J's Cafe Nette

Archive for April 6th, 2007

We wondered why the British captives confessed so quickly. Now we know and it is what we suspected. Ahmandinejad and the Mad Mullahs of Iran are evil people.

Two of the freed captives shared the reading of a prepared statement at Royal Marines Base at Chivenor, north Devon, where they revealed the first details of their time as hostages.

Lieutenant Felix Carman confirmed the sailors were in Iraqi waters when they were detained by Iran. “We were 1.7 nautical miles from Iranian waters,” he said.

The sailors and marines said they were bound, blindfolded and lined up against a wall while weapons were cocked, making them “fear the worst”.

Apparently responding to criticisms that the sailors and marines surrendered too easily to the Iranians and were too eager to cooperate with their captors, they said that “fighting back was simply not an option”.

“We were aware that many people have questioned why we allowed ourselves to be taken in the first place. From the outset it was very apparent that fighting back was not an option. Had we done that many of us would not be standing here today.

“There would have been a major fight, which we could not have won, and the consequences would have had a major strategic impact. We made a conscious decision not to engage the Iranians.”

The 15 personnel captured by Iran were blindfolded, bound and subjected to “constant psychological pressure”, they said today at a press conference.

They were told if they did not admit they had strayed into Iranian waters they faced seven years in prison. They said they were bound, blindfolded and lined up against a wall while weapons were cocked making them “fear the worst”.

When asked about Faye Turney, who was not at the press conference, the sailors said: “Being an Islamic country Faye was subjected to different rules than we were. She was separated from us as soon as we arrived and isolated. She was told shortly afterwards that we had all been returned home and was under the impression for four days that she was the only one there. Clearly she was subjected to a lot of stress. She coped admirably and maintained a lot of dignity.”

The sailors criticised the propoganda used by Iran. Joe Tindell said: “Obviously we’re not pleased about it. As far as I’m concerned the whole thing was a complete media stunt.”

Lieutenant Carman added that they were kept in solitary confinement for a period before being allowed out in the evenings for a couple of hours to play chess and socialise. “But that was in the full glare of the Iranian media. It was very much a setup, very much a stunt for Iranian propaganda.”

In response Iranian state TV is currently reporting that the crew’s comments were “dictated” by the British Ministry of Defence, Sky News has reported.

The youngest sailor among the 15, Arthur Batchelor, 20, admitted there were points when he was afraid for his life but “like I said I believed this day would come.”

The 15 began their statement by sending their condolences to the families of the four British service personnel and civilian interpreter killed in Iraq yesterday.

They also thanked the staff of the British Embassy in Tehran and the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence for all their work in securing their release.

Lieutenant Carman told how they were taken by the Iranians, on Friday March 23.

He stressed the sailors and marines were on a routine operation when they boarded a merchant vessel in an area south of the Shatt Al Arab waterway.

“I can clearly state we were 1.7 nautical miles from Iranian waters.”

Royal Marine Captain Chris Air, 25, from Altrincham, Cheshire, said they saw two speedboats approaching rapidly about 400 metres away.

“I ordered everyone to make their weapons ready and ordered the boarding party to return to the boats.

“By the time all were back on board, two Iranian boats had come alongside.

“One officer spoke good English and I explained that we were conducting a routine operation, as allowed under a UN mandate.

“But when we tried to leave, they prevented us by blocking us in.

“By now it was becoming increasingly clear that they had arrived with a planned intent.

“Some of the Iranian sailors were becoming deliberately aggressive and unstable. They rammed our boat and trained their heavy machine guns, RPGs and weapons on us.

“Another six boats were closing in on us. We realised that our efforts to reason with these people were not making any headway. Nor were we able to calm some of the individuals down. It was at this point that we realised that had we resisted there would have been a major fight, one we could not have won, with consequences that would have had major strategic impact.”

Marine Joe Tindall revealed how the treatment of the sailors deteriorated within hours of their capture.

He said: “I can’t say i was treated well – for the first 24 hours, yes, but between then and the president’s speech, I wouldn’t say we were treated well.”

When asked whether the captives were able to communicate with Iranian guards, he said: “We never saw them for the first six days because whenever they opened the doors we were handed blindfolds.”

As for the confessions, he said in his opinion they were not confessions. “It was more like, according to this GPS map we’ve been given, then apparently we were in Iranian waters – and if that was the case we apologise.”

They used no code words during their “confessions”.

He revealed that often the hostages would hear the cocking of guns at their heads. “That was the one time in my life I’ve been scared s*******, basically.”

His relieved father, John, was asked what his son’s first words to his family were.

“I think I’m having more trouble coming to terms with some it than he is … within about eight minutes of talking to him I was a jibbering wreck after being relatively normal for two weeks.

“I’m just glad that the truth is coming out.”

Thankfully they are all home and safe now, but it will probably take some time for them to get over the psychological stresses they experienced while captives.

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According to this Washington Times column President Bush would sign a bill that would allow federal funding on embryonic stem cell research on embryos that have no chance of surviving.

The legislation, authored by Sen. Johnny Isakson, Georgia Republican, seeks a middle ground in the highly charged debate over stem-cell research. His bill skirts moral concerns over using embryonic stem cells while ensuring federal funding for the breakthrough science.

Mr. Isakson’s bill would allow scientists to conduct research on embryos they determine are incapable of surviving in the womb but whose stem cells are still viable for research. The bill would also allow funding for research on stem cells from embryos that have died during fertility treatments.

“This legislation threads the ethical needle,” Mr. Isakson said yesterday. “I’m very optimistic it will be looked on favorably, especially with the White House’s endorsement.”

White House officials have met with Mr. Isakson to discuss his bill several times since January.

“We are very supportive” of the legislation, said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. “By intensifying support for non-destructive alternatives, we can advance medical research in valuable ways while respecting ethical boundaries.”

This is the first I’ve heard of this and I don’t have an opinion on it yet. I do have some ethical questions of my own, but just because it would be supported by this president and is a piece of proposed legislation written by a Republican doesn’t mean I embrace it.

If embryonic stem cell research were so promising I just wonder why the private companies that are doing stem cell research have not done embryonic stem cell research. Nothing has held the private sector back—it’s only been federal funding that has been held back, so if there were as much promise as some hope why aren’t the big companies working on it? After all, if they could succeed they would make a fortune in their success.

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E.J. Dionne, Jr. has an interesting column in today’s Washington Post.

I very seldom agree with Mr. Dionne’s opinions; in fact, this may be the first time for me.

He talks of what he calls “neo-atheists”.

The neo-atheists, like their predecessors from a century ago, are given to a sometimes-charming ferociousness in their polemics against those they see as too weak-minded to give up faith in God.

What makes them new is the moment in history in which they are rejoining the old arguments: an era of religiously motivated Islamic suicide bombers. They also protest the apparent power of traditionalist and fundamentalist versions of Christianity.

As a general proposition, I welcome the neo-atheists’ challenge. The most serious believers, understanding that they need to ask themselves searching questions, have always engaged in dialogue with atheists.

I can’t describe air to you but I know I breathe it. I can describe God to you the way I believe Him to be, and I can’t force you to believe in Him or His Son Who died in payment for our sins, but I believe it with all my heart.

My finite mind cannot grasp there being nothing—a great void and then this Spirit we call God, Jehovah, The Great I Am, The Great Spirit or any other names given to the Only God, spoke and whatever He spoke came into being, but I believe with all my heart God created everything that was, is and is to come.

My finite mind cannot grasp love so deep God would send His Only Begotten Son to die to pay the price for my sins and ask nothing in return but acceptance and the worship He deserves, but I know in my heart it’s true.

We are so held back by our minds that we fail to listen to the Holy Spirit of God speaking to our hearts.

Wherever I have travelled I have seen the majesty of something too beautiful to have just been an accident of a few cells happening to come together, and if they happened to come together why did they continue to do so without a Supreme Creator?

It is not my wish nor the wish of any true Christian to run the world. We want godly people to lead us, but I also believe no one is in office that God did not allow to be in office, for whatever reason. That does not mean God approves of all leaders, but only that He allowed them their leadership positions.

Before God laid the foundation of the earth, He knew all about me. He knows me better than I know me. He knows what I’m going to do before I know it. He knows the number of gray hairs on my head and the number of black hairs on my head.

My finite mind can only imagine Heaven from the description given in the Bible. I can’t imagine grass singing in praise or streets of such pure gold one can see through them. I can’t imagine the wonderful jewels adorning the gates of Heaven, but I believe it all.

God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are all very personal to me. I don’t understand the Trinity, but I know God has three separate but equal parts and They are all of one accord.

You see, I have questioned and I don’t have the answers yet. I don’t know why I yielded to the calling of the Holy Spirit and people in my family whom I love dearly haven’t done so yet, but I’m grateful I did yield to the Holy Spirit and I pray urgently and fervently for my loved ones who have not accepted God’s free gift of salvation.

I go through troubled times and if I keep my eyes focused on the Lord I have peace that passes all human understanding. I can’t describe it, but I believe it with all my heart because I have experienced it.

The more I seek, the more I learn and one day if those questions that are unanswered in this life are still important I’ll ask the Lord Himself to explain them to me.

The problem with the neo-atheists is that they seem as dogmatic as the dogmatists they condemn. They are especially frustrated with religious “moderates” who don’t fit their stereotypes.

In his bracing polemic ” The End of Faith,” Harris is candid in asserting that “religious moderates are themselves the bearers of a terrible dogma: they imagine that the path to peace will be paved once each one of us has learned to respect the unjustified beliefs of others.”

Harris goes on: “I hope to show that the very ideal of religious tolerance — born of the notion that every human being should be free to believe whatever he wants about God — is one of the principal forces driving us toward the abyss. We have been slow to recognize the degree to which religious faith perpetuates man’s inhumanity to man.”

What’s really bothersome is the suggestion that believers rarely question themselves while atheists ask all the hard questions. But as Novak argued — in one of the best critiques of neo-atheism — in the March 19 issue of National Review, “Questions have been the heart and soul of Judaism and Christianity for millennia.” (These questions get a fair reading in another powerful commentary on neo-atheism by James Wood, himself an atheist, in the Dec. 18 issue of the New Republic.) “Christianity is not about moral arrogance,” Novak insists. “It is about moral realism, and moral humility.” Of course Christians in practice often fail to live up to this elevated definition of their creed. But atheists are capable of their own forms of arrogance. Indeed, if arrogance were the only criterion, the contest could well come out a tie.

As for me, Christianity is more a call to rebellion than an insistence on narrow conformity, more a challenge than a set of certainties.

In ” The Last Week,” their book about Christ’s final days on Earth, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, distinguished liberal scriptural scholars, write: “He attracted a following and took his movement to Jerusalem at the season of Passover. There he challenged the authorities with public acts and public debates. All this was his passion, what he was passionate about: God and the Kingdom of God, God and God’s passion for justice. Jesus’ passion got him killed.”

That’s why I celebrate Easter and why, despite many questions of my own, I can’t join the neo-atheists.

Stick to this kind of writing, Mr. Dionne. You are much better at it than you are writing op-eds about politics.

Also blogging on this: Captain’s Quarters.

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Johnny Carson and Jack Webb: Copper Clappers

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Luke Chapter 23 from the New American Standard version of the Bible:

1 Then the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate.

2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”

3 So Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He answered him and said, “It is as you say.”

4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.”

5 But they kept on insisting, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place.”

6 When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.

7 And when he learned that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time.

Jesus before Herod

8 Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him.

9 And he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing.

10 And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, accusing Him vehemently.

11 And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.

12 Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other.

Pilate Seeks Jesus’ Release

13 Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who
incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.

15 “No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.

16 “Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.”

17 [Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.]

18 But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!”

19 (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.)

20 Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again,

21 but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!”

22 And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.”

23 But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail.

24 And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.

25 And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.

Simon Bears the Cross

26 When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

27 And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.

28 But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

29 “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’

30 “Then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, ‘FALL ON US,’ AND TO THE HILLS, ‘COVER US.’

31 “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

32 Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.

The Crucifixion

33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing ” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.

35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”

36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine,

37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

38 Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

41 “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”

43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour,

45 because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.

47 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.”

48 And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return,
beating their breasts.

49 And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.

Jesus Is Buried

50 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man

51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;

52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.

54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

55 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid.

56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Courtesy of BibleGateway

Unfortunately, if I had been there that day I probably would have been one of the crowd. I’m no less guilty than they.

Jesus paid it all!
All to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow!

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