Iran said Friday they were blindfolded, isolated in cold stone cells and tricked into fearing execution while being coerced into falsely saying they had entered Iranian waters.
They said there was no doubt the 15 crew members were in Iraq's territorial waters when they were seized by heavily armed boats of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. They also said their jailers had singled out the only woman among the captives for use in propaganda.
Iran, which has been celebrating the incident as a victory, quickly rejected the charges, dismissing a news conference held by six of the freed personnel as "propaganda" and "a show." Iranian state TV accused British leaders of "dictating" the crews statements.
Appearing a day after being flown home to reunions with their families, the eight sailors and seven marines reported undergoing constant psychological pressure and being threatened with seven years in prison if they did not say they intruded into Iranian waters.
They said their captors also lined them up against a wall one night to the ominous sound of weapons cocking behind their heads.
"At some points I did have fears that we would not survive," Operator Maintainer Arthur Batchelor, 20, the youngest sailor among the captives, told The Associated Press in an interview.
Speaking at the news conference with five colleagues, the boat team's commander, Royal Navy Lt. Felix Carman, said the prisoners were harshly interrogated during 13 days in custody and slept in stone cells on piles of blankets.
"All of us were kept in isolation. We were interrogated most nights and presented with two options: If we admitted that we'd strayed, we'd be on a plane to (Britain) pretty soon. If we didn't, we faced up to seven years in prison," he said.
You'll forgive my sarcasm but, "oh poor baby!" Life must have been hell at the hands of the evil Iranians. Isolation? Coerced confession! Dear God! Water boarding? Nope. How were these confessions "coerced"?
"We were interrogated most nights and given two options. If we admitted that we had strayed, we would be back on a plane to the UK pretty soon. If we didn't, we faced up to seven years in prison," the statement said.
Yes, those poor Brits were ill treated, pulled out of Iraqi waters and held captive for days!
"If what they described is accurate, then that would not seem to be appropriate behavior and action," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "It's unfortunate that the Iranians ever detained the sailors to begin with."
Appropriate behavior? What is that exactly? Plucking nobodys off the streets of foreign countries, holding them, without charge, for years? What about this?
Did the British sustain these injuries?
Yes, that's a human being covered in feces.
Make no mistake, I feel for them. I feel for their families, the not knowing, the wondering, the fear... But, as a country that advocates this type of behavior, who the hell are we to tell the Iranians what is and is not acceptable behavior?
The right loves throwing the "slippery slope" in my face as bullshit liberal propaganda. So, I guess this is just my turn to throw it back with a little, "Told you so jackass!"
This isn't a slippery slope, this isn't "propaganda" this isn't "keeping America safe". This is white washing. This is the typical "do as I say .." crap from this administration.
Now, spin it. What if, we treated our prisoners in the same fashion as the Iranians treated them? BUT The Iranians treated the British as we treated our "POW's"? Outrage? oh, you betchya! Now, our government wants us to hate these evil Iranians. They want us to be outraged and angry and demand justice.
I can't. I may be a lot of things, but a hypocrite just isn't one of them.
11 comments:
I know that it's too much to ask for a wingnut to understand that torturing people is wrong, but you'd think that they would at least recognize that it makes the USA look really stupid when, after Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, we turn around and criticize the Iranians for mistreating those British sailors. I thought wingnuts HATED IT when we look stupid.
And of COURSE our MSM won't point all of this out!! Especially not on FAUX news, where the wingnuts will be spoon fed talking points for the week.
Geez, Iran has every reason to believe we are getting ready to invade them. At least they followed the Geneva Convention even if we didn't.
I hate these double standards and lies this administration has gotten so good at.
When I saw on CNN how we should be outraged, I was. Just not aiming my "rage" in the direction they wanted.
Thanks so much you two. I was half afraid, before posting, that I'd be alone on this one.
Group hug please...
Wow. Okay. Breath. Okay.
Yes, we keep trying to paint the Iranians as monsters. No matter what the facts and even video show us.
I sure haven't seen anyone in the mainstream media own up to the fact that the treatment given the Brits, while not really IAW with the Geneva Conventions, was not all that bad when compared to the torture and murder of hundreds if not thousands of Iraqi and others at the hands of Americans. No one wants to admit, that by our actions, we have lowered the standards of prisoner treatment and that we should expect to get as good as we give. I would say the Brits were lucky they weren't captured by people who behave like the Americans.
>I would say the Brits were lucky they weren't captured by people who behave like the Americans.
That is a very sad commentary on what we've become after five-plus years of George W. Bush's "Global War on Terror." You're better off being a British sailor in the hands of the Iranians than being anyone who the Bush Administration suspects of being involved with terrorism. We've become a nation that claims the absolute God-given right to capture, torture, and hold indefinitely anyone in the world we want to, on the basis of top-secret "evidence" (which, being secret, no one can examine), without oversight of any kind. And this is held to be necessary in order to preserve America's highest ideals of Freedom, Liberty, and Justice For All.
God help us and save us.
Amen!
fallenmonk NAILED it with his ONE comment about brits NOT being captured by those who are like Americans.
awesome observation!
"I would say the Brits were lucky they weren't captured by people who behave like the Americans."
Here we are, the Iranians have released the Brits unharmed and we are still holdiing the 5 Iranians we kidnapped from that Iraqi Consulate two months ago.
We have absolutely no moral standing in world anymore because of the fools that were elected by the 62 million fucking dumbasses who voted for them.
They held us in dark rooms and told us scary ghost stories! I don't believe any of this. It is blatant propaganda on the Brits part and they had a chance to become straight-talking citizens of the world.
The natural consequency of an international conflict is that so called information, that still passes governmental truth filters, stops being truthful all together.
It is beyond any doubt, that information manipulation is as old as wars. This wrecking crew, Bush&Co, has done it too intensively plus been caught with the lies too often to have any value to them. Lies are not just lies if that's what you do every time you open your mouth. It is the credibility thing, stupid!
The English sailors were obviously briefed well in order to do some damage control back home. That gives a chance to still keep a stiffer upper lip for those that still prefere good ol' us and them separation to continue. Not that I am a great admirer of the hot head, religious gaveman, Ahmydinnerjacket, but why is it that the West consistently loses these heart and mind operations?
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