Iran British Hostage Situation Strangeness

Originally posted by SourGrapes
Soldiers are trained to give 'Name, Rank, SSN' and nothing else. At least they are in the U.S.

They are in the UK too...

But, there is a press conference at 3pm (UK time) by the captured troops.

Hopefully things will be cleared up.

'The fame and fortune that awaits them.'

Yes thanks for that

Just like that other famous rich ex-hostage..... errrrrr.... a little help?

[edit on 6-4-2007 by myowncrusade]

Yea to the above, it's like: "Tell em what they've won Johnny! You've won either a decapitation WITH OR WITHOUT a hood, or , behind DOOR NUMBER 2! FAME AND FORTUNE AWAITS you - IF - you want to chance getting captured by Iranian forrcccessss!"

If it should turn-out that the 3 unhappy ones, actually did resist Iranian overtures to manipulate them for PR value...then those 3 will be hailed the heroes. Public scrutiny of the others could be harsh.

Would it be worth having to defend your honor for the rest of your life, in exchange for book rights...and a few Pounds Sterling? I'd have to think long & hard about that one.

If this were Vietnam, or if the UK was at war with Iran, then that would certainly be another matter, but given the dishonorable nature of this entire ME fiasco...I sincerely hope the general public doesn't swift-boat this young crew...I think they'll have enough to live with as is.

Lets get this thing over-with, and bring the rest our kids home.


Peace &
Good Fortune
OBE1

They wont get famous or rich.........

There has been alot of debreifing on going since they returned to the UK...

Think mostly on those marines/sailors is to spend time with their families, to decide weither or not to stay in the armed forces, or just return to duties.

Gonna ask a questions, remember how the pictures of the full 15 of them were shown on Iranian tv, then on UK T.V., Did anyone notice that one picture was missing from the whole 15?

Just speculating, would tghathave been the servicemen, who was held in solitary confinement??

I will give this a couple of weeks then it will die down.

One thing is for sure, better hope that the MoD decide to change the rules of engagement. Incase this happens again... if it does alot of scalps with be demanded over in whitehall.... Senior Navy personell had asked whitehall for equipment/supplies to they could defend themselves, (some arte speculating again dont know if it is true), seemngly all their requests were refused.

So I would have to ask, how the hell are they meant to defend themselves if those in the Gov wont even give them the right equipment to work with!!!!!

Its just the British government

a)proving a point
b)showing that they weren't all treated with hugs and kisses

and

c)we can do propaganda too

I am 100% confident they were threated like kings in Iran.
The Iranian had all the advantages to threat them as best as they could.
The sailors are probably being trained in what to say by the British Intelligence as we speak.
I am also convinced they trespassed Iranian waters .It would make 0 sense hat they captured them in Iraqis water.
Probably the US is the most pissed at the situation ,they would have loved some blood.
They moved the propaganda machine very fast (the US) but not fast enough.

I am new to this forum, but i hope you will watch this and answer.
I'am just confused how FOX is brainwashing peoples minds with bogus experts, and theories you can't even imagine in the toilet (sorry for the sarcasm).

The "expert" makes an analogy with the "China Crisis" some years ago, when some US soldiers were captured in China. But there's a very big difference, i don't need to explain it.

He goes further, saying "i consider this a SETBACK for the Iranian president" , ... and "the Iranian administration wanted to DOWNPLAY this" ... "that theater (the gift) is a cover for a LOSS for the Iranian president" and so on ...

Who's gonna believe this, really? I know that FOX isn't independent, but that's just propaganda, nothing else. Correct me if I am wrong.


www.youtube.com...



[edit on 6-4-2007 by absente]

If you wanted to know the names of some of the captured try looking on bbc news website there's a shed load of stuff on that page.

As for the 3 people on the right there is the possible of those 3 being SaS perhaps the marines were picking them up after they had been doing recon on iran but hey I guess you'll never know the true reason behind it all thats goverments for you after all.

below are the names of the personnel go to the bottom of the page thre also a link for their profiles too.

Iran Capture

Chris Air, 25, from Altrincham in Cheshire
Mark Banks, 24, of Lowestoft, Suffolk
Paul Barton, of Southport, Merseyside
Arthur Batchelor, 20, of Plymouth
Felix Carman, 26, of Swansea
Gavin Cavendish
Christopher Coe, 31, of Huddersfield
Dean Harris, 24, of Carmarthen, west Wales
Andrew Henderson
Simon Massey
Danny Masterton, 26, of Muirkirk, Ayrshire
Adam Sperry, 22, of Wigston, near Leicester
Nathan Summers, of Hayle, Cornwall
Joe Tindell, 21, of south London
Faye Turney, 26, originally from Shropshire


[edit on 02/014/200 by SE7EN]

If I remember correctly, there were UK MArines (seven) and sailors (eight). They are not trained in interrogation or capture technique, where as the other soldiers were. I read this in the first few days of the story. That would explain that picutre quite well and could explain some of the isolation they endured. I am sure as the days go by there will be more stories.

If I am right dureing the training of the british army they are all trained in interrogation and capture if caught they can give out certian information and baiscly only name and rank thats about it.

Originally posted by greatlakes
Anyone else find the recent photos of the British soldiers being released in any way strange? I mean these are soldiers (are they special ops to boot?) that were essentially POW's of Iran.

Are soldiers taught how to conduct themselves if captured in basic training and beyond? i wouldn't know for sure, but I would think at least several class lectures for officers and possibly enlisted on the scenario of becoming captured would be given.

This pic:

Whadya think ??

I'd guess the men on the right side of the picture are marines and professional soldiers, as well as the man who can't be seen in the back row on the left.

The remainder are most likely one tour non professionals who enlisted for college money, family pressure, etc. While not an excuse for thier behaivor, it does explain it I think.

Get it on the statement now..

The troops were FAR from treated nicely.

Forced confession.

The troops have admitted to being in Iraqi water.

The not so nice Iranians eh.


people react differently to situations.

I think the whole incident was rather strange, but Iran seemed to have everything to gain. The gift was to deflect the negative criticism in the west, and to unify the positive opinion in the ME with sympathisers in the West.

Well...

I don't think this is over yet.

I'm not disagreeing with any of what's been said but at the end of the day they have a role and should be expected to perform it but you've got to remember they are people to. It's great all of us sitting behind our pc's saying this and that but if we were in the same situation it wouldn't matter how much training you had if it comes down to life and death most people if they could would choose to live i'm sure if they had the choice.

Basic human nature is to survive.

It doesn't matter if they are in the army yes if your in the army your likely to get killed in battles as that's the nature of the game but it doesn't mean every single person in the army actively goes seeking there death or wants to die.

And the media constantly shows Islamic terrorists, Islamic suicide bombers, Iran is a rogue state etc. etc. Trying to scare the people into thinking how barbaric Iran and Islam is so when the solidiers are captured we all think the worse and i'm sure they did to after all 'they're the barbaric enemy'.

I'm not defending what happened or making Iran out to be innocent in all of this either by the way.

You know being captured obviously your going to think and worry about your loved ones etc. it's the greatest weapon a enemy can use against you and we don't know what happened behind the scenes completely so for people to think it was one sidely forced that they were all smiles because they had no choice or were inexperienced etc. makes me laugh because who wouldn't be happy to go home and see there wife, families etc. etc. again and know that your going to actually be alive tommorow??

Just like to point out that neither Great Britain, USA or anyone else is at war with Iran. Therefore the British Marines and Sailors were not POW's, they were hostages. Therefore they did exactly the right thing by agreeing to say and do whatever the Iranians told them to, much the same as anyone else would do to preserve their safety if they were taken hostage. This enabled the British government to concentrate on a diplomatic solution and not go all gungho. The 15 are back home and not a drop of blood was spilt and as far as I'm concerned no one has lost face apart from the Iranian government by parading them on TV in the first place. The Iranian people are unfortunately led by a backward hierarchy, but then that can be said for most of us.

Originally posted by SR
And the media constantly shows Islamic terrorists, Islamic suicide bombers, Iran is a rogue state etc. etc. Trying to scare the people into thinking how barbaric Iran and Islam is so when the solidiers are captured we all think the worse and i'm sure they did to after all 'they're the barbaric enemy'.

not just `barbaric`, they were demonized in `300` movie...

how pathetic... this is the main reason why I boycott hollywood junk movies, they film them with subliminal agenda to brainwash the sheeple...

I think this is why Iranians made this brilliant real life theatrical performance: to show they are not the demons...

as for those not-smiling guys on the right: maybe they were just more scared than the others...

Originally posted by god_of_wine
#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.

It is quite definately possible. The waters are disputed, and if Iran felt like the Brits where in their waters (while the brits felt like they were in the right) it's not hard to take over a fast patrol boat. I know, I see the kind of boats the brits were using all the time. Infact, I'm a US Sailor, and have been to the persian gulf, so I'm telling you that you are indeed speculating - its not fact that the british navy screwed up.

#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.

WHY would we pretend to exchange an iranian prisoner for 15 british pows? Again - massive speculation. As a matter of fact, a former secrtary of state came on and said exactly the OPPOSITE - declaring that it was indeed NOT an exchange. Nobody officialy stated it was an exchange. IMO, it was an underhanded exchange, that was covered up. What else does Iran have to gain by capturing 15 hostages, then releasing them? Good graces?!? PLEASE! They got their boy back.

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.

While I don't totally disagree with you on this statement - I think simply that -

a. The Waters are disputed. It's easy to confuse who's waters is who's waters (and who exactly determines those lines anyway!?! Now you begin to see the confusion)

b. Iran thinks british sailors are in there waters. They rush out, surround this little 15 man boat and sieze all the brits.

c. make it public news. behind the scenes, diplomats bargain who and how many of their captured Iranians their willing to accept in trade for the 15 british sailors.

This is pretty damn simple people. Not hard. Occams Razor.

For the people that give them a hard time for admitting they were in Iranian waters, is just ridiculous.
It isnt like they gave away nuclear secrets or any other info that could harm UK or US.
They did what they felt was needed to do to stay alive. I wouldve done the same thing if I were in their position.
I sure as hell would NOT want a war started over me, not that they would anyway lol.

[edit on 6-4-2007 by Kr0n0s]