Anshel Pfeffer writes in the Jerusalem Post:
"There should be nothing surprising about the the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's capture of the 15 British navy personnel. Kidnapping for tactical and strategic gain was an integral part of warfare and diplomacy throughout the Middle Ages, and in certain cultures well into the 20th Century.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the few - if not the only - sovereign countries that still uses abductions as standard procedure, from its inception in 1979 and the taking of American Embassy hostages."
Can we assume that Pfeffer would have a higher moral regard for the kidnapping if the abductees had instead been innocent civilians who were grabbed at Kennedy Airport, rendered to Syria for torture and released without compensation for the suffering inflicted by their kidnappers and their kidnappers' proxies? Tough luck, eh?
Perhaps Pfeffer believes they would take comfort in knowing that they weren't kidnapped and tortured for mere tactical advantage.
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kidnapping: (law) the unlawful act of capturing and carrying away a person against their will and holding them in false imprisonment.
How many innocent people has the U.S. abducted in non-combat situations, held without trial or killed or tortured or rendered to torturers in the past six years? What are the figures for the Iranian government? What is the operational definition of standard procedure?
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