<p>"Btw, where does your name come from? I've seen the screenname Zaphod a few times so I'm curious hehe."</p>
<p>Zaphod Beeblebrox is a fictional character in the various versions of the humorous science fiction story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.</p>
<p>I'm guessing that's where he got his name as that is the only Zaphod I've heard of. Great books by the way, I would highly recommend them.</p>
<p>Ahh thanks for that info like2bsailing =]</p>
<p>I have to agree with what Dean Barnett said, nice post RightofCentremom.</p>
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I'm guessing that's where he got his name as that is the only Zaphod I've heard of. Great books by the way, I would highly recommend them.
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<p>Correct in all respects. :)</p>
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A senior Iranian official has welcomed UK efforts to resolve the diplomatic crisis over 15 British marines and sailors held in Iranian custody.</p>
<p>Iran's parliament speaker Gholamali Haddadadel told an Iranian state broadcaster's Web site that British efforts to negotiate the detainees' release were "appropriate."</p>
<p>"The British are trying to solve the issue of their arrested soldiers with negotiations and this is appropriate action," Haddadadel was quoted as saying....
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran will pardon and set free 15 British sailors and marines being held in Iranian custody.</p>
<p>"I declare that the people of Iran and the government of Iran -- in full power to place on trial the military people -- to give amnesty and pardon to these 15 people and I announce their freedom and their return to the people of Britain," Ahmadinejad told a news conference....
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Iran would free the 15 detained British sailors and marines as a gift to the British people.</p>
<p>He pardoned the sailors and announced they would be released following a news conference at which he pinned a medal on the chest of the Iranian coast guard commander who intercepted the sailors and marines in the northern Gulf on March 23....
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<p>LONDON (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday issued a statement saying "we welcome" the announcement by Iran's president of the impending release of 15 British sailors and Marines.</p>
<p>"We welcome what the Iranian President has said about the release of our 15 service personnel," said the statement, issued through Blair's spokesman. "We are now establishing exactly what this means in terms of the manner and the timing of their release."</p>
<p>In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "President Bush also welcomes the news."</p>
<p>Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced amnesty for the British troops who were seized by Iranian forces on March 23 for allegedly straying into Iranian waters. Britain says the sailors and marines were well inside Iraqi waters.(Posted 9:51 a.m.)</p>
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that his government would release the 15 detained British sailors and marines on Wednesday as an Easter season gift to the British people.</p>
<p>The state news agency IRNA said the crew would leave Iran by plane on Thursday at 8 a.m. (0430 GMT). It cited an unidentified official saying “the formal procedure for the [sailors’] departure is now underway,” but did not elaborate....
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Fifteen British sailors and marines held captive for nearly two weeks left Iran early Thursday with sweets and souvenirs, a day after the announcement of their release defused a growing confrontation between the two countries.</p>
<p>The crew sat in business class on a British Airways flight that departed Mehrabad International Airport, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. They were expected to arrive in London around noon local time (7 a.m. Eastern time)....
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<p>Blair Expresses Concern Over Iranian Regime</p>
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British marines and sailors held captive for nearly two weeks in Iran landed back home in London this morning, touching down at Heathrow airport before being whisked away by military helicopters for a debriefing on their time in custody.</p>
<p>European and other television networks reported that the 14 men and one woman, whose March 23 capture in the Persian Gulf by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards triggered a tense diplomatic standoff, sipped champagne in their business class seats on the plane ride back, carrying gift bags given them on the way out of Tehran. Dressed again in military uniforms -- they had been wearing suits during the announcement of their release in Tehran yesterday -- the group stopped briefly before television cameras on the tarmac, then boarded the helicopters for a flight to a U.K. military base and a scheduled reunion with their families....
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday welcomed the return home of 15 British service members held captive in Iran for nearly two weeks, and reiterated that no diplomatic deals were done to secure their release.</p>
<p>Blair was speaking as a British Airways flight carrying the group, who were pardoned by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday, touched down at London's Heathrow Airport following a six-hour flight from Tehran....
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<p>Now that they're home I wonder if some of them are in bigger trouble than when they were captives of the Iranians?</p>
<p>WPSON2010 .. just curious .. why would you think the 15 have problems ahead now that they are back in the UK?</p>
<p>I would say that the behavior of some of the captives in front of the Iranian media was questionable.</p>
<p>According to an Army major I spoke to, when you are a captive of the enemy- you do what they tell you to do.</p>
<p>I would be interested to know why the lady Sailor said to the media that she and her crew were in Iranian waters.</p>
<p>"According to an Army major I spoke to, when you are a captive of the enemy- you do what they tell you to do."</p>
<p>Well, that's certainly possible and I'm no expert on the matter, especially when it comes to the British Navy. Or perhaps he was referring to what you do when you're being tortured. But in the absence of torture I don't think it extends to glad handing and mugging it up in front of the camera with your enemies, and apparently at least some of the captives didn't cave and escaped with their dignity intact.</p>
<p>What the Military Code of Conduct for U.S. forces says, among other things, is:</p>
<p>Article III </p>
<p>If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and to aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.</p>
<p>Article V </p>
<p>When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause. </p>
<p>Of course it can be argued that the MCJ doesn't apply because there was no war. But like I said, some of the actions of some of the captives may have been questionable, and I'll add here, perhaps completely unnecessary.</p>
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Of course it can be argued that the MCJ doesn't apply because there was no war.
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<p>It's not limited to war.</p>
<p>Even so, I am somewhat willing to allow for the fact that they were under some extreme duress (because I guarantee you that the Iranians don't give two rotten figs what the ACLU and Amnesty International think of torture or the threat of it). What REALLY has me galled is their apparent behavior AFTER being released. :mad:</p>
<p>Published in the Washington Times:</p>
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Fifteen British sailors and marines flew home after 13 days in Iranian captivity yesterday to a barrage of questions about their behavior while detained. </p>
<p>The 14 men and one woman, clad in ill-fitting civilian clothes and laden with bags full of CDs, candy and other gifts from their Iranian captors, flew out of Tehran aboard a British Airways jetliner and landed seven hours later in London en route to a marine base in southwest England....
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<p>** Iran put 'pyschological pressure' on British captives: officer **</p>
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Iran exerted "pyschological pressure" on 15 British naval personnel it held for 13 days, a top British officer said Friday as he defended their actions and a military inquiry started into the capture of the group.
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<p>STILL waiting for the howls of international protest, the demands that Imawhackjob be impeached, the calls that the Iranian Defense Minister be arrested and tried at the Hague as a war criminal, and the charges in the media by elected Iranian officials that the members of their military are in the same league as the Nazis....</p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>