Am I the only one who thinks the Brit sailors & marines sold out too easily?

Question

Our guys take beatings, sometimes for years. Vice Admiral Stockdale beat his own face to a bloody pulp to keep from being used in a propaganda film.

The Brit troops seemed almost eager to be of assistance.

Nope, I've never been there. I can say they damn well wouldn't get me in front of a camera unscathed, though. I'd be visibly injured when they filmed.

Retired military guy

Answer 1

Yes, you've not been there, nor have most...

As a SERE School graduate... I think they did fine: They held out, we KNEW any "confession" was horse-shat...

YES interesting point though... would have been nice if they could have incurred a facial "injury" to pass on the point of "coercion"...

Again though in SERE I learned that the "bad-guys" know WHERE and HOW to hit without bruises... I took a lecture from Admiral Stockdale. But then again, the Hanoi Hilton was 40 years ago...

The Iranians held them short-time... and got a short-time propaganda bonus for those who are stupid.

Answer 2

They are a disgrace to their uniform. They allowed the Iranians to portray the British forces as weak and stupid.
A huge propaganda victory for the Iranians and a shameful event for the British government who were exposed as helpless.
Now they have the greed to sell the story of their submission to the newspapers.

Answer 3

yeh, this is easy to say when your sitting at home watching tv. what do you think they could have done when theres only fifteen of them. as far as stockdale, remember him when he was going to run for vice president? the guy didnt even know how to answer a question. he must have knocked his brain loose when he beat his face. i also served in the military.

Answer 4

I think they just gave the hell up and should be shot for treason. What happened to not surrendering as long as you still have the means to resist. (not like their was any torture any way) lets ask some of the true heroes and POW's of Vietnam etc what they think. And before you judge me you do not know where I have been or what I have done and I do not mean just training in SERE school although that is what gave me training and second any one that puts on a uniform should have more pride for their uniform and their country. It sickens me! ..... Shadow Stalker

Answer 5

No, and what disgusts me is that they are making money off of being spineless vagin@s. In the Marines we are told we can say "name, rank, and date of birth". Apparently, the Brits have different rules

Answer 6

They didn't create an International Crisis, so they did good.

Answer 7

I am ashamed as a British citizen at the way the captured crew behaved during their spell in Iran and I am further disgusted that given the choice by the Ministry of Defence crew members Turney and Batchelor sold their stories to the media for personal profit. I can accept giving up to avoid bloodshed and the obvious immediate retaliation, a sensible and justifiable move. The rest of the time showed the crew's cowardly and vile treachery towards their country in who's service they were sup[posed to be acting.

With regard to the mistakes of the crew and in particular I was appalled at the conduct of Faye Turney. While I have never been in the position of being a serving member of the armed forces I would certainly not have conducted myself as she and the others did if I had been captured by an enemy:

1. Who would write letters and make televised apologies as Turney did simply by being told she could face prison? She said in an interview for the 'Tonight' programme on ITV that she thought she would choose a 2 week option given to her instead of a possible 7 year jail term and that she had no idea if the UK government knew what was going on or if they would help. Anyone in the armed forces with an iota of common sense would know that the UK government does not leave service personnel in captivity and that in modern times we have lots of ways to communicate with one another and that as a developed nation we have very sophisticated means of finding out what is going on by using things like telephones, even on a Royal Navy ship far away from London - amazing isn't it Faye...

Her actions in this respect shame the British as generations before her would have suffered years of similar treatment without dropping a single word to the enemy, let alone writing treacherous letters. Her female colleagues should be especially angry as it reflects badly on allowing females to serve on the front line generally yet Turney is an exception to the norm. Professionalism in her job should have come first, family or not, she even gave the excuse that the Iranians were telephoning her mother-in-law but she had no way to substantiate that while in captivity.

2. Why did all the crew appear to be laughing and joking as well as playing games while in captivity? This simply unhinges stories they tell of torture and maltreatment by the Iranians. In the same interview Turney said it was due to relief of being reunited with her crew. A little resistance would have been nice but they played right to the tune of the Iranians playing chess and table tennis, joking and laughing. You'd think they wanted to be in Iran looking at some fo the pictures and while I am well aware of the Iranian propaganda machine you cannot doctor the smiles on the faces of the crew. That was a dream come true for Iran...

3. Why did Leading Seaman Turney even think it was appropriate for her to put on a head scarf, not being a Muslim? Surely if she had taken it off she would have been unable to be shown on TV by the Iranians. She said in the same TV interview that she kept her helmet on for as long as possible to avoid being singled out as a woman, obviously knowing the implications in a Muslim nation with Sharia law. Yet Turney did not have the sense to subsequently use this against the Iranians. She obviously thought that she was not still in her job as soon as she was taken from her boat and just assumed it was some kind of twisted holiday. Cooperate to save bloodshed and strategic pitfalls by all means but come on, show a little backbone and patriotism please. I am an atheist and believe that no religion should be forced on anyone, why did she let herself be dressed up as a Muslim?

4. At the conclusion of the crisis while the crew very slightly redeemed themselves by changing into uniform immediately they accepted Iranian gifts and carried them from the plane in Britain and then had the audacity to seek pity from the British people by selling their stories in a weak display of wallowing in their own self pity. How dare they! Apparently they have been given 2 weeks' leave to recover but I would have had most of them before a Court Martial and dishonourably discharged depending on their actions.

Unfortunately, Britain has been enveloped by a molly cuddling politically correct nanny state that now seems to reflect itself in the conduct of our armed forces. While not the most powerful forces in the world anymore certainly I thought of them the world's most highly skilled, professional and repsected. I am now reconsidering this and I do so with a loss of pride and with a sense of disgust having had older generations of my family serve my country valiantly and with dignity in the past.