is it distasteful to point out that these people are under "psychological pressure" now? perhaps these giant states with their overwhelming deadly force should stop propping these saps in front of tv cameras and operating their mouths as though they were muppets. as they arrived in england "they" issued a statement about this and that obviously composed by some british bureaucrat assigned to the task. for a "statement" "written" "by" fifteen people, however, it was touching in its sincerity. for the most part when they appeared today they read statements. i think it's fair to say that, at an absolute minimum, these had been vetted and edited by the british authorities.

today:

In a prepared joint statement that Air and Carman took turns reading at the start of the news conference, the six sailors and marines said two Iranian speedboats initially approached the group after it had inspected a ship on March 23 in Iraqi waters just south of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that forms part of the border between Iran and Iraq.

yesterday:

"It goes without saying that we are extremely happy to be back home in the U.K. and reunited with our loved ones," the group said in a joint release read to reporters by Lt. Col. Andy Price, a marine spokesman. "The welcome home we've enjoyed today is one none of us will ever forget. . . . We wish to thank everyone for their thoughts, kind words and prayers."

it's a hard job for fifteen people to write a statement. but with diligent hard compositional work they've managed to imitate both the form and content of official british propaganda, while at the same time expressing their deepest, most personal feelings.