Tone Shifts After 15 Britons Return Captives' Behavior Questioned; Blair Links Iran to Terrorism

Apr 06, 08:59 AM

Current Headlines: By Sarah Lyall

The 15 British marines and sailors held captive in Iran for nearly two weeks arrived back home on Thursday. But Britain's relief at their safe return was tarnished by questions about how they behaved during their detention and why they had been captured in the first place. At the same time, Prime Minister Tony Blair abandoned the careful, diplomatic language he used during the crisis. On Thursday, with the captives safely en route to Britain, his tone became tough, almost antagonistic, as he spoke of possible links between the Iranian regime and terrorism in Iraq.

Referring to the announcement that four British soldiers had been killed on Wednesday in Basra, Iraq, when a roadside bomb struck their armored personnel carrier, Blair pointedly said he was not holding Iran responsible. But he repeated charges that Iran had been linked to terrorism inside Iraq.

"It is far too early to say the particular terrorist act that killed our forces was an act committed by terrorists who were backed by any elements of the Iranian regime, so I make no allegation," Blair said Thursday. "But the general picture, as I said before, is that there are elements, at least, of the Iranian regime that are backing, financing, arming, supporting terrorism in Iraq."

The British captives' homecoming was carefully choreographed.

On Wednesday, before their release, they were shown on television wearing outfits issued by the Iranian regime - ill-fitting business suits for the men, and a headscarf-and-trouser ensemble for the lone woman, Leading Seaman Faye Turney. But when they arrived at London Heathrow Airport on Thursday, the seven marines and eight sailors were dressed once more in military clothing that had been flown in from Britain.

Boarding two naval helicopters, they left for their base in Devon, where they are to be debriefed and to undergo medical and psychological checkups, said Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of the defense staff.

Seized on March 23 while conducting a routine operation near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway, in the northern Gulf, the captives were repeatedly displayed on Iranian state television, sometimes looking relaxed and smiling. In several cases, they confessed to and apologized for having trespassed on Iranian territorial waters.

The images were jarring, verging on the bizarre. At one point they lined up for handshakes and chats with the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 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.

"The treatment has been great," Turney said. "Thank you for letting us go. We apologize for our actions."

Defense Secretary Des Browne said the freed marines and sailors had behaved appropriately.

"You have seen for yourself these are very young people," Browne told the BBC. "I think they have acted with immense courage and dignity during the time that they have been detained and, indeed, presented before the media of the world."

[One of the British naval crew held in Iran was kept in solitary confinement, the BBC reported, citing a member of that person's family. The BBC did not say which of the sailors and marines had been held alone.]

Blair reiterated the government's assertion that Britain had traded nothing in return for the detainees' freedom. They were released, he said, "without any deal, without any negotiation, without any side agreement of any nature whatsoever."

Throughout what became a diplomatic stalemate, Britain maintained that the sailors and marines were sailing in Iraqi waters on United Nations-mandated business. Iran contended that they had been trespassing on Iranian waterways and demanded that Britain apologize and never do it again - an apology Britain does not appear to have made, at least publicly.

The focus is now on the detainees. How, analysts are asking, did they come to be so vulnerable in a waterway they knew was disputed, at a time when the Iranians have been particularly jumpy? And were they coerced into their confessions in Iran or speak voluntarily?

Speaking on BBC radio, Mike Dewar, a retired army colonel who is now an expert on security issues, said that the sailors and marines had not had appropriate protection and that their capture could have been thwarted by, for instance, the presence of helicopter gunships.

Christopher Dandeker, a professor of military sociology at University College London, said he agreed with Dewar's assessment. He said, too, that the captives' behavior raised worrying issues.

"I know many military people are concerned about the overly loquacious and positive statements made by the service personnel," he said in e-mail. "But as yet we don't know what kinds of coercion were present before the 'hostages' made their TV statements."

Several members of the military said in interviews Thursday that the captured Britons had probably not received a great deal of training in how to behave if taken hostage.

"I'd be surprised if they'd had a lot of in-depth training," said an officer in the army, speaking on condition that his name not be used because he had not cleared the interview with his commanding officer. Before he served in Iraq, the officer said in a telephone interview, "we had about half an hour briefing by some bored guy with slides, and he certainly wasn't envisaging the type of situation that they got into."

The officer said that the captives' first priority was, undoubtedly, getting back home. "I'm sure there will be lots of old people back home who will criticize, but most currently serving soldiers would probably say, 'Do what you need to get out.' "

A Defense Ministry spokesman said the military offered "basic captive training" but would not elaborate.

"We're not releasing the details of the training any of the services go through under those conditions, because if we do that then it would make it easier to interrogate them" should they be taken captive, the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with British government policy.

Writing in The Daily Mail, a popular newspaper that often takes an anti-government stance, the British columnist Steven Glover compared the captives' behavior unfavorably with that of their predecessors in earlier conflicts.

"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."

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