Not One Hero Out of Fifteen

Strangely enough, I write this with sympathy for the fifteen British sailors captured by the Iranians. Predictably and accurately, they are recanting their very public confessions and telling the true story. Unfortunately, it's too late. They have been used successfully in a fairly brilliant, albeit transparent, propaganda event. Even as they tell (sell, actually...ouch) what really happened, they are fueling the Iranian propaganda machine.

I have been a sailor, though I've never faced the enemy and I've never been threatened with imprisonment or death. So, I make no judgment here.

I can make some comparisons though. Nelson Mandela spent most of his life in prison because he refused to say the words the South African government wanted to hear. Lech Walsa stood up to his Communist government and was imprisoned and blacklisted. Even the prisoners in Guantanamo have pretty much kept their silence despite the various degrees of intimidation (torture?) to which they've subjected.

I meant it when I said I was not judging. All I'm saying is there were no heroes and that fact is part of the propaganda that the Arab world is very aware of.