While the world watched the unfolding saga of the British sailors and Marines captured by the Iranian government, the fourteen men and one woman were living a nightmare. The Iranian government may have taken perverse pride in parading the captives on international television and using them as tools in their propaganda war, but the reality was much different. The British troops are finally home and free to speak about the details of their captivity. The dichotomy between the image presented by the Iranians and the reality of the circumstances endured by the British service members is an telling and damning indictment of the way these troops were exploited by one government and effectively abandoned by another.

The British service members spent nearly two weeks in captivity. They were blindfolded, bound and subjected to constant psychological pressure. They were promised freedom if they confessed to trespassing onto Iranian waters. They faced interrogation by their Iranian captors and were forced to sleep on blankets in stone cells. They were paraded on television like circus animals and forced to give staged apologies to the Iranian people for illegally entering their waters, a claim which the troops continue to deny. Leading Seaman Faye Turney was the service member most often exploited by the Iranians on television. She was forced to wear Muslim style clothing and there were letters supposedly written by her released by the Iranians. Turney was held in solitary confinement. At one point she told that the other troops had gone home and that she was alone.

We must not lose sight of the fact that while the media was debating international relations and the price of gas and while the diplomats were meeting behind closed doors, there were fifteen service members suffering in illegal captivity. There are some in the military who have come forward to criticize the British troops for appearing to cooperate with their Iranian captors. But others have applauded the troops for acting with dignity.

There is no excuse for anyone to criticize these service members for what they did. The criticism should be directed at the governments who created this situation. Iran callously used foreign troops for a political agenda. That cannot be forgotten. Great Britain allowed their troops to be abused for nearly two weeks because the country feared a military conflict. Those are the men who deserve criticism. Those are the men who acted in cowardice and disgrace.