalparks]

it's called arrogance

[CWG40]

Fact is, there's nothing anyone can do to Iran. Thing I don't understand is why the Captain of the UK gunboat didn't fire at least warning shots against the Iranian vessales. You ask me, that Captian has some 'splainin' to do....

[regalparks]

Iran should have not let the britts go. If they trespassed then they should have been thrown into prison.

[tazmaniac64]

Yeah and we should have NUKED Iran.

[gunzmith]

bush sold all our nukes to communist china

[SamanEftekhari]

They were not hostages!

[iheartanncoulter]

How do you figure???

[lyklastsamurai]

I am afraid you are not only on the wrong planet but that you also choose to wear a blindfold...

[m0nster265]

You are more productive watching Rosie on the view..