fresh observation from
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article2393698.ece
Border incursions all too easy in an area where
boundaries equal battles
Monday, March 26, 2007
Reporter Ben Lowry visited the Iraq-Iran border for
the Belfast Telegraph in 2004, near where the British
sailors were arrested
A brief visit to the land frontier between Iran and
Iraq, close to the waters where 15 British sailors
were seized last week, is enough to understand how the
Iranians have been able to claim that the Navy strayed
into their territory.
So much of the long land and sea border is disputed
that it is almost impossible to mark the exact
boundary, let alone refute allegations of an
incursion.
Saddam Hussein used border tussles as justification
for his 1980 invasion of Iran - triggering a futile
eight-year war.
In 2004, the Belfast Telegraph visited one border
crossing in a muddy, desert wasteland east of Basra,
accompanied by troops from the Queen's Royal Hussars -
whose contingent included soldiers from Ulster.
They were in the process of handing over tasks such as
border control to the Iraqis - a transfer which seemed
to be progressing well, but has latterly proved
difficult.
The landscape is flat and grim, marked by burnt-out
tanks from the Iran-Iraq conflict, which left at least
400,000 dead.
I was keen to set foot in Iran, even if briefly. To do
so required walking under an Iraqi arch, down to a
makeshift Iranian tower, in front of a small river
that had almost dried up.
If there was any obvious logic to the frontier, the
body of water would serve as both a natural and legal
boundary. But, the Iranians insist that both banks of
the river are theirs, and so I was now in, or at,
their territory.
An Iranian guard, armed with a rifle, raised his hand
in an order for me to stop. I tried to smile and
gesture towards my camera, as if to suggest that I was
a foolish, but innocent, tourist. He watched
glum-faced, his palm still outstretched.
Since that day, I claim to have stood in Iran - in
truth, I can't be sure.
of course in everyones land this could never happen
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