Iran British Hostage Situation Strangeness

Yes, happy on the inside I agree some of the stern faced ones seem to have some more years on average, however not ALL of the happy ones are all that young by appearances.



[edit on 6-4-2007 by greatlakes]

All we can really do at the moment is speculate. I do know that the U.S and Britain's procedures for boarding/inspecting vessels are somewhat different.

The new media puts their spin on things like always,but maybe its a good thing the captured soldiers were british instead of american. We make sure we have a helo in station over the ship,and keep the parent vessel within gun range. It's pretty well known that the iranian gun boats would have been fired upon.

Not trying to play down,or undermine what happened to those 15 sailors/marines. Just saying,time will tell what happened to them in captivity,and maybe its a good thing they were brits and u.s. sailors/marines.

Yea i hate speculation - I want facts man! Been trying to find more information on the particular soldiers such as ages, ranks, names (not serial numbers though).

Just have not been successful-most likely information not handed out till well after if, at all. Then again, maybe they will be on "The View" or Letterman!

interesting thread topic.

Apparently this facet of the story is all over the Internet wire services, and more will be revealed I'm sure...but I think it will remain difficult to get any 'solid facts' on this entire story...and most will continue to believe what they want to believe. Even if we hear directly from the captives themselves, they will have been thoroughly debriefed...and re-briefed.

Just judging from the posture of the three sailors, (marines?), pictured on the right in the group photo...I feel pretty comfortable speculating here: even though they're out of uniform, they didn't cooperate much...not with their captors...nor with their comrades.


Peace &
Good Fortune
OBE1

All over the internets? Do you have any links, I have not seen any of this aspect about this story.

Much appreciated.

Originally posted by greatlakes
All over the internets?

Do you have any links, I have not seen any of this aspect about this story.

Much appreciated.

Sure great...here's a couple: /2m29uj

/2rna9d


Peace &
Good Fortune
OBE1

Ok, I have read similar pieces like the linked...Now the pres and UK will be looking for answers as to why what where etc and what went wrong, who's to blame etc.

Thats's to be expected I and the briefing is still probably ongoing for some. I'm interested in the behavior of the sailors and marines upon release and this story...

Could it be this mix of navy and marine forces that is some of the cause of the disparity of reactions upon release? What do you think, I believe it was 8 sailors, 7 marines of the 15.

Both of the links provided point to questions surrounding the behavior of the personal involved...I'm sure we'll hear more.

Tune in CNN now if you can...Larry King Show. Testimony from former captives....


Peace &
Good Fortune
OBE1

#1) Soldiers were captures. - Why is nobody questioning more about how this took place. Is it that easy for British soldiers to be captured? Give me a break. They werent that deep into Iranian waters - IF at all. The only possible way for this to have happened is for the British Navy to be totally incompetent or for these guys to be setup to be taken. My guess is the later.

#2) After the "crisis" ensued there was very little done on the part of Blair. The spin control which follows basically had them saying "Oh Crap, They are going to release them! What do we do? Call Bush!" Then they decided to release a hostage to make it look like it was an "exchange". Which it wasn't.

The British and the Americans are the bad guys here. Yes, Amma-whatrever is crazier than a loon but he is not a psychotic maniac like Bushblair.

The truth is uglier than most are willing to face but the fact is WE are the terrorist.



[edit on 6-4-2007 by god_of_wine]

Something weird came out of my mind as I smoked too much space-cigarettes...

As comments saying at least one of the prisoners was in isolation, I imagined that the Iranians brainwashed him, programming him to kill a big personality, like Tony Blair. Just picture the guy among his pals shaking hands in a "welcome back" dinner with ministers, etc...I clearly imagine him shaking hands with the British PM, saying "i've got a gift for you" and then PEW PEW !
For years we tried to control people to become assassins, using stimuli of all kinds and experiments of all kinds...now, I guess that one of the prisoners is an undercover iranian assassin, waiting for the signal to kill. Oh, by the way, don't expect him/ her to act so quickly. The Iranians will wait for weeks or months before launching their operation.

Just the smiling ones or the other grim faces ones, or BOTH?!

You must be Spooky Mulders BROTHER???

What everyone is forgetting is that these people have not been able to watch CNN or goto bbc.co.uk.

As far as they were aware they got new suits because they were about to be executed. I'd be pretty happy upon news of release after two weeks of captivity.

Most of these people were sailors, not soldiers and I'd be very surprised if they got ANY training in dealing with capture etc etc.

The confessions were obviously forced, but I get the distinct impression it didn't take much force. As someone else pointed out concerning the Vietnam war hostages sending 'secret' signals, these British personel didn't even attempt to disguise any unhappiness about their situation. News report after news report showed them eager to put across the Iranian views and disinformation - not even the slightest sign of discontent.

To be honest their behaviour has not only left me wondering what the hell has happened to our once professional standard of armed forces, but has also left me feeling a little ashamed to be British.

Originally posted by myowncrusade
Most of these people were sailors, not soldiers and I'd be very surprised if they got ANY training in dealing with capture etc etc.

7 out of the 8 were Royal Marines. That's one of the more elite branches of the British Army. They undergo the longest basic training of any armed force in the world.

So it'll be interesting to hear their excuse for getting happy-clappy.

Originally posted by JaneHendrix

Originally posted by myowncrusade
Most of these people were sailors, not soldiers and I'd be very surprised if they got ANY training in dealing with capture etc etc.

7 out of the 8 were Royal Marines. That's one of the more elite branches of the British Army. They undergo the longest basic training of any armed force in the world.

So it'll be interesting to hear their excuse for getting happy-clappy.

I'd be happy if I was treated well, got a little vacation with good food. Released before my country could use me as a pawn to start a war.

Why are people shocked that these sailors are happy that things turned out well? The neo-con's are bashing these people for not treating the situation like they were kidnapped POW. They weren't, they were treating it like they they crossed into Iranian waters and expected to be returned just like in 2004.

Maybe they were just playing along so that they wouldn't get hurt? They probably weren't happy at first but they realised that if they didn't cooperate and look happy like Iran wanted them to then the Iranians might have gotten a bit more heavy handed with them?

Hahaha.
I was very delighted to tune in on CNN earlier today, in hopes that there had been a inital comment made by atleast 1 of the captured on the whole ordeal.

Can't remember what he said exactly, but one of the marines said something along the lines of... "I think there is a lot of ignorance in the UK in regards to the middle east". Really can't remember much, but he also went on saying how they were treated absolutely fine etc. So no, they werent really 'forced' to say anything, they were not 'tortured' in ANY way. Don't even try bringing up any propaganda like they were 'brainwashed!' ...hahaha.

To be honest, I'm more worried they will be dealt with far more badly while they're at the marine base, where they are being interrogated. Really hope they arent threatended to stfu about making the British government (and/or) the majority of British people look like the idiots, especially after this big ordeal. Truth is, I'm more worried for the captives right now, than I was before when they were in Iran's hands. Funny that.

Will be very interesting to see how much news coverage they get in the upcoming days. Or perhaps they'll be immeditately 'shipped off', back to work...where they can't make a sound.

Brilliant.

[edit on 6/4/07 by Navieko]

I don't know that WW2, or Vietnam POW analogies are applicable here. As AwakeAndAllSeeing intimated, the British aren't at war with Iran...so the captives weren't technically POW's.

Maybe more like detainees caught-up in the tensions of an ideological clash..

I don't really know how to define it, just glad they're healthy, and home...and guilty of trying to create a little wiggle-room for the lass & lads.


Peace &
Good Fortune
OBE1

Weren't there rumors of US attacks scheduled for around Easter holiday?

This interesting tidbit to possibly explain whats going on from source:

Imagine if President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad treats the British prisoners well, and sends them home prior to the weekend. -snip-

Iran will have the apparent moral high ground and world sympathy in the event of any preemptive US attack, and Britain will be in a tough spot reacting to such a development. It would isolate the USA, and unify world opinion against us as the MOST dangerous aggressor.

If indeed we do attack over the holiday weekend, it will be in obvious contrast to Ahmadinejad's "generous" Easter gift of returning the British prisoners.

If we delay the attack, it will screw up logistics in a big way, especially with the war funding contention set to escalate in CONgress, along with a row of economic dominoes balancing precariously!

We're talking about nations planning their next moves, logistics, strategy and political maneuvering on the international scale.

So did Pres. Mahmoud A. jack up the US plans for a little weapons testing in IRAN over the holiday?

[edit on 6-4-2007 by greatlakes]

Originally posted by etotheitheta
Yes, it is extremely strange that these soldiers would be all smiles and happy upon being released of their detainment. They should despise it and demand further imprisonment.

I have explained everything here.


This explains why they are smiling.

www.abovetopsecret.com...



The fame and fortune that awaits them.