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Were our soldiers just too co-operative?
Last updated at 00:52am on 06.04.07There was growing concern last night over the conduct of the prisoners and the extent to which they cooperated with and even praised their captors.
Unlike past generations, today's servicemen and women are trained to co-operate and present a human face if they are taken prisoner.
But former senior commanders are asking if the shift has gone too far, and saying the hostages should have been more dignified. One called their behaviour "a bloody shambles".
Were the hostages just too co-operative?
Tehran TV showed the sailors and Marines laughing and joking after "confessing" to invading Iranian waters, and later shaking President Ahmadinejad by the hand and thanking him enthusiastically for his "forgiveness".
Their behaviour let the Iranians milk every ounce of political capital out of humiliating Britain and still end up appearing magnanimous.
Colonel Bob Stewart, who commanded British troops in Bosnia, said he was "very uncomfortable" with the way the hostages behaved.
He said: "Although we are not at war and the system has obviously changed, I could still not understand our people stating categorically that they were in Iranian waters and apologising.
"I felt what they were saying was damaging. I will not condemn them for their behaviour but I found it very strange and it worried me. The men who apologised should not have done so.
"Some say no harm has been done by their actions. I disagree."
Lieutenant General Sir Michael Gray, Commander of the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment in the early 1970s, said: "In my days you would have got name, rank and serial number and that would be your lot.
"This situation looked like a bloody shambles and while there was sympathy for Leading Seaman Turney, if she had been my soldier I would not have been impressed to see her smoking in front of the cameras. She knew she was being filmed. It did not look good."
Britain's top military officer, Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup, gave the detainees his unreserved backing, however.
He said: "They did exactly as they should have done from start to finish and we are proud of them."
But one Army insider said: "The way we train our people may need looking at. Playing along with your captors is basically the right approach, but it's possible to play along with the enemy's propaganda a bit too enthusiastically."
The Defence Ministry maintained throughout the crisis that its two boats never strayed into Iranian waters. But the stream of televised 'confessions' soon began to muddy the waters, making it harder for UK diplomats to gather strong support at the United Nations.
As part of their debriefing the 15 will have blood tests to try to establish if they were drugged.
There are dozens of drugs which could have been put in food or drink, without the detainees knowing, to instil mild euphoria and reduce inhibitions.
Under the Geneva Convention, captured servicemen and women need give only their name, rank and serial number. But this approach has been changed by British forces to reflect the likelihood that today they are more likely to be captured by terrorists or insurgents or an unpredictable faction of a rogue state.
