If in US military, did she break rules?

[Billnew]

If no torture or intimidation,
would her written statements and verbal announcment
be illegal under UCMJ?

The video showed a letter, said to have been written by Leading Seaman Turney, who is from Shrewsbury, to her parents, in which she admitted that the navy personnel had "apparently" crossed into Iranian waters.



"I wish we hadn't because then I would be home with you right now," the letter said. BBC security correspondent

She appologizes for crimes she did not do, or knowingly do. And if they go on trial her words will be evidence of their guilt. (could not find the part where she says she has already written a letter to appologize to the Iranian people.)

 

[BoazB]

Sorry, I can't give much of an answer, but this is not the first time. Recently there was an incident where a patrol of Royal Marines on a rubber boat were captured, charged with going into Iranian waters. I doubt it. I think the it is just an attempt to scare the living day lights out of them. They probably were seriously coerced. I think these guys need our prayers, as their captors seem to be loose cannons.

 

[Gunny]

I think the it is just an attempt to scare the living day lights out of them. They probably were seriously coerced. I think these guys need our prayers, as their captors seem to be loose cannons.

and

 

[Billnew]

Today we have one of the men appologizing for
entering Irans waters.
The prisoners look like they are being treated well.
No signs of injuries, they look well rested.

They don't look like people that are being threatened or
beaten.
They actually look well, for having Iranian protestors calling for the executions of these prisoners. I wonder if the protests are being staged, somewhere other then where the prisoners are.

They could be getting fabricated information showing them in Iranian waters. The weird part would be that the leader of the ship wasn't the first to appologize.

 

[BoazB]

What I've heard so far is that the Iranians gave two different coordinates as to where they found them - one inside Iranian waters, the other outside Iranian waters.

Question is, why give two, and why give one outside Iranian waters? The British Forces disagree with both coordinates given.

Another thought is that IF coerced, the Iranians will try to make them look as healthy and uncoerced as ever. Bluntly put: If the prisoners are wearing their whites, the Iranians won't film them in camoflage!

 

[Ponderer]

I think that one thing about these "Video Confessions" provided by the Iranians is rather telling. So far we have seen two of these and both came from relatively junior sailors among the party.

So far no such video confessions have been provided by any officers, petty officers or senior NCOs and none from any of the Royal Marines in the group. The latest vido clip may show a guy wearing desert gear but if you look on his shirt it says Royal Navy.

This would suggest that the Iranians have beeen using some pressure (though probably not physical violence) to obtain these videos. They have singled out those among the group who they feel are most likely to cooperate.

RAF aircrew along with Army and especially Marines and other Special Forces are trained in what to do in the event of capture along with resistence to interrogation techniques. This however is generally not true for the Royal Navy. Since 1945 the idea that they might actually be taken prisoner by an enemy would have been low down their priority list. This is largely because the only sort of war they envisaged getting involved in was a fight in the North Atlantic against the Soviet Navy. In such a war if your ship was sunk then either you would die or be rescued by your own side but it would have been a rare event to be picked up by a Soviet nuclear sub. Therefore I suspect training for such an event as this has been low down the Navy's priority list below such things as damage control and firefighting aboard ship.

I think it is for this reason that Iranians have only managed so far to obtain confessions from the members of the group who are either younger and more impressionable or less well trained and self disciplined to resist. At the moment I expect all the Royal Marines in the party are being coldly polite but nonetheless strictly uncooperative. If they too start to appear on camera this way then I will seriously start to wonder at the standards of training in use today.

 

[BoazB]

I think that one thing about these "Video Confessions" provided by the Iranians is rather telling. So far we have seen two of these and both came from relatively junior sailors among the party.

So far no such video confessions have been provided by any officers, petty officers or senior NCOs and none from any of the Royal Marines in the group. The latest vido clip may show a guy wearing desert gear but if you look on his shirt it says Royal Navy.

This would suggest that the Iranians have beeen using some pressure (though probably not physical violence) to obtain these videos. They have singled out those among the group who they feel are most likely to cooperate.

RAF aircrew along with Army and especially Marines and other Special Forces are trained in what to do in the event of capture along with resistence to interrogation techniques. This however is generally not true for the Royal Navy. Since 1945 the idea that they might actually be taken prisoner by an enemy would have been low down their priority list. This is largely because the only sort of war they envisaged getting involved in was a fight in the North Atlantic against the Soviet Navy. In such a war if your ship was sunk then either you would die or be rescued by your own side but it would have been a rare event to be picked up by a Soviet nuclear sub. Therefore I suspect training for such an event as this has been low down the Navy's priority list below such things as damage control and firefighting aboard ship.

I think it is for this reason that Iranians have only managed so far to obtain confessions from the members of the group who are either younger and more impressionable or less well trained and self disciplined to resist. At the moment I expect all the Royal Marines in the party are being coldly polite but nonetheless strictly uncooperative. If they too start to appear on camera this way then I will seriously start to wonder at the standards of training in use today.

Thanks Ponderer. That makes a lot of sense.

 

[Chilufya]

There are plenty of ways to physically coerce someone without leaving a mark. Don't discount that. A little bit of physical coercion combined with the mental fear of much worse coercion to come will make most people eager to say whatever is desired to make it stop.