Former U.S. military officer says UK troops should be court-martialed

Azerbaijan News.Net
Saturday 7th April, 2007

A Fox News military analyst says the fifteen British sailors, and marines, captured and detained by Iran for 14 days, should be court-martialed.

Ralph Peters, a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, novelist and essayist, who regularly comments for Fox News, was speaking to Neil Cavuto on Fox News' Your World.

Peters said the men and one woman who were taken by Iran and released on Thursday after two weeks in captivity, should be court-martialed. He said this should apply particularly to the two officers.

Lt. Col. Peters said he doubted this would happen but foreshadowed the officers, "would be phased out of the service."

"Real officers don't make excuses," he said. "They specified they were not tortured. They were in isolation a couple of days. I've had girl friends treat me worse than that."

"Doing propaganda videos for the enemy is a real failure of leadership," Peters said. "A U.S. servicemember would not accept a goodwill bag nor thank the president of Iran for their release," said the former Lieutenant-Colonel. "They betrayed their country," he added.

Hours earlier on Friday, Captain Christopher Air of Britain's Royal Marines, defended his team's actions.

"Let me be absolutely clear, from the outset it was very apparent that fighting back was simply not an option. Had we chosen to do so then many of us would not be standing here today. Of that I have no doubts," he said.

"The Iranian Navy did not turn up lightly armed; they came with intent, heavy weapons, and very quickly surrounded us. We were equipped, armed and had rules of engagement for boarding operations within Iraqi waters. We were not prepared to fight a heavily armed force who it is our impression came out deliberately into Iraqi waters to take us prisoner. Reasoning with the Iranians was our only option. We tried. We did our utmost to de-escalate the situation, but our words fell on deaf ears. They had come with a clear purpose and were never going to leave without us," the Royal Marines captain said.

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