I Was Wrong...

On Saturday, I commented on how I thought the released sailors had comported themselves with dignity following their release from Iran but it seems I was premature.

I shared the incredulity of many, especially in the conservative blogsphere, about the decision of the Royal Navy to allow the fifteen former detainees to sell their stories to the media. A flavour of how conservatives have viewed about this can be seen here:

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/2007/04/liam_fox_questi.html

I strongly suspect, however, that depite all this indignation, the sales of the Sun and the Mirror weren't that affected this morning as natural curiousity among people as to what really happened to the sailors while in Iranian hands would have overcome any moral scruples.

There's not a lot I want to add - if this was a political decision taken by Des Browne, he should resign. If the decision was taken by senior officers in the Royal Navy, they too need to be held accountable for this. One can only imagine the effect this will have in the Armed Forces.

One positive about this is that it may be the catalyst for the serious and long-overdue review of how the Armed Forces operate and their position relative to the rest of society.