You’d never know it but we’re in the middle of another Iranian hostage crisis.
You may have heard about the 3 Iranian Americans kidnapped by the gangsters currently in charge in Tehran. Then again, you may not have heard about it. Our media apparently now views hostage taking by the Persians so routine that it’s not even worth reporting on. After all, be they innocent American academics, British or American soldiers, or American diplomats, it simply doesn’t matter. The lawless crumbums who weep about American interference in their affairs who then turn around and violate international law with impunity know that they will escape serious consequences for their outrageous behavior thanks to concern over the safety of our citizens at the hands of the uncivilized fanatics who hold them:
Rarely have so many journalists, politicians and commentators so totally missed a headline. There are now five American hostages in Iran. Each case has been largely treated by itself, almost as if it were an oddity, something requiring a special explanation, instead of another piece in a luminously clear pattern whose meaning should be intuitively obvious to us all.The Americans were taken hostage for the same reasons the regime has routinely taken foreign hostages from the first year of its existence: to resolve internal power struggles, to demonstrate to the Iranian people the hopelessness of their condition by directly challenging the infidels to do anything about the humiliation of their countrymen, and to impose their will on a Western world the mullahs view as feckless and paralyzed. When the American embassy was overrun in the fall of 1979, Khomeini famously proclaimed that the Americans “can’t do a thing,†and today the regime is trying to show that neither the Americans nor the Brits (five more of whom were taken hostage in the past couple of days) can do anything to challenge the mullahcracy.
There are five Americans being held in Iran against their will:
- Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington and the wife of the distinguished historian Shaul Bakash;
- Parnaz Azima, a journalist for radio Farda, the Farsi-language component of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty;
- Ali Shakeri, a founding board member at the University of California, Irvine’s Center for Citizen Peacebuilding;
- Kian Tajbakhsh, a consultant working for George Soros’ Open Society Institute.
- Robert A. Levinson, a former FBI officer reportedly investigating tobacco smuggling on behalf of a private client. He disappeared after he flew to Iran’s Kish Island in March.
It’s a shame that Sean Penn and his entourage couldn’t have dropped in on his buds in the Iranian government recently. He very well may have been able to experience first hand why Persian hospitality has become so justly famous.
One of the American hostages – Haleh Esfandiari – was also charged with the unforgivable crime of marrying a Jew. It speaks volumes about a nation’s rulers that they criminalize love based on someone’s heritage or religion. But don’t mention this to our domestic Iranian apologists. Their heads might explode. To them, this sort of thing – like “wiping Israel off the map” – is for domestic political consumption only and doesn’t really reflect the peace loving, freedom worshiping nature of the dirty necked galoots who are grinding the Iranian people under their jackboots as I write this.
Esfandiari and two others will also apparently go on trial for espionage. This is a curious charge to make against Americans who are in Iran trying to undermine the hard line policies of their government. But then, it’s not about espionage or America at all. The hostage taking serves other purposes.
The fact that this rogue regime now sees hostage taking as a way for one faction or another to gain an advantage in its own internal power struggles means that these kinds of outrages will continue for the foreseeable future:
The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suffers from inoperable cancer and has already outlived his doctors’ prognosis. The political war over his successor has been raging for several months between partisans of the country’s two most prominent political figures: Ahmadinejad and former president Hashemi Rafsanjani. Two months ago Rafsanjani went to Qom, the city of the grand ayatollahs, in an attempt to gain the support of the leading clerics, at which time he tried to convince them to name a successor even before the Supreme Leader’s demise. Nothing came of it, nor did anything come of the much-ballyhooed efforts to “impeach†Ahmadinejad or shorten his term. The latest dustup came over the talks with the Americans in Baghdad, which were violently condemned by Ahmadinejad’s followers.The wave of hostage-taking undoubtedly plays a role in this political war, for it demonstrates the great strength of the hardliners around Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, and weakens Rafsanjani’s standing with the clerical elite.
It would be tempting to root for Rafsanjani in this internal dust-up except for the fact that he’s no better than the crazies who are currently in power. Besides, it was he who made the first big investments in the Iranian nuclear program back in the early 90’s when he served as President. To believe that much would change with Rafsanjani in power is a chimerical hope. He’s just as anti-American as Ahmadinejad. He hates the west with equal passion as the so-called “hardliners” and is just as determined to see the destruction of Israel. The only difference is his rhetoric would lull the west to sleep. No mystical speeches before the UN for Rafsanjani. Known as one of the richest men in the world, his corrupt leadership is what eventually brought Ahmadinejad to power with a mandate to clean up the cesspool that is the Iranian bureaucracy.
But none of this matters to the five Americans currently in custody. At least Bush came out today and did his part; demanding their release “unconditionally:”
President Bush lashed out at Iran today for detaining American citizens and called for them to be freed “immediately and unconditionally.”In a White House statement, Bush said the four detainees whose families have spoken out publicly had dedicated their lives to building bridges between Americans and Iranians, a goal that Tehran also claimed to share.
“Their presence in Iran—to visit their parents or to conduct humanitarian work—poses no threat,” the Bush statement said. “Indeed, their activities are typical of the abiding ties that Iranian-Americans have with their land of origin.”
Bush cited scholar Haleh Esfandiari of the Smithsonian’s Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh, Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz Azima, and California businessman Ali Shakeri.
Bush also said he was “disturbed” by Tehran’s refusal to provide information on former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared after flying to Iran’s Kish Island on March 8. Tehran has failed to provide information or to respond to five messages channeled through the Swiss Embassy to the Iranian government about Levinson.
And, in what can only be considered typical State Department “closing the barn door after the horse has run away,” our brilliant Foggy Bottom bureaucrats issued a travel warning to Iran:
The State Department yesterday issued a formal travel warning to all U.S. citizens to consider the risks of travel to Iran. It cautioned dual Iranian-American citizens that they may face difficulties leaving Iran, noting the detention and imprisonment of dual nationals in recent weeks.“Some elements of the Iranian regime and the population remain hostile to the United States. As a result, American citizens may be subject to harassment or arrest while traveling or residing in Iran,” the warning said. The government may even deny dual nationals access to the U.S. Interests Section in Tehran operated by the Swiss Embassy on ground that they are considered to be solely Iranian citizens, it said.
Duh.
The rest of the world remains sanguine about Iranian hostage taking. After all, most of them are safe from the wrath of the Persian thugs who take advantage of the fact that no one wants to do anything about their lawless behavior. They will continue to act with impunity, secure in the knowledge that any military move against them taken by the United States will bring the condemnation of the world down on top of our heads.
And that kind of irony is either too amusing for words or too painful to contemplate. You decide.
5:56 pm
Right, the US (Bush admin.) has been threatening to overthrow the Iranian government for years now. Iraq was to be just the first step in the neocon Middle Eastern Utopia and then on to Iran and Syria. The US government is backing terrorist organizations to destabilize the Iranian government, just like they accuse Iran of supporting Hezbollah, and you think they should just sit there and take it. Right?
Did you ever think of showing a democratically elected government some respect? Maybe some diplomacy first before we start bombing would be a good idea. You know, so we don’t wind up with two Iraqs…
6:26 pm
Whom do you mean by “Iranian apologists”? People like George Soros, who, judging by the arrest of Kian Tajbakhsh, is doing his best to do to Iran’s regime what he successfully did to Communism in Czech Republic and Poland, to Milosevic and to Ukrainian and Georgia’s Putinoids? People like Juan Cole protesting these arrests? Did you notice that most of those five people arrested are, judging by their credentials, more or less “leftists”? Where are those mythical Iranian apologists, besides David Duke and the fringe lefty blog-trolls?
It seems that you would call apologist someone who would say that it was a good idea for Reagan to open contacts with Gorbachev. Who, if you don’t remember, was quite a mean SOB responsible for numerous massacres (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania).
7:06 pm
I guess its okay for the US to seize Iranians who are the guests of Iraqi politicians in Irbil a while back. Did the idiot Bush think the Iranians wouldn’t retaliate.All the neo-cons are itching to fight Iran, although not them or their children personally. Think Iraq has been a hard nut to crack,Iran has 80 million people, and their all as crazy as loons.We cannot change the Middle East, lets just drill for oil in Alaska, pledge to support Israel, and keep a couple of flatops in the Persian Gulf to keep the shipping lanes open.Bush can’t secure our borders but has the time and money and blood to democratize Iraq, what a joke he is. By the way Rick, where would we get the troops to take on Iran?
7:14 pm
Rick concludes: “And that kind of irony is either too amusing for words or too painful to contemplate. You decide.”
Given 4 or 5 hours of silence in the comments, perhaps it’s both. Given Iran’s meddling in Iraq with weaponry and training, their thumbing of their nose at the world in regards to nuclear proliferation, and our own experience with ignoring them vis a vis hostage situations we have more than sufficient cause to demand release and now, or else.
Will we? I don’t know, half our citizens shake in their boots at the prospect of standing up for American values and liberty around the world and President Bush is passionate about amnesty for illegals at the moment, so odds are we’ll do absolutely nothing until a mushroom cloud rises (if then), long after the current hostages are dead and buried.
11:59 pm
Joe, Nikolai, neoconhunter—-
People who think Ahmadinejad is Gorbachev, and this includes Condaleeza Rice who is educated as an expert on Russia, are not squaring up to the nature and goals of the Iranian regime.
The Iranian regime, if the Iran-Iraq war teaches us anything, has no problem with mass martyrdom of its citizens. Add the fact that Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said it is his duty to lead the final jihad against the infidel at the end of times so the 12th Imam and Jesus can come back to exterminate the Americans and Jews, then mutually assured destruction looks completely ineffective as a deterrent.
The Iranian regime has stated explicitly that they do not intend to stop their nuclear program, and that they intend to wipe Israel off the map. Iranian officials have said a world without America is not only possible, but feasible. Diplomatic solutions in this context is like talking to yourself—to have diplomacy, you need two parties working for a compromise, not one party signing a death sentence.
Perhaps regime change isn’t the answer. However, airstrikes at minimum will be required against the nuclear program of the Iranian regime at some point if we want to live in a world where Tel Aviv, London, Los Angeles and so forth still exist in the upcoming decades. This will create a depression by spiking gas prices, and it will create complete chaos in Iraq, but I don’t see an alternative course of action consistent with our survival. Perhaps one of you enlightened souls can set me straight.
6:28 am
And what’s actually the use of the word “Persian” here? Persian is an identity that mullahs try to suppress, Persians are the people that freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity and financed the building of the Second Temple. “Persian” means a great culture that will hopefully be revived in the future.
By using the word Persian in derogatory context you are insulting people like Nazanin Afshin. (On the other hand, she’s obviously a Soros-type revolutionary, so if hating liberal trumps all other ideas, it’s OK to insult her).
The only other people on Earth that are fond of the “Persian gangsters” expression are Al-Qaeda members.
7:39 am
Only a complete idiot would say that Ahmadinejad is Gorbachev. The moment of Iranian Gorbachev is now past, say thanks to people like Michael Ledeen who made their best to screw the chances for reform. Now he’s inventing thousands of slaughtered students (where did this come from? probably from the same place as Clinton-Obama cult disrupting military funerals). Khatami was like Gorbachev in USSR where putsch succeeded. That’s really a fun position—to slander a guy that did what he could to fight for the freedoms, such as freedom of the press, in Iran, only to have his supporters arrested, killed and assassinated, newspapers closed etc and his peace efforts rejected by the White House.
The “Iranian appeasers” in LGF’s, Mitt Romney’s and probably Rick’s book are the very people whose arrests he’s writing about here. The people that try their best to awaken the sane side of Iran.
As for nuclear ambitions, that’s a long and complicated story. Iran never stated that it wants to have nuclear weapons or use them, they do, indeed, need nuclear energy, and that’s the way most of the Iranian population sees it—a peaceful and necessary program that the West wants to stop out of pure malice. There’s a good chance that they are actually making nukes, and a strong proof of this would probably help a cause of revolution a lot. Too bad that most of the intelligence on Iranian nukes comes from MKO, a universally hated terrorist organization.
10:56 am
By the way Rick, where would we get the troops to take on Iran?
Where in my piece do I advocate military action, nitwit?
I swear to God. People who don’t bother to read what I write and comment on this site drive me nuts. And if you read anything I’ve written you know I OPPOSE military action against Iran.
I’m going to start banning people for being idiots.
11:04 am
Nick:
Same goes for you. The fact that those people were trying to undermine the policies of their governmetn is despicable although they didn’t deserve to get arrested.
And for God’s sake, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, keep your mouth shut. Khatami=Gorby? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Khatami – anti-west, anti-American, pro blowing Israel to kingdom come. Some goddamn moderate, huh? And the miniscule reforms he as advocating – halfheartedly and probably only to establish an independent power base with the students – have nothing to do with making Iran a “free” country.
And WTF do you think AQ Khan was doing in Iran in the mid 90’s? Getting a suntan? Khan’s network never – repeat never – helped a country with nuclear expertise that wasn’t trying to build a bomb. And like Pakistan, a nuke would be wildly popular in Iran. So much for your “helping the revolution” nonsense.
The “sane” side of Iran doesn’t need awakening. It needs to be in power. And as long as the mullahs and 250,000 Rev guards have their jackboots on the necks of the people, that aint gonna happen.
12:08 pm
You meant it’s despicable that they were undermining Iran’s government? You don’t want Milosevic’s fate for Ahmadinejad?
Or were they undermining US’s policy? Is US against women rights? Against cultural dialogue? Against fighting AIDS?
Why won’t you change the title of the post to “Persian gangsters will try despicable Americans”?
That’s the way freepers see it: if it’s about Soros, let them burn. For some mysterious reasons that hatred of Soros doesn’t transfer into hatred of Orange Revolution in Ukraine or of Kasparov in Russia. Obviously, when he gets something done, Soros can be forgiven (or forgotten), but when he’s only trying—screw him.
Really? Two-state solution is blowing Israel to kingdom come? Anti-west? Anti-American? He’s certainly not more pro-American than Chirac, but how bad is that?
And Gorby was, obviously, a saint. FYI, he, or, for that matter, Yeltsin, had more innocent blood on his hands than Khatami. FYI, it’s almost impossible to find pro-Israel politicians in the region, and Khatami is certainly less of anti-Semite than
Do you think that Iran is culturally similar to Pakistan? Are you sure? Are you sure that verifiable proof (as opposed to zero-value MKO intelligence) that Ahmadinejad wants his country to be destroyed would have no effect on domestic policies? They seem to get pretty mad at him for quite minor reasons.
Do you know Gene Sharp? 250.000 is not that many against well-organized resistance. It takes a good coordination and a well-chosen moment to trigger the process. I’m 100% that a lot of people are working on that.
2:02 pm
I’ll just ask one innocent little question here because this thread has gotten a bit “testy.”
Can anyone enlighten me as to a single concession that Iran has EVER made in any negotiation in its history?
And one final point. The scariest thing about Iran is that in all of the discussions about their nuclear ambitions, the taking of the Brits, their financing Hezbollah and Hamas, theit supplying training and weaponry to Iraq factions…in all of this, they actually believe they are right on all issues. They aren’t pretending or hedging their bets or looking for a better position and throwing out some claims – they actually BELIEVE they are correct on all fronts. I think every one of us, at some time in our life, has run into a person who is either mentally unstable or full-blown psychotic and we have all experienced that sudden urge to get away from that person – not one of us would have ever considered sitting down with that person and trying to reason with him/her.
And like it or not, Iran is flat out, clinically insane.
3:05 pm
The headline over at PatDollard.com says it all:
” USS Enterprise heads to Iran”
(that makes THREE aircraft carriers off Iran)
http://patdollard.com/2007/06/01/uss-enterprise-heads-to-iran/
5:37 pm
Rick,
Why not just ban the people who appear to be trotting out that tired old canard about how we can trust megalomaniacal theocratic dictators but every US action or policy – especially under a Republican administration – is suspect?
The people in charge in Iran right now can’t be trusted any farther than they can be thrown. To believe otherwise is beyond naive.
5:51 pm
A previous poster mistakenly referred to Iran’s government as “democratically elected”. While it is true that elections are held in Iran, the supreme guide (the mullahs) insure that only those candidates who support the mullahs’ view of Shi’ite Islamic supremacy are permitted to run for office. In fact, those Iranians who dare challenge the totalitarian vision of Islamic supremacy in favor of democracy are not only excluded from running for office, they are routinely silenced “with extreme prejudice”, if you get my drift.
The current hostage-taking we are witnessing there reflects a malignant thuggery.
8:57 pm
I find it ironic that Ledeen, The Harlot of Babylon, is miffed that Bush seems preoccupied.
The harlot was a key town-crier in the bum’s rush to Iraq. Now that we are broke and bogged down in that Mesopotamian swamp, he wants to
pump every headline with a new call to arms.
I was able to find some info on the gist of the article (as no links are found)and, since
any exhalation of Ledeens requires a factcheck.(eg. If he declares ‘the sun rises in the east’ I must rise at dawn to verify)
one would think cites would be abundant.
No, it is not on radar. Yes, it should be.
But Ledeen should not be the boy yelling ‘wolf!’
11:11 pm
I know most of the people involved were there to visit sick relatives but never the less the State Department warnings about travel in Iran [effective 10/2006] were very specific at the time they went. Iran does not issue visas to the US, it does not issue passports to the US.. Iran does not recognize religious conversions, there are demonstrations where American citizens could be a target. There is no US diplomatic mission in Iran, all contacts must be through the Swiss embassy. Above all the State Department warned that Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, if there were any problems the Iranian government might not allow contact with the Swiss embassy on the grounds that the person in trouble was solely an Iranian citizen and not eligible for any contact with a diplomatic mission. The State Department did specifically warn about the possibility of arrest and harassment. The warning that is now in effect is only slightly different than the 10/06 warning, the difference being that the now there is a statement that people have been detained. You can‘t blame the bureaucrats for this ,“Foggy Bottom†can only warn you about the consequences of travel, they can’t stop you from going. There is some personal responsibility involved when you ignore State Department travel warnings.
11:34 am
A democrat working for/against the American people leaked a top secret operation in Iran, the antique MSM (traitors) spread the leak around the world. Iran can’t identify the operatives so any American citizen will do. Welcome to the real world of damage done by the democrat traitors who leak National Security Information on a daily basis and the lack of a Justice Department that will prosecute them. Thanks Gonzales.