Life, Limb — and iPod
April 17, 2007
Tony Blair wanted to retaliate for the humiliation at the hands of Ahmadinejad, instead he has succeeded in subjecting the poor soldiers to the kind of psychological torture that he claims they received in the hands of the Iranians. The lame tale his spindoctors prepared for the marines to read out has only opened them up for ridicule, perhaps for the rest of their lives. [Thanks Dave]
He claimed his Iranian captors called him Mr Bean, flicked the back of his neck with their forefingers and thumb and forced him to wear a fake Hugo Boss shirt.
Yesterday, 20-year-old operator maintainer Arthur Batchelor may have begun to rue selling his story to the Daily Mirror - at least, if he has seen two unofficial forces websites, the Rum Ration and the British Army Rumour Service.
Frequented by serving and former military personnel, they are throbbing with debate over the behaviour of the 15 members of the navy and Royal Marines abducted by Iran. All of them come in for criticism, but the greatest ire is reserved for Mr Batchelor and his colleague Leading Seaman Faye Turney.
One said of Ms Turney, who sold her tale to the Sun: “Made me squirm when she said in the Scum … ‘President of Iran gave me a toy doll for my daughter and am keeping it after the bomb disposal experts cleared it’ Believe me dear, the Iranians don’t need to get any more publicity from blowing up you or anyone else … you’re providing the publicity for them free!”
Another said: “Her shipmate [Batchelor] didn’t do the reputation of servicemen much good either! Being broken by being called Mr Bean FFS!!! - that must be on a par with Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition and the comfy cushions!”
Mr Batchelor comes in for particular contempt because he told the Daily Mirror of his misery at losing his iPod, which he says was stolen by the Iranians. “What I wish to know is why a young lad on a boarding party detail needed to take his iPod? If he listened to The Ride of the Valkyries as he sped towards the target ship, what did he listen to on his trip to Iran?” asks one Rum Ration poster.
The responses: “Crying, by Don McLean, perhaps?”; “The Beat Surrender, Always look on the bright side of life?”, “Onward Christian Soldiers?”.
A forum moderator said being called Mr Bean is a compliment. “Mr Bean, as I’ve just been reliably informed, is to Iranians what Norman Wisdom was to Albanians. A seriously fanatical (ho-ho) following.”
As far as most users of the sites are concerned, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has won the public relations battle hands down. The episode also continued to cause discomfort in Downing Street yesterday, when Number 10 tried to cover up the extent to which the prime minister had been informed - either by the defence secretary, Des Browne, or senior naval officials - of the disastrous plan to allow the naval personnel to sell their stories to the media.
April 17, 2007 at 2:24 pm
a fake Hugo Boss shirt - that is hilarious! What a humiliation. I heard Faye Turney got £140,000 for her story. That should lessen the pain of ridicule. If I were her I’d send Ahmadinejad a thank you note and a box of chocolates, leave the Army and go on holiday. Maybe she can get on the next Celbrity Big Brother.
April 17, 2007 at 3:15 pm
yeah, I never thought of Big Brother. Being incarcerated, confused and mildly (if comically) humiliated on TV for a few weeks, before coming out to instant (if transient) celebrity and unmerited fortune… our soldiers’ treatment surely proves that modern Iranian culture is closer to our own than we may have suspected.
April 17, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Insightful,Dave…..I like that one re-Iranian culture being like our Western culture in its Warhol 5 mins Fame syndrome.
The country has been demonised in the West since it overthrew the Shah.I heard Malcolm Rifkind yesterday berating Anne(Clueless)Clwyd for defending Des Browne when he had allowed British marines to be humiliated by a bunch of Iranian “revolutionaries.”As if there’s something intrinsically wrong with being a revolutionary.
I think Dave’s judgement is more astute than Rifkind’s(’fraid that’s not saying much,mate) in that US intelligence sources see Iran as modern,Westernized,pro-Western,often pro-US and certainly no threat to America.
Thus US claims re-not having anything against Iranians per se,rather desiring regime change whereby a Western-friendly govt.is installed have some justification.Though personally I think a Western friendly regime is more likely when Iranian nuclear aspirations are fulfilled.Only then will Iran be treated with the respect she deserves.And a US friendly regime is probably only feasible when the US detaches itself fom the Israeli albatross hanging around its neck.
And Blair,or “Teflon Tony” as some were brainwashed into believing he was? Yea,it’s official now.He’s more pathetic than any of us ever imagined and our national PR humiliation at the hands of Iran proves it.He’s made an utter arse of himself.
The stuff in Scotland last week has probably sent SNP electoral expectations sky-rocketing.Blair’s a liability.
On yer bike Bliar!Go on the US lecture circuit then go and meet your maker and rot there in Hell where you belong.
Let’s hope his last photo-shoot is with the baboon in the White House.It will be a most fitting legacy.Two guys sharing the same brain cell!
April 17, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Kate,
Im pretty sure she is in the navy, hence the boats and its ‘President’ Ahmadinejad to you!
Raise your game
April 17, 2007 at 10:07 pm
cotf, as they say…!
April 25, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Theres an interesting video showing the British personnel looking pretty at home in Iran.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20070413&articleId=5375
You would think it would be impossible to behave in such a relaxed manner between torture sessions…
April 19, 2008 at 12:32 pm
[...] It transpires that the British sailors who bravely handled cruel Iranian treatment - which included name calling and being deprived of their iPods - were picked up in Iranian waters and were first to raise their weapons. God bless the Freedom [...]