February 19, 2002

8:29 AM

Thismight be taking the war on terrorism a little to far. Royal Marines get lost or should I say vamos. (Parden my french).
posted by FidelDonson (8 comments total)

The Ministry of Defence said the Marines were involved in a "low-key" exercise but instead of being met by a mock enemy they were greeted by two Spanish policemen who stopped the "invasion" with the international "halt" signal of the raised arm. "Buenos dias, senores. Que hacen aqui?" ("Good morning, gentlemen. What are you doing here?") said one of the bemused officers when he saw the Marines, in full combat gear, fanning out and adopting firing positions on the beach. (Telegraph) Priceless.
posted by wassock at 8:50 AM on February 19, 2002

Doh! Forgot to quote/unquote.
posted by wassock at 8:51 AM on February 19, 2002

I can't believe it. ...they should have carried a gps reciever.
posted by tomplus2 at 9:36 AM on February 19, 2002

"White Cliffs of Dover?"

*points*
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:51 AM on February 19, 2002

from the CNN story:

"Gibraltar has been a contested area between London and Madrid for 300 years."

seems as though everybody is having problems with geography this morning.
posted by hob at 10:03 AM on February 19, 2002

Watch as British military personnel temporarily invade Spain during a training exercise (February 19)

I dunno why, but thats funny. I think we all have wanted to invade a country every now and then, but none of us wanna put up with the hassle of installing a government and drawing officials out of a hat and what-not. in a nut shell, the actions of these brave marines have inspired me to temporarily invade on my own!
posted by mcsweetie at 10:26 AM on February 19, 2002

"Have fun storming the castle!"
posted by aacheson at 10:55 AM on February 19, 2002

You'd think sending a few SAS boys to Afghan-land would have helped get this out of their system. Heck, a couple of years ago the US military got so bored we invaded Oakland. (Shockingly, this was a military exercise meant to improve our urban warfare skills. Beware the Zmag scare quotes.)

Seriously, the interesting thing about this is between the lines. You just know the Spanish Foreign Ministry is aching to lay into the Brits -- they have a well-developed reflex on this point. But they're this|close to signing an agreement that will give them nominal half-sovereignty again. You can just sense the guy's clenched-jaw smile: We've waited five hundred years to get it back, Jorge. Don't screw it up now.

And you gotta admire the cheekiness of those policemen. Walking up to an armed force on the beach, holding up your hand ... Ninguna licencia, ninguna invasión, por favor!
posted by dhartung at 4:44 PM on February 19, 2002