Posted on 01/09/2012 10:47:41 AM PST by Hunton Peck
I understand the sentiments. I also did see where the article talks about his heritage and ancencestry in Iran.
I have heartfelt sympathy for this guy and his family. But this is not a couple of thrill seeking hikers in the mountains. This is a US Marine in the midst of the worst of times to be an American in Iran, let alone an American soldier.
All covert CIA operatives have copious cover stories. It comes with the territory. I have to be reasonable, objective and logical. Either this was very poor judgment for this marine to go visiting his grandparents or he was caught and that was his cover story.
If I were recruiting agents for the CIA, I would only dream of finding someone with the capable skills that was from Iran, knew the country and customs and spoke the language perfectly.
Again, you have to ask, why would an active marine take leave time to sneak into Iran to see his Grandparents. He certainly didn't go in uniform.
I do keep open the possibility that the guy did just use horrible judgment and was naive to the fact that an American marine in Iran was a high risk recipe for disaster.
Considering all the mysterious nuclear research site explosions in Iran in the past several months, I hope we are somehow helping covertly to disrupt their weaponization of nuclear material. I can't discount the possibility that this marine was somehow part of the covert team that I hope is active in Iran for us. If so, he will be one of the un-named heroes that never gets recognized for the sacrifices he makes for us.
I do pray for his safe return home and hope the president does something to facilitate that.
And this is the statement at Dawkins' website:
"The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is to support scientific education, critical thinking and evidence-based understanding of the natural world in the quest to overcome religious fundamentalism, superstition, intolerance and suffering."
http://richarddawkins.net/
No offense, I was wondering if your post was intended to be sarcastic.
I've had friends who've wanted to visit China but were unable because they were former US military (their visa requests were denied). Granted this was over 15 years ago, but based on entry requirements of many countries considered "less-than-friendly" to the United States, I agree with your reasoning and tend to lean more towards your second hypothesis.
No. My post was to convey information that might be of interest. Whether true or not, it is always a good idea to question anything we hear or read and if nothing else, the questions raised by Richard B. Dawkins' post are a good reminder.
I do not know Richard B. Dawkins; he is just an anonymous internet poster. Do you? How do you know the website you found is related to the poster I quoted? Did you go to the facebook link and read it?
I did follow your link, but could not find any reference to Richard B. Dawkins, so I googled "Ulsterman Report and Richard B. Dawkins" from a copy and paste of your text.
I'm not being antagonistic towards you, I just couldn't determine a cogent thread to follow. I thought you may be pointing out how rabidly atheist Dawkins is.
No, I don't personally know many of the millions of posters on the internet. I suspect that you may have confused Richard B. Dawson (at your link) with Richard B. Dawkins.
As for reviewing all information objectively, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Based on the information at the link, I don't believe there's substantial evidence that Ballas and Hekmati are one and the same.
I’ve been suspicious since I saw the ID card that shows the guy as “Marine reserve”. That would mean he’s still service-connected. And a proper ID card has the security background making it impossible to take a one-off picture of it. Then there’s the video of the “confession” ——that was not a Marine who had gone thru normal basic doing that. Correct me if I’m wrong but the Marine Corp oath pretty much rules out dual citizenship-——the whole story is double talk and mumbo-jumbo so at the moment I don’t see the problem. Let the ragheads keep talking until they say something that makes sense——holding breath 1 2 3 4 NOW!
Was it the Jewish name that blew his cover?
I dont’ know why we didn’t use Saddam to eliminate Iran and then from Iran, attack Iraq and take out Saddam. It would have eliminated two enemies and letting God get rid of Kim Jong Il would have made things quite perfect.
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