A number of people have pointed out the fact that in the photos of the "hostages" in Iran, some were smiling and waving while others were not. This is due to the fact that there were a mix of Marines and Sailors among the 15, and it was, more or less, all of the sailors that were smiling and waving, while the marines were stern faced. This fact reflects the difference in training and job profile between the Sailors and Marines and how aware each group was of the reality of what they were doing in the Persian Gulf.

Basically, the Marines know that their job is to attack and undermine the Iranians. To the Marines, the Iranians are the enemy, which is reflected in their demeanour.

From the sailors POV, they are there to "help" with stopping smugglers, which could also be of benefit to the Iranians. So to the Sailors then, the Iranians were not necessarily the enemy, which is reflected in their demeanour.

The official story that they were just doing their job of searching for "smugglers" is of course, laughable. Such activities are undertaken in countries where normal conditions prevail, NOT in a country like Iraq, which is as war torn as any. "Searching for smugglers" is no one's priority in Iraq, but serves the MOD well as a cover story because it appears to the British public that "their boys" are carrying out innocent, heck! even helpful activities in Iraq, and darn those Iraqis for not being grateful!

So to be convincing, they searched the odd boat that was unloading cars or whatever, and the gormless sailors were there to make it look convincing, and indeed the sailors themselves, dupes that they are, actually believed that this was the extent of what they were involved in, if only as a cover.

The Marines were there to do the real job - spying on Iraq, planning/setting up infiltrations into Iran - keeping in contact with British assassination (SAS) teams already in Iran - passing details to US teams in Iran and to the US government etc.

In short, they are very clearly engaged in hostile acts towards Iran, and if the tables had been turned, and Iranians had been caught in America doing the same thing, they would now be being tortured in Guantanamo. No doubt WHATSOEVER.

The main point at this stage however is that the spin machine has gone into action in an attempt to undo the Iranian "coup de media". For example, the Scotsman reports:

The Iranian soldiers had changed out of military uniforms and were now dressed all in black, their faces masked. For the 14 male hostages, the worst moment of their ordeal had arrived. The belief that they were being taken to the British Embassy in Tehran for imminent release had evaporated. Instead, at a detention centre, blindfolded and with their hands secured with plastic cuffs, they were all made to face a brick wall.

Then guns were cocked and a British captive cried out: "Lads, lads. I think we are going to be executed." At that point, one of the hostages vomited: at least one of the others thought someone had just had their throat cut, and that it was blood hitting the floor.

Hmmmm.... now why would any of the British hostages automatically associate the sound of vomit hitting the floor with someone's throat being cut? Are British children reared to instinctively know and associate these sounds with one another? Of course, I forget! They were in "Arablandia", where people cut each other's throats as a matter of course and on a daily basis.

The poster boy for the gormlessness of the Sailors has to be Sailor Arthur Batchelor. From my brief analysis of the 'cut of his jib', I have decided that this poor misguided child would have cracked if an Iranian Republican Guard has so much as looked at him in the wrong way, and his bright and sunny disposition therefore constitutes reasonable evidence that it is unlikely that there was any mal-treatment.

The former captives are expected to make around £250,000 between them. Faye Turney, the 26-year-old seawoman, is likely to get the most profitable deal. She is said to have sold her story for £150,000 in a joint contract with a newspaper and ITV.

When Rose Gentles son was killed she was hit with D Notice gagging orders plus she never got any compensation since he hadn't been in the army long enough. That wasn't an 'exceptional circumstance' though, that was the daily bad news Blair wants to bury rather than a warmongering propaganda stunt.

It pretty much sums it up that on Easter Sunday a leading British clergyman praises the Iranian moral superiority. Time to rename 'the axis of evil'.

“I saw on the one hand what Iran was doing, and what the president said had much to do with the moral and spiritual tradition of their country. The president talked about the religious background to the release, with reference to the Prophet’s birthday and the passing over of Christ. What struck me was that if there were any values on the British side they were free-floating and not anchored in a spiritual and moral tradition. Unless we reroot ourselves in a spiritual and moral tradition, we won’t know what we stand for and will not be able to confront other people, countries and ideological movements who are very clear where they stand.” -Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester

The Armed Services should have organised a Coup d'Etat to oust the Bloody Liar by now. The problem is they certainly do not want those jobs for themselves, and and all the other Politicians are just as bad.

If Cameron should undertake to tax the Rich sufficiently to get rid of the National debt - Milk Snatcher took over a solvent Country with the National debt balanced by the value of the Nationalised industries. (Harold Wincott, Financial Times, about 1960) She sold off those Industries (cheap to her friends), and doubled the National Debt. Any honest Conservative must consider that criminal. (Some of the highest repute accused her of selling the family silver), there would be an ethical reason for putting him in. That should not be enough for the Armed Services, he also has to impose sufficient taxation to properly arm the Services. And see that the NHS is adequately funded to give proper care to injured Service people as the standard for everyone.

Extra taxes on those who used their Thatcher tax cuts to buy further strangleholds on the Nation through Privatisation buy ups would help to crush out the inflation that destroys the Lifeblood of Capitalism.

Perhaps you begin to appreciate the scale of the problem facing the Armed Services puzzling how to do their Duty ti the Nations.

And if you notice, the marines are sharing out their 'filthy-lucre' equally, and even giving ten percent to a service charity. The two sailors are keeping their all their loot for themselves. Declension in the ranks !

Actually, due to these 'exceptional circumstances' I think they should retrospectively get paid for the interviews that they gave to the BBC, the Independent, Ch5 etc the day the day before they were on their 'legal and authorized' (sic) spying mission. Bribing them more is bound to keep them 'on story'. Except it wasn't really a spying mission was it ? It was an act of provocation, a propaganda exercise that back-fired badly. British bishops are praising Irans morality on Easter Sunday. I can't see any British Bishops praising Blairs morality.

This government has to be one of the most accident-prone, incompetent, corrupt bunch of pricks that we have ever inflicted on the world. Even the top-brass know it - a military coup doesn't sound too bad at this point. saving that, I'm voting for independence for my own small corner of these lands, England can go to hell on it's own.