The Happy Prisoners of Tehran

I was really glad to see that the British navy crew is back in Britain after their unexpected 13-day holiday in Iran. And that although they were forced to wear those horrible suits and that head scarf, they came home with lots of presents. And they seem to be just fine.

Although I was a bit disappointed to see that some people in Britain are grumbling about their outstanding performance as The Happy Prisoners of Tehran.

The images were jarring, verging on the bizarre.....The latest television footage showed the detainees sipping cups of tea, accepting bags of gifts and answering questions from Iranian journalists about things like whether Iran reminded them of Wales. Several appeared to go out of their way to thank the Iranians for releasing them.

"I do not blame the hostages for their apparent willingness to confess and apologize," Glover wrote. "But we had better be honest with ourselves. In no previous era - not during World War II or Korea or Suez or the Falklands - would British servicemen have behaved in such a manner."

Oh please....harrumph harrumph...will somebody please remind that jingo blowhard that Britain is not at war with Iran. Yet.

I'm happy to see the British military says it won't punish the crew. And I'm sure the British public won't either. They're just happy to have them back again.

They hate the war in Iraq. And I'm sure they figure that the crew just said what they had to say to get the hell out of there. Or maybe what they said was true. Who knows?

It has emerged that one of the 15 - Royal Marine Captain Chris Air - admitted Britain was gathering intelligence on Iran in the Gulf, which the Ministry of Defence said was "all part of modern operations"

In a previously unbroadcast interview, he told how one purpose of patrols in the area was to gather "int" - intelligence - on "any sort of Iranian activity". He acknowledged that he was operating close to the buffer-zone between Iranian and Iraqi waters, adding: "It's good to gather int on the Iranians."

Uh oh...when you do that, and you fuckup, don't be surprised if shit happens. But if that's what happened, then I think the navy crew deserves a medal for outfoxing the Iranians.

They may be young and dum. And I doubt they have any clue about Iran...and its long and unfortunate relationship with Britain.

This anti-British sentiment is shared by ordinary Iranians. Its resonance defies boundaries of age, education, social class or political affiliation. In the eyes of a broad cross-section of the population, Britain - as much, or even more than, the US - is the real enemy

But in this case that dumnitude probably fooled the Iranians into thinking that no group that stupid and naive could possibly be gathering intelligence on anyone.

And besides....sometimes young is smart...who else could have come up with the brilliant idea of keeping their spirits up.....by turning their hostage ordeal into another version of Big Brother?













So they didn't act hang their heads or look pouty, sullen or defeated. They just acted like themselves.

And by so doing showed that our life affirming culture of freedom is far superior to their life denying death worshipping Mullah fucking theocracy.

Especially the female sailor. She showed all the oppressed women in Iran, what a free woman looks like. And smokes like.

Bottom line. Nobody was hurt in the making of this movie. The British learned a lesson and so hopefully did the Iranians. And diplomacy got a boost just when it needed it the most.

Thanks for the laughs kids. Welcome home.

Jolly good show....