UK Sailors Should They be Allowed to Sell Their Stories?

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My questions are do you think these UK sailors were mistreated and forced to make the Iranian TV statements? Do you think they were forced to come home carrying the "goodie bags" with them on their arrival in the UK? Do you think as current members of the military they have the right to sell their stories? UK Chief Regrets Sale of Detainee Tales LONDON (AP) - Britain's defense secretary said Wednesday he regrets the decision to allow sailors to sell their stories about their detention in Iran to media organizations. Des Browne said in a television interview that the original decision had been made by Royal Navy officials who were aware that news organizations were already offering large sums to the families of the detainees. The 15 sailors were searching a merchant ship in the Persian Gulf on March 23 when they were intercepted by Iranian vessels. Iran claimed the Britons had strayed into its territorial waters, a charge Britain denied. The sailors were freed last week by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Two detainees - Faye Turney and Arthur Batchelor - struck deals with newspapers that have published their accounts this week. Turney also appeared in a TV interview. Opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron called for a formal inquiry into the naval operation that ended with the detention of the crew."While these young people were still in detention in Iran, tens of thousands of pounds were being offered by newspapers and other parts of the media to their families in order to secure these stories," Browne said in the interview, which was broadcast by both Sky News and the British Broadcasting Corp."So the issue of payment for the stories was well in the minds of their families and indeed early in the minds of the young people once they were reunited with their families."Browne said Navy officials believed it was in the interest of the returning sailors to have the opportunity to tell their story to "counteract the propaganda that the Iranians were putting out."In a newspaper interview published Wednesday, Batchelor said he was embarrassed to be one of only two former detainees to have told his story for money."My understanding was that everyone would be giving interviews. I can see why they have done the U-turn but I would have rather been told beforehand," the Plymouth Herald quoted him as saying."If they had told me beforehand I wouldn't have done it. I felt like I had disappointed the whole Royal Navy because only two of us did them interviews."Browne declined to criticize the operations of the HMS Cornwall, the frigate which sent out the 15 sailors to inspect ships in the Gulf. He said thousands of such boardings had taken place in the past without any incident."I'm not in a position, and I hasten to add that that most of the commentators are not in a position, to second-guess the decisions of the commanders about how to carry out those operations," Browne said."As I said in earlier interviews, as a common part of military operations there is a constant learning process." http://story.news.ask.com//article/20070411/D8OEF4PO0.html Photo: Female UK Sailor