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Undignified and squalid

Three weeks ago, when Iran detained 15 British navy personnel for violating its territorial waters, Prime Minister Tony Blair was able to get even his critics to rally round the flag by whipping up nationalistic sentiment. Now, with the `hostages' back home, the national mood has turned against the Blair government amid accusations that it attempted to use the crew to wage a propaganda war against Iran. This follows the Ministry of Defence's bizarre decision to permit them to sell their stories to the media. The `stories' of course are a euphemism for their self-serving accounts of their two-week captivity. Because their versions reinforced the British-American efforts to demonise Tehran, London wanted the world to hear them while pretending that these were independent voices. After reading the accounts of Faye Turney and Arthur Batchelor, the two sailors who traded their tales for cash, it is not difficult to see why the MoD, whose natural instinct is to gag its personnel, plumped for their `right' to free speech on this occasion. Both parroted the official British claims that they were wrongly detained and ill-treated during their detention. Therefore it is not surprising that, as The Daily Telegraph reported, they were "actively encouraged" to hawk their stories though normally members of the armed forces are not allowed to do so. While Ms. Turney retailed her ordeal to The Sun and ITV in a reported six-figure deal, Mr. Batchelor sold his account to the Daily Mirror.

Defence Secretary Des Browne has been forced to reverse the squalid decision after it provoked outrage across the political spectrum. Even the Tories, who support Mr. Blair's hawkish attitude towards Iran, attacked MoD's action saying that it amounted to putting the sailors up for "auction" and "cheapening" the armed forces. "Serving members of armed forces have, in effect, been put up for auction in the most horribly undignified fashion, something that has not gone unnoticed overseas," shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said. Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, was also reported to be deeply unhappy. Faced with mounting criticism and unremittingly negative headlines, Mr. Browne has banned further media deals pending a review of the relevant rules. He admitted that the issue was not handled in a "satisfactory" way and that "we must learn from this." The question remains: would the sailors have been allowed even to whisper, let alone sell, their stories if they did not so dutifully echo the sarkari line?

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