British servicemembers detained by Iran for the past two weeks finally had a chance to give their own account of their capture and time in captivity at a press conference on Friday.
The statement given by the crew's two most senior members, Navy Lieutenant Felix Carman, 26, and Royal Marine Captain Chris Air, 25, among other things, recounts the tense moments when Iranian forces showed up on the scene. The way they tell it makes it sound as if the Iranians were looking for a fight, illustrating how easily the diplomatic incident could have escalated into something much more serious.
Here are some highlights followed by the full text of the statement.
On where they were when picked up by the Revolutionary Guard:
Lieutenant Felix Carman: "Let me make it absolutely clear, irrespective of what has been said in the past, when we were detained by the IRG we were inside internationally recognized Iraqi territorial waters and I can clearly state we were 1.7 nautical miles from Iranian waters."
On why they didn't resist capture:
Royal Marine Captain Chris Air: "The Iranian Navy did not turn up lightly armed; they came with intent, heavy weapons, and very quickly surrounded us. We were equipped, armed and had rules of engagement for boarding operations within Iraqi water. "We were not prepared to fight a heavily armed force who it is our impression came out deliberately into Iraqi waters to take us prisoner. Reasoning with the Iranians was our only option. We tried. We did our utmost to de-escalate the situation, but our words fell on deaf ears. They had come with a clear purpose and were never going to leave without us."
On why they "confessed":
Lieutenant Carman: "We were interrogated most nights, and presented with two options. If we admitted we had strayed, we would be on a plane back to the UK soon. If we didn't we faced up to seven years in prison. We all at one time or another made a conscious decision to make a controlled release of non-operational information."
READ FULL STORY AT http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/2245/Released_Brits_Give_Inside_Account_of_Capture
But in all the Iran Crisis 'spin' what is the truth and what is the untruth? Which side is telling the truth and what really happened. As is usual with events of this nature, thick fog covers the pathways ... obscuring the real events from the eyes of the world. Ordinary Jo Blogs in his or her armchair ain't going to be told the truth. They will be 'told a truth that the elite want them to believe'.
