It doesn't sound to me like anyone knows what actually happened.
Rushing to judgement without a compelling reason to do so is wrong.
Well I know one thing that happened. The Officer in Charge of that two boat detachment gave an apology the the Iranians in less than 24 hours in captivity and his face looked unmarked. As an ex Naval Officer I find that disappointing.
I flew 153 combat missions in North Viet Nam many of my squadron mates were shot down and captured. Those who returned reported to me that eventually the captors can beat you down to the point that you'll confess to just about anything. Sometimes you have good days and refuse to tell them anything as they beat you into unconsciousness and on your bad days all the inquisitor has to do is raise his arm and you'll say anything. I was told that this eventually happened to everyone; nevertheless, nearly every POW did his very best under unbelievably harsh circumstances, most of them resisted over many many years. And even after hitting rock bottom, these men bounced back with the help of their follow POWs and kept fighting in their own way.
Some died because they resisted on their particularly strong day at the same time their captors also refused to relent. They were simply beaten to death. God bless them.
So, in and of itself, making a confession or making a forced statement isn't problematic under certain circumstances as far as I'm concerned. Many Viet Nam POWs were forced to participate in propaganda films, but they looked like Hell in the films.
In contrast, the officer captured by the Iranians didn't appear to offer any resistance at all. I would like to think that the Naval Officers of my day, including me, would be seen on TV making an apology to the Iranians only after looking like we'd done 15 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Of course the Navy of my day didn't suffer under the command of a spineless narcissist like Barack Hussein Obama and, unlike the modern Navy, our senior leaders weren't boot licking sycophants. So perhaps young men like the so-called leader of this boat detachment can be forgiven for being an embarrassment to the Navy, to his country, and even to his gender. Why should the young men of America man-up and do the right thing when nobody in charge seems to be doing the right thing?
This country desperately needs a leader and we need him pretty soon. Hint: Our leadership void isn't going to be filled by a half-asleep brain surgeon or a Canadian lawyer.