Say Anything

The captured British soldiers were released from Iranian custody today. One of the big stories surrounding their capture has been their videotaped "confessions" in which they supposedly admitted that they had violated Iranian borders. Obviously, such confessions were a result of threats, whether implicit or explicit, from their Iranian captors. Even if they were never harmed physically, just the threat that they might placed on trial and face punishment according to Iranian law might well have been enough to compel them to cooperate in producing what were essentially propaganda videos.

This incident, though, raises interesting questions that we as Americans ought to be asking about the supposed "confessions" that have recently been made by al Qaeda prisoners currently held in Guantanamo Bay. Those prisoners have faced threats of harsh punishments, humiliating situations, and probably even torture. If we are so willing to excuse the "confessions" of the British soldiers, then how can we possibly accept any similar confession made by a prisoner of the US military?