Hang on, why are some calling them heroes? They were spies intent on destabalising a Government??? Well done on their survival for that long, but HEROES?

Jeff, Manchester,

Proud of these men,, My generation type,,recently the example the Brits set,, is not one I would encourage!!,,
as far as the Muslims are concerned,, put a bounty on them,, I am retired mil. and SS isnt enough,, this would be a good supplement!!

ww, Fairfield, USA, Idaho

I agree with John in London. Wake up. America is a safe and sane ally. Mans gotta do what a mans gotta do, and yup I got my Levis on. Lets stop this phoney anti american stance that the media would have us believe is a reality, its not. Fashionable would be a better word. Usa saved our ass many atime.
Who yah gonna call....ghostbusters? nato?
Long distance information give me memphis tennessee, oh sorry, I mean The Whitehouse.

kenny, hove,

Don't forget WHY they were there at all, in an operation that was supposed to help take down a government the US didn't approve of - after all, you won't see them doing an Iraq in any hurry now. Is it me or does any country not quite measuring up to the US gov's expectancy get this kind of treatment? Considering the fact they are free, they have been let off lightly. Had they done this in the US, they'd have no doubt been executed and it's not like the Chinese are known for their hospitality towards US terrorists.

Being a European, I find it laughable to read Kbob's comments about us and the US being the only super power left... Take a good look again outside your country. If you think a superpower is the sole right to damage another country without retribution, or to bomb us all back to the Stone Age, thank God you are the only super power left in that respect. All hail the biggest bullies on the planet!

ChrisP, Norwich, UK

I cannot read and take seriously any article which contains the word "peninsular" when the author meant to say "peninsula". Just because you Brits pronounce the word incorrectly doesn't mean you have to spell it incorrectly too! Come on, Times, where are your editors? This is not good enough!

Oonagh, Hong Kong,

I personally dont give a hoot about those islamic fundimentalists in Guantanamo Bay! All the bleeding hearts that worry about their poor souls are the biggest bunch of HYPPOCRITS! They think they speak for everyone but they most certainly do not. I wonder what they would do if these terrorists were released only to be allowed to move next door to them??? You couldnt pay to see the reaction on their faces to that one! They niavely think that men twiddle their evil mustaches all day long just looking for innocent victims to be whisked away and tortured. I mean...come off it! Seriously, why would the most powerful spy agencies in the world waste their time effort and resouruces to just to randomly pick up innocent "johnny muslim". Wake up!
At least these men had the dignity not to sell their stories off to the tabloids! The minute they got home.

John, london,

I get so fed up reading posts by Europeans that seem to forget that America is the only world power left. They also seem to forget that America bailed them out twice at considerable cost in lives and money. They also seem hell bent on becoming dhimmi's as they don't seem to understand or they are unwilling to realize the problem with Islamifacism. To equate what these men went through with the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay is absurd and shows the morale equivalcy argument at it's worst. It won't be to long before the U.K. and Europe are taken over by the Muslims since the average citizen doesn't have the sense to realize what is at stake. Many in America are as clueless as their anti-American brethren overseas. Oh well, these men were selfless and patriots that is more than can be said about too many left leaning idiots in Europe, England and America.

Kbob, Colroado Springs, USA - Colorado

I am sorry to say, but as a lover of the américan dream, today with the bunch of gangsters that is running the country, even the talibans looks like choirs boys.
Why should we believe what it is officialy said, when time after time it has been proven to be lies, the tonkin affair to justifie the Vietnam War, the ordeals the Chilians had to endure because of Copper and Kennecot. The thousends of dead in Ikak because WMD.

They should asked to pay for the all the damages caused, rebulding the country, compensation, refugiees, etc... I am ashamed for them, they are so naive, maybe they still believed in Father Chrismas.

Roduit Pascal, 1953 Vétroz , Suisse

I fail to understand the necessity felt by some commentators here to conflate Guantanamo Bay and the US's current anti-terror efforts with the events in this story. This is esentially a piece devoid of any value judgement on any of the belligerents, Chinese or Amercian, apart from commending in a small way the two prisoners with a certain dignity following their release. It does not make any judgement on the political whims of any of the parties; there is no mention of China's appalling human rights record nor of American hegemonic desires. Why do some people have a such a perversion in their personal agendas that they feel the need to criticise current Amercian foreign policy, given the slightest excuse?
As for Colin Hussey's apparant dismay regarding his odd belief that the British armed forces are lacking courage, he need not worry. His statement is a gross generalisation and breathtakingly ignorant and really requires no further rebuttal.

Stephen, Cardiff,

These men stayed true to their oaths as long as physically/mentally possible and refused, when it would have otherwise quite easy, to profit economically from their sordid experience. Why? Diginity and a sense of duty. Hats off to them for they are an example of appropriate behavior under intolerable circumstances.

Mario, Miami, FL US

How very absurd to compare the British group in Iran to these two in China. It's true that the Brits had a scary time and didn't know how it would end, but they knew the case would be publicized and that their country would do all to get them back. They were not undercover agents on a secret and provocative mission far inside the country, after all.

Solitary for many years, shown no respect at all, interrogated repeatedly for 24 hours at a time probably in broken English -- it sounds like Downey and Fecteau must have a very good understanding of how the prisoners at Guantanamo feel today.

What China did is far more understandable than what the USA is doing. For shame, America!

Nina, Bergen, Norway

If a muslim country or China sent 'secret agents' to the US with ambitions to destablise the government using guerilla tactics would they not be labelled as terrorists, throw in a secret prison before probably being sentenced to death?

What the article essentially does is make China sound like the villian when in fact they essentially gave the men magazines and books to read and fed them with rice which, despite being 'magotty' was probably the average diet for many poor Chinese. Did they expect gourmet meals?

What happened to the captured Chinese American spies?

Howard, Cambridge, UK

In these cases I`ve read with interest that some people are quite ignorant to the differences between physical torture & mental torture. Although the techniques do differ, the results are usually the same. The effects of mental torture are harder to prove. Fear & uncertainty do achieve as much as actual violence for the people prepared to resort to such measures & the victims of torture are not always prisoners of war either. Just because there`s no physical disfigurement doesn`t mean there was no suffering.

M. Burkinshaw, Gran Canaria, Spain

You cannot compare the plights of these two majestically resolute men, with that of the British forces recently. Those two were released over 30 years ago, before Youtube, reality TV or the internet. The world was in a completely different place and The Cold War stopped these types of stories getting out.

We live in a new age now, one with greater freedom of information .

Justin, Wuhan, China

Steve E. Kiba, in his book 'The Flag: Kidnapped by Red China', relates his and his B-29 crew's three week confinment with Fecteau and Downey during their show trails. During debriefing after their release in August 1955 they were told to "... keep our mouths shut."; to "... forget these two men and the whole touchy mess."

His conclusion was that the US government and the CIA "... didn't give a damn about us repatriates either."

That's a fairly accurate assessment of the government's attitude toward any POW/MIA ever since WWII.

H. Short, Boise,

Excuse me Colm Hussey (below), but our servicemen *were* tortured in Iran .... maybe they weren't physically harmed, but they were apparently led to believe they were to be executed by a firing squad on at least one occasion (blindfolded and could hear cocking of weapons). I'd like to see how you (or indeed I) would react in that situation.

Also, those servicemen and woman in Iran did what any of us would do to survive capture (RE admitting 'guilt' in front of cameras)- short of giving away classified information.

So I fail to see how their lack of courage can dismay you-- please tell me what would you have done?

James McInerney, Camberwell,

Marvelous story. If you want to have fun, imagine two prominent political figures of today, say Al Gore and John Kerry, in a similar situation. (Kerry, after all, did claim to have participated in a CIA mission into Cambodia.)

Gore would probably bore his captors so much, they'd plead with us to take him back. Kerry, one suspects, would be eager to make propaganda films claiming the behavior of the US was "reminiscent of Ghengis Khan," clueless to the fact that in Mongolia that was a compliment.

This two resourceful CIA men, members of the Greatest Generation, are much more impressive than our self-infatuated Baby Boomers. We will miss them.

Mike Perry, Seattle, WAshington, USA

What about Guantánamo Bay?

Jens, Oslo, Norway

So 2 spies illegally entered a country trying to bring down the government in charge? I'm sure if this was the other way around the US would have executed the men. They were jailed for commiting a crime for their government. Many people have also commited crimes for their country, for example many Germans during the war. Before someone says well people died during the war, do you think America expected a bloodless coup if regime change occured?

Robert, London,

I have great admiration for the way these two men behaved, no selling of stories within seconds of their respective releases.
The British service personnel who were captured by the Iranians should take a page out of their book.
I was dismayed that courage seems to be lacking in our armed services at the moment. Our service personnel were not tortured in Iran, they were held for only two weeks, and seemed to be only too happy to please the Iranian regime in their propaganda quest.

Colm Hussey, London, London

So many years,their best times were in jail,the pity to their
life.They were just two of the world spies in jail,what had
heppened for others?

Garry, Chengdu, China

an amazing story of courage under duress.their later lives after release is admirable too.their rehabilitation on return from china is a good input too and their chronicles of survival should be compulsory reading, better still if they are employed as professors in the us and conduct lessons on survival in hostile regimes for the next generation. Democracies have to band together and impart SWOT survival techniques in our war against teerorist states.

devindra sethi, new delhi, india

What an ordeal for the two men, who maintained their self-respect and did not shirk their duty to their country in difficult and trying times. And obviously they kept their sense of humor and their Will to keep on going. And they didn't sell their souls out to anyone -- including the press.

Wayne, Columbia, USA/SC

It is men and women who work in the shadows who keep this great Country of ours, free as it is. These two men are hero's for the way they remained faithful throughout their ordeal and throughout their life. Yes it is sad to read their story and the things they had to go through all of those years, but they kept the faith that oneday they would come home. Others would have sold their story and maybe made a movie, but the slience of these two men, speaks highly of their loyality to this Nation and their fellow CIA agents. By speaking out , others could have been hurt as well. We all owe our lives and freedom to these great men and women who risk their lives by going into places and countries to learn of things that could be happening or planning that might harm our Nation and way of life. I wonder how many of you out there would have been able to stay the course if you were in the shoes of these men and women who work in the Dark Shadows of Esponage? GOD bless all who work in the CIA!

Terry, Andrews, NC

In the same sentence that the men were undergoing "brutal" interrogation , it is clarified that they were never "physically tortured". Does it say something about the Chinese, that they are not as cruel as they are made out to be by the Western Media ? How does their behaviour compare to the "champions of democracy and human rights" in Abu Gharib and Guantanmo ? Sure these guys were spent time in jail but what do you expect the Chinese to do given the circumstances of their capture ?

J. Taylor, Bristol,

I wonder how many now are languishing in jails all over the world with their government being impotent in their ability to effect their release Just finished Terry Waite's book. A tragedy as all these incidents are.

Matthew, NY, USA