Transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

That title's from the Declaration of Independence, and our casus belli in 1776 is being played out again between Iran and England. Fifteen British sailors have been captured and spirited off to Persia where, we are told, they are to face trial for espionage.

America learned our lesson about this in 1807. One of the slow-burn incitements of the 1812 war was the Chesapeake incident, in which a British ship, HMS Leopard, fired on and boarded the USS Chesapeake, and abducted four sailors it identified as deserters. What was especially interesting were the repercussions within the United States--here's a bit of Wikipedia's summary:

The American public was outraged with the incident, as President Thomas Jefferson noted: "Never since the battle of Lexington have I seen this country in such a state of exasperation." The President closed U.S. territorial waters to British warships, demanded payment for damages, and requested an end to British efforts to search United States ships for deserters.

...

The incident had significant repercussions for the U.S. Navy. The public was shocked that Chesapeake had put up so little resistance and surrendered so quickly (even if the surrender was declined) to another frigate, calling into question the ability of the navy to defend the U.S. from a possible British invasion, despite its expensive and controversial frigate-building program. A court martial placed the blame on [USS Chesapeake Captain] Barron, and suspended him from service for eight years as punishment.

Times have changed. The Chesapeake incident was, according to Thomas Jefferson, a national outrage and scandal...but today, as Ace notes, the MSM remains pretty damnably ho-hum about the whole incident. I suspect they refrain from taking Iran seriously and reporting truthfully on its mendacity and the national security threat it poses--because they don't want to be seen as "carrying Bush's water", in UPI reporter Pamela Hess' memorable phrase. And the media isn't the only one with its head in the sand. Captain Barron fired one shot at the British. But the British allowed themselves to be captured by the Iranians without firing a shot, and as Allah points out, there's a wide difference between American and British doctrine. One American sailor working with the British was quite surprised at their passivity:

Our reaction was, 'Why didn't your guys defend themselves?'"

His comments came as it was reported British intelligence had been warned by the CIA that Iran would seek revenge for the detention of five suspected Iranian intelligence officers in Iraq two months ago but refused to raise threat levels in line with their US counterparts. The capture of the eight sailors and seven marines - including one young mother - will undoubtedly renew accusations that Britain's determination to maintain a friendly face in the region has left its troops frequently under protected.

Vastly outnumbered and out-gunned, the Royal Navy team from HMS Cornwall were seized on Friday after completing a UN-authorised inspection of a merchant dhow in what they insist were clearly Iraqi waters. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy appeared in half a dozen attack speedboats mounted with machine guns..

Yesterday, the former First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Alan West, said British rules of engagement were "very much de-escalatory, because we don't want wars starting ... Rather than roaring into action and sinking everything in sight we try to step back and that, of course, is why our chaps were, in effect, able to be captured and taken away."

This is criminal negligence on behalf of the British navy. They should have prepared better. Iran already fired on and stormed a Romanian oil rig in the Persian Gulf this summer, and captured 20 of the crew, with no apparent consequences. (No idea what happened with that story, by the way.)

So what are our obligations now? Obviously if this had happened to a US Navy contingent, there would be two days of urgent diplomacy followed by two weeks of urgent, noisy dismantling of the Persian fleet. Britain is an ally and a coalition partner. They also have direct consular relations with Iran, which we do not, so they can try to negotiate the release of their troops. But it's not in our interest to let them be led around by the nose and bludgeoned into negotiations and concessions by our enemy. What is an appropriate response by the United States to Iran's incitement? I confess I don't know, but it's not the sort of thing that ought to go unanswered.