The decision to let them sell their stories was wrong. However that decision was not the sailors' fault.

The stories clearly did not warrant the payouts but that does not in any way lessen the stress that those sailors suffered or the worry that their families had. You do not have to be tortured to suffer.

My view has always been that it was not appropriate to sell those stories. I also commented on another thread that if I had lost a loved one in Iraq then the selling of the stories would have sickened me. Other people's feelings should have been considered before this decision was taken and that does not appear to have happened.