Should the British Hostages Have Talked?

ByABC News
April 6, 2007, 3:14 PM

April 6, 2007 — -- U.S. troops are trained to avoid the kind of statements their British marine and navy counterparts made while in Iranian captivity this week, but the rules remain murky on the legality of uttering forced "confessions," U.S. military officials said Friday.

The British sailors and marines who publicly apologized to Iran for "apparently" entering Iranian waters -- which the British and American governments say their vessels did not do -- say they were coerced by their captors.

In a news conference in the United Kingdom today, the service members said they were under constant psychological pressure, kept in isolation and stripped naked.

Their statements would seem to violate Article V of the U.S. Military Code of Conduct, which states, "When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause."

The key phrase -- "to the utmost of my ability" -- allows room for debate, U.S. military officials say.

"This is a judgment call that you've got to make at the time," U.S. Army spokesman Col. Dan Baggio said of the British troops. "If their goal was to achieve freedom and they were quick to go back and recant what they said, obviously an American would do something similar. The bottom line is we try to adhere to Article V, but everyone is human."

Some American commanders, however, insist that making statements that go beyond name, rank and serial number, violates the code of conduct, Baggio added.

They note that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., did not confess despite two broken arms the Vietnamese never set after being captured during the Vietnam War. He was tortured with ropes that held his arms back, his teeth were broken and he suffered cracked ribs. He refused to accept an offer of early release from a North Vietnamese prison because his colleagues would not be released as well.