How would you interpret the meaning of this photograph?

Question

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/03_03/BritishMarineR_468x321.jpg

I will offer my opinion when I choose a best answer.

If you didn't know the context, these are the 15 British marines who were taken hostage, just before they left Iran.

nuckin futs - if there really was an Iranian guard with an AK-47 ready to shoot anyone who wasn't smiling and waving - why are half of them not smiling or waving?

Answer 1

I will guess that the 3 on the right never "confessed" that they were in "Iranian" waters. They are the name rank and serial # type, that said nothing or almost nothing more than they had to.

Good question, by the way.

Answer 2

There’s sincerity in their joy & happiness. Of course they’re happy they’re going home BUT, these faces don’t look like they have been tortured or even threatened. If that was the case they wouldn’t be so happy and waving hands, they wouldn’t believe their freedom until they were either in international territory or on the ground in their own country.

By their own accounts & statements:
After the capture they were fed, spent the first week in solitary with 2 hours a day outside for exercise and visiting each other, no more solitary after the first week, given some cheap suits and supposed Easter gifts and returned home (again, this is per their statements). And let’s not forget this is what they said to the media AFTER they were debriefed by their own government so I'm assuming this is as bad as they could make it look and sound (they were not allowed to talk to the media before debriefing).

My personal opinion is that they’re happy they weren’t captured by someone like our government who would treat them like the prisoners in Abu Gharib, Guantanamo bay, or the secret CIA network of prisons around the world where we even torture our captives.

PS. Sharafi the Iranian diplomat that was kidnapped 2 months ago and then magically released (this of course was one of the conditions for the release of the British captives) a day before the British captives, has said:

“An American came. First he had a peaceful message but then when I did not answer his baseless accusations he and the Iraqi translator started beating me. Someone came to me saying he was an American from the embassy and was in charge of my case.” Sharafi said that he was beaten and kicked for the first eight days of his kidnapping and then interrogated, during which time his legs were tied together and he was beaten with a cable on the feet and the back. “Then they brought on a machine to drill holes into my feet.” And sadly enough he has the wounds to prove it:

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/041107jalalsharafi/im:/070411/ids_photos_wl/r499255175.jpg;_ylt=AgksCjQ0FnZg80QvCmbZ12eaK8MA

The delegation head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Iran, Peter Stocker, said earlier Sharafi had suffered serious wounds but it was impossible to confirm what had caused them and of course needless to say our government has denied any involvement with this whole ordeal.

So let me ask you now, considering the alternative or other possibilities wouldn’t you be happy if you were one of those British soldiers?

Answer 3

My interpretation: You can't see the Iranian soldier holding the AK-47 on them because he's out of the frame to the left.

Answer 4

The three guys on the right have an agenda, don't know what it is but they certainly feel differently than the others. The one guy in the back row of the those waving is wondering what is going on with those three on the right. That's what I get out of it. I do know who these people are and what's going on.

Answer 5

What is the context? The title is "BritishMarineR_468x321.jpg" So I'm guessing the guys on the right are a bit shy about being photographed by the press. Maybe their dignified officers.

Answer 6

Has anyone considered the possibility that the smilers have had electrodes inserted into their smile-and-wave receptors? The control panels were a few buttons short -- hence, the few long faces.

Answer 7

Everyone on the left "Yea! We're getting the flying f**k out of here!" 3 guys on the right "Yes, but now we will have to go through 72 hours of debriefing, followed by 7200 media requests. Maybe we should just stay here instead."

Answer 8

The young lady in the photo is auditioning for the show "What Not to Wear" as she is seriously afflicted with a severe form of style virus.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the Brits. She needs to go on the BBC's "What Not to Wear" with Trinny and Susanna. They'll get her all fixed up.

Answer 9

Young men and woman being sent into an irrational and unnecessary war.

Answer 10

I see a bunch of cowardly surrender monkeys who even the French are laughing at.