Can I remind you that President Bush said in a letter to the Chinese that he was "sorry" so that he could get the airmen held by China for 13 days, released.
http://tinyurl.com/2yp6w2
Please don't, LOL.
That's a good point but, in that case, we had landed on Chinese soil so some diplomacy was in order.
Save for the BBC, the UN and Rosie O'Donnell, no one is in any doubt that the Brits were seized outside of Iran, which makes it no different than if they were seized on the English Channel.