Iran - Simply a payback of our Investment
I struggle somewhat with the theatrical outrage expressed here along with the accusations of disloyalty or lack of integrity by these individuals. They were simply a small interlude in a long running act of international deceit and moral bankruptcy by this Government. They were captured and treated a lot less cruelly or randomly than we have done so, or aided and abetted others to do so, in that masterful brush stroke of all-encompassing guilt currently known as "The Global War on Terror", and unlike hundreds of others, they have at least been released by the Iranians. We stomp around the Globe like it was 1856 all over again and act all surprised when someone takes issue with that. Apparently we are now just learning that behaving like despots, or more accurately, aligning ourselves with people that do, may indeed have consequences for our moral standing in the world.
Other poster have alluded to the "shoddy" conduct after capture of these individuals and drawn parallels with WWII POW's. That parallel is both hugely insulting and disingenuous. Those earlier personnel were not representing an opportunistic spin-artist and his megalomaniac buddies in the USA, they never questioned the legality of why they were in a theater of operations, they always knew their actions were rightful and virtuous. By comparison, the recent guests of Mr Ahmadinejad were stopping internationally flagged vessels in an area where the boundaries had many, many, years of documented vagueness and opacity; supporting the actions of 2 Western Powers (save your breath even mentioning ''coalition") who are desperately trying to halt a civil war ignited and fomented by their own actions, adjacent to a country that has had its history altered forever by the actions of those same 2 Western Powers.
Why would you assume the moral high ground and righteous indignation if you were one of those 15 personnel? You are nothing but the agent of war-mongers and international bullying. They should spend every penny of their windfalls with a clear conscience and consider it a fair price for being a mercenary of those who would profit from delivering global misery while claiming to be fighting "The Global War on Terror".
There is indeed much shame from this episode, and it can all be traced right back to Tony and his Special Relationship.