At this very moment the US is holding Iranian revolutionary guardsmen. Now going by what H@ts is saying id the US were to torture them then Iran has no complaint because they tortured our sailors.
lodgebo said this in post #16 : At this very moment the US is holding Iranian revolutionary guardsmen. Now going by what H@ts is saying id the US were to torture them then Iran has no complaint because they tortured our sailors.
Why's that? We complained about the treatment the UK personnel received. I expect the Iranians are being held in isolation, blindfolded, and interrogated etc. Is that torture?
I'm talking about whether it was wise to use the sailor's experience to continue this PR battle with Iran that we've already lost. The government realise yesterday that it was a bad idea and have put a stop to any more stories coming out.
Why's that? We complained about the treatment the UK personnel received. I expect the Iranians are being held in isolation, blindfolded, and interrogated etc. Is that torture?
I'm talking about whether it was wise to use the sailor's experience to continue this PR battle with Iran that we've already lost. The government realise yesterday that it was a bad idea and have put a stop to any more stories coming out.
Are you suggesting that the sailors publishing their stories will cast Iran in a bad light, and therefore weaken Iran's victory in the PR battle? I am not so sure it would go in that direction with the sailors bad mouthing Iran. Stories praising Iran for its tolerance would probably sell better to the British market.
If that were the case, then failing to resist Iran, selling their stories to a tabloid market, and making the stories about politically correct conflict resolution 101 would all fit perfectly together in a wonderfully thematic way.
EUCLID said this in post #18 :
Are you suggesting that the sailors publishing their stories will cast Iran in a bad light, and therefore weaken Iran's victory in the PR battle?
Since not one person has had the decency to admit they okayed the selling of the stories I don't know who's idea it was, although I would not be surprised if Downing Street was involved, and yes it was for the sole purpose of getting back at Iran.
quote:
Stories praising Iran for its tolerance would probably sell better to the British market.
The Iranians did a good job of that themselves. We on the other hand wouldn't shut up about it and thought we'd show them Iranians how PR should be done, and encouraged and allowed the sailors to sell their stories and just gifted Iran yet more good PR by making us look bad. It was a shambles.
Look at it this way - Iran used these sailors and when they returned so did we. Only they did it better.
btw - I've nothing at all against military personnel making money out of the experiences they've had in the forces. But they should wait till they've left.
Des Browne: In hindsight could have stopped the sales
The defence secretary says he takes full responsibility for decisions which allowed the 15 sailors and marines held by the Iranians to sell their stories.
Des Browne, speaking for the first time since the row, said with hindsight he could have done things differently and said "ultimately, the buck stops here".
Liberal Democrats Chris Huhne:
quote:
said the armed forces wanted capable and competent leadership, but it had been a "complete mess up".
He said: "The fact that both Des Browne and the prime minister were informed about this and that their alarm bells were not ringing about the implications for example, for people in armed services who have been injured, people in the families of service personnel who've had people killed on active service... does seem to me extraordinary."
04-10-2007 06:34 PM
