DAR AL HARB - U.K.: IGNORANT CHRISTIAN CLERGY BLOVIATE

Anger erupts after bishop praises Iranian leadership

London: The Roman Catholic bishop who oversees Britain's armed forces has provoked fury by praising the Iranian leadership for its 'forgiveness' and 'act of mercy' in freeing the 15 British sailors and marines last week.

The Bishop of the Forces, the Right Reverend Tom Burns, said the religious beliefs of the Iranians had played a large part in their decision to release the hostages after holding them for more than two weeks.

His words were echoed by a leading Anglican figure, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, who said Iran had acted within the 'moral and spiritual tradition of their country' and contrasted this with Britain's 'free-floating attitudes'.

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Coup

Bishop Nazir-Ali said the Iranians had scored "something of a coup" by appealing to their religious traditions in freeing the hostages."

But Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, called him "naive in the extreme". He said it appeared the bishop had been "taken in by the clever propaganda" of the Iranian regime.

Colonel Tim Collins, who led the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said: "It's a close call as to which organisation is in the deepest moral crisis, the Church or the Ministry of Defence."


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