From the Halls to the Shores

A moment later, U.S. and Iraqi forces came upon a third Iranian soldier on the Iraqi side of the border, who stood his ground. As U.S. and Iraqi soldiers approached the Iranian officer and began speaking with him, a platoon of Iranian soldiers appeared and moved to surround the coalition patrol, taking up positions on high ground. At that point, according to the Army’s statement, the Iranian captain told the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers that if they tried to leave they would be fired on. Fearing abduction by the Iranians, U.S. troops moved to go anyway, and fighting broke out. Army officials say the Iranian troops fired first with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, and that U.S. troops fell further back into Iraqi territory, while four Iraqi army soldiers, one interpreter and one Iraqi border guard remained in the hands of the Iranians.

The official release says there were no casualties among the Americans, and makes no mention of any on the Iranian side. U.S. soldiers present at the firefight, however, tell TIME that American forces killed at least one Iranian soldier who had been aiming a rocket-propelled grenade at their convoy of Humvees.

That is what happened last week in the Persian Gulf. A British naval vessel and crew stood by while Iranian boats pirated away a group of British soldiers. Reports indicate that the fire power of the British ship was capable of engaging and defeating the Iranian force. Moreover, British and U.S. combatant aircraft could have reached the scene in minutes but apparently weren’t called. The Royal Navy fired not a shot. How unlike the fire of Britain’s former First Seahand, Winston Churchill, who later proclaimed: “We shall fight them on the beaches; we shall fight them on the Seas.”

This war has become demoralizing because of repeated incidents of this nature: the unwillingness of Western powers to crush the enemy even in service of defending our own people. We have allowed the enemy to think he is braver than us. We have, thereby, emboldened the enemy and made things tougher for ourselves, not easier.

We fire not on their fortress mosques, nor on their ships, nor during their holy days, nor in their holy cities, nor at their “holy men.” We dare not humiliate. Instead, we allow ourselves to be forever humiliated and forfeit our men and women. So concerned are we about not offending Muslim pride we have thrown away our own. The West has decided that all things Islamic are to be granted a reverence we no longer grant ourselves. The sand and plaster of the fortress mosque seems to carry more importance than even the flesh and blood of our own soldiers.

Instead of taking action, the British ship commander telephoned home, to his superiors up the chain of command. The officer did what he was told: “Hold fire.” Perhaps our soldiers in WWII were better off not being equipped with phones back to headquarters. They, at least, could act like and do what soldiers are trained to do.