ain't that the truth...
Posted on 08/20/2011 6:35:28 AM PDT by winoneforthegipper
Two American hikers who were detained in Iran have been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of "illegal entry" and "espionage," the state TV website says.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
They have a mission at the U.N.
Those "many people" fly into Iran's international airports, pass customs inspection and have their passports stamped. Crossing a border in mountains is far from that. Of course the kids say they didn't cross the border... how do they know where the border is, if it is not clearly marked? Any border board who wants a promotion and a bonus pay can venture into Iraq and grab a foreigner.
My guess, though, tells me that those students were dangerously close to the border. Iranian guards wouldn't go a mile deep into Iraq, at least because there is no reason to do that. They can't capture Iraqi goat herders (pointless) and they can't randomly hope that some Americans will suddenly show up at a certain point on Iraqi land. The guards were probably near the border, and they saw the students, and they arrested them. Perhaps it was within 100 yards of the border, either side - doesn't matter. You don't want to approach that border so close.
we have the right to travel to other friendly countries - including an Iraq we've spent billions to liberate
Spending money on liberation of Iraq hasn't made it friendly. Remember that the liberation required shooting and killing a bunch of Iraqis; they had families, and those families are not enamored with the USA anymore. Likely more Iraqis hate the USA today than they did ten or twenty years ago.
I don’t think anyone’s suggested we ‘go rescue them.’
How would you characterize the approval of Iran's actions, the 'they got what they deserved' remarks?
"These ‘young kids’ made their bed and now they can sleep in it."
Again, that's a statement of approval.
"I’d feel sorry for them if they were there supporting a charity or actually helping people. No, they were there for a vacation."
Not exactly, they were all working and living abroad. In any case, because they weren't doing something you approve of - like charity work - you have no compassion for them? You think they deserve 8 years in an Iranian jail for hiking?
Says every brave American who came before you and every American leader who has fought to ensure the safety of our citizens from Shangai to Tripoli and back again. Thomas Jefferson did so when he fought against the Barbary Pirates, because Americans should be able to sail the seas without fear or need of ransom; James Madison did so when he fought a war againt Great Britain so that American citizens and sailors would not be abducted on the high seas and forced to serve in a foreign navy, and Bush did so when he attacked Somali pirates harrassing our merchant and private ships. Attacks and injustices perpetrated on Americans abroad have always been met with robust action, whether our citizens be sailing on ships in war zones like the Lusitania or stuck in unfriendly places like Grenada. You may be fearful, but there are tens of thousands of Americans all across this globe, and our citizens are one of two things - proud members of a strong nation that are free to travel as their conscience and the laws of other nations permit, or fearful targets for brigands and theives who know they can attack Americans with impunity. Think about it.
I have traveled all around the world, including to one of the spots you mentioned. I was never fearful for a moment. Part of what governments do is protect the interests of their citizens, whether at home or abroad. America has always fought to make sure we are respected in the world. We can either be, as a people, free to travel as we will, according to our God given rights to the pursuit of happiness, or we can be cowards who are disrespected, targeted with impunity, and forced to cower at home. No thanks. America has always taken the former option, and always made sure our people were respected and protected at home and abroad.
"At some point common sense has to kick in, which these two people have zero of."
I don't disagree that they did something foolish, only that their mere presence in Iraq, did not in any way give neighboring Iran the right to abduct, mistreat and illegally imprison them.
Well, unless said woman was strung up by the government of Iraq, who did so because she was an American, it misses my point.
No, it's Iraq they were visiting, not Iran. This has nothing to do with flying into Tehran; the Iranian government - the one who claims the Jews should be annihilated, claims the apocolyptic return of the 12th imam is imminent, claims they don't have a nuclear weapons program, etc., also claims these hikers are spies who crossed their border illegally to spy for America. It's absurd. Stop focusing on their distance from a likely unmarked border and start focusing on their 5 year conviction for espionage. Totally fabricated.
"Spending money on liberation of Iraq hasn't made it friendly. Remember that the liberation required shooting and killing a bunch of Iraqis; they had families, and those families are not enamored with the USA anymore. Likely more Iraqis hate the USA today than they did ten or twenty years ago.
I'm aware that there are unfriendly Iraqi citizens. My point was about the government, which is not regarded as a hostile regime, like Iran. Moreover, the atonomous Kurdish region may be the most pro-American spot in the entire Muslim world, and one of the most pro-American in all the world from the reports of all who have been there.
Oh nonsense, comparing military engagements to these three twits going for a walk is truly laughable.
Three Berkley communists are not modern day Madisons. what a joke
I must say I love Iran’s illegal alien policy. I think we should adopt that policy over here in the U.S. under the new administration come 1/20/13!
Parents don’t teach or discipline anymore. . .they “free range.”
Bismarck was old, occassionally he got confused. You tell Hessians from Pomeranians by the buttons on their sleeves.
They might as well have been lily white blonde kids who decide to meet up at the nearest “flash mob” thinking that their “we’re down with you brotha; stick it to the man” wannabe attitude will save them.
They need a mandatory class called “Common Sense 101” at all schools.
ain't that the truth...
Why are there so many here who buy Big Media’s version of the story?
"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself."
- Thomas Paine
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."
- Abraham Lincoln
Are their any credible sources with another side of the story? Iran’s record is such that you can pretty much bet on the opposite of what they report.
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