captured Britons had "confessed to illegal entry into Iran's waters."

The EU has told Iran to free fifteen British sailors who were captured after allegedly straying into Iranian waters near the Iraqi city of Basra.

"The presidency of the council of the European Union calls upon the Iranian Government to immediately release the 15 British seamen detained yesterday," Germany foreign ministry said in a statement

<snip>

Iran's Fars news agency said on Saturday that the sailors and marines had been taken to Tehran to explain their "aggressive action".

General Ali Reza Afshar, a senior Iranian military official, told an Iranian news agency on Saturday that the captured Britons had "confessed to illegal entry into Iran's waters."

"The said personnel are being interrogated and have confessed to aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran waters," Afshar was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2787B6ED-CA2F-4BF8-A198-48F7EB140D3E.htm

torture they went thru before they "confessed"

We would have to worry about that less.

it means Iran doesn't have to worry about them wrt the British?

Doesn't that make the US rather more important in international affairs than it really is?

In fact, my guess is that they're being treated quite will. Iran is not about to get into a shooting war over this. Odds are, the brits will be released within a few days, just as they were last time.

released---but not until Blair himself tells the world the truth.

and I can guarantee you that blair won't be telling the world that Britain is culpable. Whether they are or not is up for debate, but if you think that "fessing up" under these circumstances is meaningful, you're tacitly endorsing confession under very questionable circumstance. Just because I don't think they're harming these folks, doesn't mean that they don't legitimately feel threatened.

And isn't ANY captured suspect of ANYTHING under a leetle bit of duress for having been caught? But there is no EVIDENCE of APPLIED "duress".

Torture is not the same as duress. Duress exists by dint of the very nature of the situation.

I didn't change a word of my original response to you.

...against their will clarifies anything.

(Yes, I mean anyone ... pointing to our national shame at Guantanamo Bay)

Who knows, frankly, who cares? They'll do their propaganda either way. The important stuff lies elsewhere, like these people getting released safe and sound, which I imagine is what will happen.

My sincerest hope is for all to be safely released, as well.

In some situations, the fear of a prisoner for his or her safety, is dictated by the circumstance in which he/she is held. Who knows who's telling the truth? I don't and neither do you. You're convinced that the Iranians are. That may be so, but frankly their taking the brits prisoners is simply stupid. They would have been wiser to simply let them off with a strong warning and broadcast to the world that what the brits had done. Or held them for a day and then released them. This is hardly a swift move on the part of the Iranians.

Remember last summer when two British soldiers were stopped at a roadside checkpoint, dressed as Arabs, and killed an Iraqi policeman? I think they had bomb materials, too. They were busted out of prison (literally) when the Brits drove a tank through the wall. Of course, it was reported as "negotiations" by the Ministry of Defence, before they stopped commenting on it entirely.

On edit: It may have happened a year ago last summer.