Cowardice or Heroism, Britain's Sailors and Iran

[Grounded]

Do you think that Britain's sailors exhibited cowardice or heroism when they gave into Iranian forces while they were in the Iraqi side of the strait? Do you think it was up to Capt Christopher Air to decide whether or not his action would cause an international incident or not?

I don't think they should have surrendered themselves that easilly, nor should they have appeared on TV, according to UN conventions captured forces of another sovereign state do not need to incriminate themselves on television or radio. I am sorry but I feel they made Britain look weak by surrendering to a hostile nation they should have fought and let the politicians decide what action to take, I doubt Iran would have fired on them, if they would have rammed thru or escaped, because firing on British forces would cause a situation that Iran cannot afford.

 

[TheWaffle]

What did you expect the sailors to do? Fire upon a superior force? It makes no logical sense. The Iranians did not fire upon the British sailors and had a firefight ensued it could have resulted in a massive international incident.

Let's take a look back at the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin. Yea that didn't end well, this situation could have ended up far worse for Britain had those sailors refused to surrender.

 

[USMC the Almighty]

I agree more with Grounded. Whatever happened to name, rank, and number?

Let me tell you something, a US Navy ship carrying a regiment of Marines sure as hell wouldn't have surrendered, and further, if they were captured, sure as hell wouldn't have been easily employed as propaganda tools.

And did anyone see those goody bags those British sailors were carrying -- it's like they were on vacation.

 

[TheWaffle]

"Yea and why the hell did private Lynch surrender she shoulda pulled out her side arm and started blasting away at the bastards." When people ram your vessel and point machine guns at you it is not the smartest thing to try and ram them and escape, they were in tiny rigid-hulled inflatable rafts, gimme a break. And as far as the shooting, all it takes is one stupid soldier on either side to turn an incident into a fire-fight. One of those machine gunners has a slight lapse of judgement and you're looking at a dozen dead British sailors.

 

[USMC the Almighty]

"Yea and why the hell did private Lynch surrender she shoulda pulled out her side arm and started blasting away at the bastards." When people ram your vessel and point machine guns at you it is not the smartest thing to try and ram them and escape, they were in tiny rigid-hulled inflatable rafts, gimme a break. And as far as the shooting, all it takes is one stupid soldier on either side to turn an incident into a fire-fight. One of those machine gunners has a slight lapse of judgement and you're looking at a dozen dead British sailors.

But get beyond the point that they surrendered (something that the ROE forbids) but look at how easily they were manipulated during the holding period for propaganda purposes.

Like I said, "whatever happened to name, rank, and number?"

The thread title poses the question "cowardice or heroism?" While cowardice might be going a little far, they certainly weren't heroic to any extent.

 

[Dave]

I don't think that you can file it under cowardice or heroism. I certainly would not put it past the Iranian government to tell these sailors that if they make a public statement they can go home. Its also fairly reasonable to believe that the Iranians showed them forged evidence to make them believe that they actually were in Iranian waters. I don't hold anything against them for what they did. However, I do believe it was cowardice on behalf of the British government for not taking a more aggressive stance with Iran over this matter. Taking prisoners is an act of war and should have been treated as such. Had I been in Tony Blair's shoes, I would have given Iran a 24 hour deadline for the return of all British service members, or else face the full power of the British military.

 

[9sublime]

I would have surrendered but would not have co-operated. The British and US know the Iranians have you, and the Iranians are not going to execute you they are just going to try use you for publicity before releasing you.

Then again, they did have guns cocked behind their heads etc. and its easy for us to sit here on a forum and say they were weak to give in.

As for them selling their stories, thats not their fault. The MOD etc. gave them permission to do it, and thats £25,000+ for them if they sell their stories so you can't expect them not to do it.