The Bird

We are all relieved the British sailors made it home safely but what happened to Name, Rank, and Serial number? I always thought that Brits were a little more stoic than this. I am all in favor of rank and file military hostages generally doing anything necessary to get home sooner. Maybe with just a little less enthusiasm toward your captors next time? Granted, I personally would be so scared I would probably be the guy with a big wet stain down the front of my suit. There are at least two British sailors or Marines fortunately showing a stiff upper lip and a bit of courage in these pics (one on the far right and one in the back on the left turning away), making an effort to resist Iran's photographic propaganda. All in all, I think Mr. Ahmadinejad won this round.


Compare the photos of the British captives taken by Iran with American sailors captured by Korea in the 'Pueblo Incident'.

'The USS Pueblo was notable for being boarded and captured by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 23 January 1968. The DPRK stated that she strayed into their territorial waters, but the United States maintains that the vessel was in international waters at the time of the incident.

Pueblo was taken into port at and the crew was moved twice to POW camps, with some of the crew reporting on release they were starved and regularly tortured while in North Korean custody. This treatment was allegedly worsened when the North Koreans realized that crewmen were secretly giving them "the finger" in staged propaganda photos.'