http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6538075.stm
"I was offered a hell of a lot of money for my story. I've not taken the biggest offer, I've gone down...because I wanted to speak to yourself and the Sun because I knew my point would be put across."
Uhhh.. Going to the Sun would put "your" view across?
This sounds as dubious as 23 pound note.
I bet it was the money...
I'm not cynical, but otherwise, surely, she would have went to the Guardian or the Times (or the bloody Mirror for God's sake)!
In a separate interview with the Sun, Leading Seaman Turney said she feared her Iranian captors were measuring her for a coffin before killing her.
Okay. She joined the army proving that she's not the sharpest pencil in the fruit basket, but this beats Dumb and dumber.
Or is she just being sensationalist?
Meanwhile Arthur Batchelor, 20, the youngest of the British sailors to be held captive, told the Daily Mirror about his "nightmare" at the hands of his captors and how he "cried like a baby" in his cell.
He told the newspaper: "A guard kept flicking my neck with his index finger and thumb. I thought the worst, we've all seen the videos. I was frozen in terror and just stared into the darkness of my blindfold."
I don't know if these soldiers should be selling their stories in this manner. It might deter others from making the same mistake they did?
I dunno.
Pretty pointless post, coming to think of it, but hey...it's Easter Monday...
Originally posted by shavixmirI was quite interested to see Bob Stewart talking about this providing an "odd incentive" the other day, the implication presumably being that British military personnel are now going to be leaping over themselves to be captured by the IRG so they can sell their stories to the News of the Screws - even presupposing they'd be that stupid and wicked, which is a stretch to put it mildly, they're risking legal atomization should it ever be proved.
I don't know if these soldiers should be selling their stories in this manner. It might deter others from making the same mistake they did?
I can't see anything hugely different between this and the downed fighter pilots and the Andy McNabs of the first Gulf War - these people aren't as interesting or talented as Andy McNab or those pilots, they sound like they'd had too many conversations with Max Clifford already - but equally there's no reason why they shouldn't profit from their stories in the same way the tabloids did. It's tacky, self-serving and shallow, but then so is the world.
The one interesting footnote here is just how the names of the sailors came out - turns out HMG had an informal news blackout (with the sailors' families' consent) on the names to cool the situation and encourage a propaganda coup in Tehran, but the Sun found out and publicized their lives all over the press about five days in. Someone in Tehran was obviously paying attention to the media furore this caused in the UK, because it was only then that the Iranians started using them as propaganda. If anyone here has veered into putting themselves before their country, it's the soaraway Sun.
Originally posted by ElleEffSeeeIt's normal for a woman to fear being raped. Especially in a situation in which she is being held captive. Doesn't matter what she looks like.
'I feared the Iranians would rape me' splashed across the Sun's front page in true propaganda style (made worse by the fact that she isn't exactly 'a looker'😉.
Originally posted by MerkExactly - my point is that that fear is not unique to her captivity in Iran. However the Sun want people to believe that if women get held by the government in Iran, there is a possibility they will be raped - an entirely unsubstantiated claim.
It's normal for a woman to fear being raped. Especially in a situation in which she is being held captive.
Originally posted by ElleEffSeeeI guess I didn't read the article so I don't know how it came across in the story or what kind of editorializing they did when writing that part of the story.
Exactly - my point is that that fear is not unique to her captivity in Iran. However the Sun want people to believe that if women get held by the government in Iran, there is a possibility they will be raped - an entirely unsubstantiated claim.
If this attitude runs throughout the British military, all the guns, all the ships and all the tanks will count for nothing. What we've witnessed in the last several weeks is the preemptive cultural surrender of Great Britain. Sadly, I'm reminded of a quote from John Stuart Mill:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
Originally posted by ElleEffSeeeMore important than how enticing she is to a potential Iranian rapist is the fact that she was in harm's way in the first place. I think it's barbarous and destroys the morale of soldiers when a country sends its women to fight. The military is far too important an institution to play social engineering games with so that fat, hairy, repulsive-looking feminist in the government can feel good about themselves.
'I feared the Iranians would rape me' splashed across the Sun's front page in true propaganda style (made worse by the fact that she isn't exactly 'a looker'😉.
Originally posted by der schwarze RitterClearly it doesn't - several of the other sailors have refused to take money for their stories. With the Pueblo story No.1 raised the other day in mind, I think you're reading a little too much of a Jeremiad into this - I somehow don't think the response of the crew of the Pueblo in general represented the end of the United States' military might.
If this attitude runs throughout the British military, all the guns, all the ships and all the tanks will count for nothing. What we've witnessed in the last several weeks is the preemptive cultural surrender of Great Britain.
There are occasions where these memoirs are a good thing: for example, Jessica Lynch's was very welcome because it blew the Pentagon propaganda machine sky-high.
I will agree with you on one thing, though: all the guns, ships and tanks of the Coalition do count for nothing, because sooner or later the tactics its Islamist foes are learning in Iraq are going to be applied to mainland Europe and the US on a more-or-less-regular basis. The police here are starting to brief the general public that this is a hundred-year terrorist campaign which is now at its "dumb" stage and is going to get more sophisticated and dangerous very, very quickly.
Originally posted by AmauroteA very interesting comment.
I will agree with you on one thing, though: all the guns, ships and tanks of the Coalition do count for nothing, because sooner or later the tactics its Islamist foes are learning in Iraq are going to be applied to mainland Europe and the US on a more-or-less-regular basis. The police here are starting to brief the general public that this is a hundred-year ...[text shortened]... w at its "dumb" stage and is going to get more sophisticated and dangerous very, very quickly.
And what would be the justification for launching such a War against the West? US support for Israel? That "our" women were short skirts?
And what is the logical response for the West? Go through 100 dismal years of low-level but steadily increasing violence? Start building random explosive attacks into our insurance premiums?
Originally posted by der schwarze RitterWhat a fitting quote to the state of affairs in western europe and large parts of the western world (excluding the US and Australia) at this time.
If this attitude runs throughout the British military, all the guns, all the ships and all the tanks will count for nothing. What we've witnessed in the last several weeks is the preemptive cultural surrender of Great Britain. Sadly, I'm reminded of a quote from John Stuart Mill:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decaye ...[text shortened]... no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
And I am european. There are some of us left here who don't want to roll over and see our culture and way of life destroyed.
Originally posted by spruce112358Russia and Europe will eventually "fall" to Islamic expansion, even without launhing a war on the west.
A very interesting comment.
And what would be the justification for launching such a War against the West? US support for Israel? That "our" women were short skirts?
And what is the logical response for the West? Go through 100 dismal years of low-level but steadily increasing violence? Start building random explosive attacks into our insurance premiums?
The birth-rate in our societies is already so low in some european countries (ie Spain) that the "local" population is halved every generation.
And we seem happy enough to adapt our way of life to not offend the growing muslim community. it is rare, in the history of immigration, that the host nation adapts to the immigrants.
I don't see how the process can be reversed.