Retraction

I criticized the captured British soldiers for sucking up to the Iranian government. My assumption was that their statements must have been voluntary, because the Iranian government would not be stupid enough to torture British subjects. It turns out that I was wrong.

The soldiers were apparently subjected to a mock execution, where they were tied to a wall and blindfolded, while soldiers cocked weapons behind them. Here's how Joe Tindell, a marine, described it:

"We had a blindfold and plastic cuffs, hands behind our backs, heads against the wall...there were weapons cocking," Tindell told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "Someone said, I quote, 'Lads, lads I think we're going to get executed'...someone was sick and as far as I was concerned he had just had his throat cut."

There's a limit to the physical or psychological torture that anyone can take; confessing under such circumstances is no crime. There's also, hopefully, a limit to the West's gullibility about the Iranian government's aims. Hopefully, this will teach our leaders to take what Iran says about valuing "peaceful" nuclear power or "stability" in Lebanon with a grain of salt.