British hostages home, describe ordeal
Now home, the 15 members of the British Royal Navy crew held by Iran offer details on their capture and ordeal. As Fox News reports, the sailors and marines said that they were in Iraqi waters when they were taken, despite what was said in videos made by their captors where they admitted to entering Iranian waters and offered regrets.
Describing their capture, Marine Captain Chris Air said, “From the outset, it was very apparent that fighting back was not an option.” The Iranian crew leveled heavy machine guns on the Britons after ramming their boats. While held hostage, the crew was blindfolded for much of their 13-day ordeal and spent their time in isolation.
Though some condemned the crew for apologizing when they had done nothing wrong, Royal Navy Admiral Sir Jonathan Band felt that the crew “acted with considerable dignity and a lot of courage.”
Iran, though it failed to get a public apology, nevertheless got to show its strength and appear somewhat reasonable. Not what one would expect from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is certainly not something that should fool observers into thinking he is less dangerous than what they thought before this incident.
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