Smell the Coffee, People

I don't understand how anybody can say that Britain won the confrontaton with Iran.

Just because Iran released the hostages in two weeks is not an indication of a British win.

If Britain and Iran were equals and the quiet British threats of financial penalties had led Iran to release hostages, we could say that Britain won.

But Iran is a small power with loud-mouthed leaders. Iran actually claimed that Britain owed them some help on other issues because Iran released the hostages. Britain lost this confrontation because the Iranian aggressors--clearly inferior in power--paid no price at all for their adventure and appeared to have convinced some in the West that releasing the hostages was some sort of great moderate statement by Iran.

Iran paid no penalty for this insult. They got away with tweaking the British Lion. And too many in the West are ready to proclaim Ahmadinejad a statesman for simply releasing those he captured rather than beheading them. This is a defeat for our side. No question about it.

It was never about the fate of the hostages. It was always about the regime. The Iranian government had to visibly face punishment for its actions and instead of slapping them down, the Iranians proclaimed themselves good hearted people who should get a bit of credit for ending the crisis. The Iranian regime got away with a crime.

The Iranian regime won this crisis. And that regime sails along confident it will soon be a nuclear power.