Freed Britons Say 'Confessions' Coerced

nypost.com ^ | Apr 6, 11:48 PM EDT | TARIQ PANJA

[Vanders9]

Personally, I just hope never to be in that kind of situation.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> I say they were either very poorly trained or big chickens.

You’d do better I’m sure under similar circumstances. /sarc

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Yes, I guess it would have been better if they fought back and all died.

I’m with you.

They lived to fight another day. Nothing wrong with that: Marine Commandos cost a fair wee bit to train and equip. They were on a fool’s errand and were captured. What were they supposed to do? Fight to the finish, with a certain outcome of going down to Davy Jones’ Locker?

Tell a few lies, put up with a few days indignity seems like a much smarter way to fight a way. That’s what they did.

[GretchenM]

British sailors and marines freed by Iran said Friday they were blindfolded, isolated in cold stone cells and tricked into fearing execution while being coerced into falsely saying they had entered Iranian waters.

This requires a one-word response: Duh.

The Brits have my prayers for their transition back to the real world from whatever they had to endure.

[Majic]

But the worst ordeal by far was when they were forced to wear those cheap suits.

[Mila]

“It’s pretty hard to die for nothing.

They were out on some stupid UN mission, and then their backup left them out in the cold. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but relatively little belongs to the captives”

This is true. You have to pick your battles. This incident was not worth dieing for.

[Peach]

Exactly. As well, England is not at war with Iran which would have changed the rules of engagement.

[mfnorman]

you have to admit that their governments response was just as weak as their resistance

[Lurker]

As well, England is not at war with Iran

England may not be at war with Iran, but Iran most certainly is at war with England.

L

[Jhensy]

These are soldiers, not civilians!!!! A key difference.

There is no excuse for their behavior. Duty, honor, and country is mandatory to any person who puts the uniform on.

Do not become a soldier if you choose to put your own well-being ahead of your country’s. They did incredible damage to their nation’s reputation.

It sucks, but that’s the way it is.

[UKrepublican]

So do our ROE.

However, they were outnumbered and outgunned. It was not possible without certain death.

[UKrepublican]

How so?

We told the iranians they had to give them back without negotiation.

We threatened to step up the pressure if they didn’t.

We wsent through the UN, the EU and discussed with out NATO allies.

They couldn;t push sanctions because of the corrupt europeans, and we couldn’t have pushed a military response because under the circumstances that would have been insane.

[John D]

I say they were either very poorly trained or big chickens.
*******************************************************************************************************
They only did what one of our presidential candidates did.

[McGavin999]

I would say from the picture that was uncropped that most of the Marines maintained their integrity. The young sailors were absolutely not equipped for that situation (something the Brits should immediately rectify).

The real problem lies with the command who allowed them to be in that situation out of sight of the gunship. That man ought to lose his command.

[don-o]

There is no excuse for their behavior. Duty, honor, and country is mandatory to any person who puts the uniform on.

Precisely! That is why I am saying these sailors need to be punished as a lesson. Hate it for them. But, we simply cannot have discipline dissolve in the face of threats. Even the threat of death.

We sell our patrimony cheap if we don't toughen up.

[Vinnie]

I watched part(couldn’t stand to watch it all) of the Brit standing in front of the chart explaining ‘where we were, etc.

He didn’t appear coerced.

I can understand giving out a false confession but show something that broadcasts that, blank face, crossed finger, key words,inflection in your voice, something.
And the female, there was no excuse for her ‘letters’.

[UKrepublican]

He didn’t appear coerced.

Are you accusing our guys of lying?

Are you chossing to believe the iranians over the brits?

Sound like the answer ro both of those in your opinion is yes.

[mfnorman]

what the iranians did was an act of war and should have been hit with a military response. screw going to the UN and the EU. the iranians gave the west a great opportunity to hit their nuclear facilities and we punted. this whole incident is totally shameful.

[UKrepublican]

“what the iranians did was an act of war and should have been hit with a military response. screw going to the UN and the EU. the iranians gave the west a great opportunity to hit their nuclear facilities and we punted. this whole incident is totally shameful.”

That’s a quite absurd and dangerous way of thinking.

You ould happily have sacrificed them to achieve an alterior agenda. That’s pretty selfish.

We need to strike Iran, I’m in favour of that, but it must be on our terms, not the iranians. They had control of the situation, any military strike then would have been a disaster.

We were not in a position to do so at the time either, which would have neglected our duty to the brave heroes fighting any war.

[do the dhue]

I think what is important here is that no response will only encourage another similar situation one day.

If the Britons were to act instead of allow themselves to live to fight another day, this would start to deter the thugs the next time they thought about doing something similar.

If it is not in the British ROE then, they shouldn't be doing this job. And if this is the ROE and they are doing the job, then the Britons (as a Nation) better send a message to the Mullahs and Amadjohad that says, 'taking Britons hostage is a really, really bad idea'.

I volunteered for the military in my younger days. And yes, I was trained to live to fight another day. But I was also trained to follow the ROE. If our ROE told me to engage all threats in this situation, you can bet I would have. Even if it looked ugly.

And, I watched on the Military the other day a story about 30 Marines taking down 120 insurgents in Iraq. So, if the Iranians ever think about doing this to our Troops, my only advice to Amadjihad is that he better bring their Army too.

Cause 15 of our Marines will thump you and thump you good.

Being out numbered and surrounded by the enemy? Heck, that is just part of a Marine and/or Airborne Rangers job.