Posted on 04/12/2007 11:02:41 AM PDT by nuconvert
Iranians stole my iPod, sys freed British sailor
AFP
April 09, 2007
LONDON: The youngest British captive held by Iran said in an interview published on Monday that the gifts the Iranians gave to the seized sailors were a cheap load of old junk -- and they stole his iPod.
Royal Navy Able Seaman Arthur Batchelor, 20, said the suits they were given were "tacky," the CDs and DVDs do not work and there was no sign of his iPod portable media player, worth 160 pounds.
The 15 sailors and marines, seized in the northern Gulf on March 23, were given the gifts when their 13-day ordeal at the hands of the Revolutionary Guards ended. They were seen examining them in Iranian television footage.
The 11 books Batchelor was given were in English and mostly aimed at trying to convert the reader to Islam, with titles like "Youth and Morals", "The Divine Intervention" and "Knowing God". He also received some toffees and a bag of nuts.
"They're a bit pathetic," Batchelor told the 'Daily Mirror' newspaper of the gifts.
"I don't know what they're trying to prove by giving us books on morality and their religion. My morals are fine, thank you very much. And those suits were an insult. Not only did mine not fit, but it was cheap and tacky and the Hugo Boss shirt was a fake. I could pick up a better outfit at a jumble sale."
When captured, the Revolutionary Guards seized all the navy personnel's belongings.
The Britons were on a United Nations mandate to conduct anti-smuggling operations within Iraqi waters. Iran insists they were within its waters.
"The iPod was really special to me as it was a gift," said Batchelor, an operator maintainer.
Perhaps he should go to the UN for help. /s
Whinger.
Is it just me, or is it strange to have a whole news story about a hostage’s iPod being stolen?
Ooooooh, poor baby. What a wanker
If it were "special" why would he carry it around with him on a boarding mission?
Lord Nelson spins
Please, someone tell me this is from Scrappleface.....
*Sigh*
sue em!
See that’s the difference between the U.S. and the U.K. We have people over here willing to kill over a pair of sneakers, much less an iPod. An iPod would be worthy of armed conflict.
So is your life. Which one can you live without???
I betcha Steve Jobs constructs a whole marketing effort around this issue.
Pathetic beyond belief.
Oh, the humanity!
They took his iPod? Coulda been worse - they could have put panties on his head.
A real man would not have accepted these "gifts" and might even have ground them to dust with a boot heel just for fun.
Nelson and Churchill are spinning so hard in their graves. Great Britain has capitulated to a 7th century islamic terrorist regime.
Tacky clothes? Bad books? Oh, my God! The torture!
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