April 6, 2007

Now that the British hostages have been released by Iran, there is debate in the U.K. about whether the hostages behaved properly. Some say they should be court martialed for failing to resist the enemy and appearing on television, willingly saying what they were told.

They may be thrilled to be home and back with their families, but you can be sure Iran has used the video of their platitudes about being well-treated and apologizing to the people of Iran to strengthen its own hand as well as humiliate Britain.

All of the bowing and hand-shaking before the Iranian president, as well as his lectures about believing in Mohammad should have been intolerable and would have been in another era. But in today’s feel-good, pleasure-oriented world, all that matters is how the west feels about everything and not the price that must be paid for freedom.

Wearing Iranian clothes, these sailors and marines who are trained for war looked weak. They might have been members of an appeasement group rather than soldiers and sailors. What did Britain and the U.S. give up for them? We may never know, but this incident should be fully investigated.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.