Iran’s Latest American Hostages
Posted November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am in American Leadership 
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Iran’s list of hostages is steadily growing despite the Obama Administration’s zealous efforts to engage Iran’s brutal dictatorship. Three young American hikers who accidentally strayed across the Iranian border last summer now face charges of espionage, which is punishable by the death penalty in Iran. Yesterday an Iranian prosecutor indicated that the three hikers, Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 30, and Joshua Fattal, 27, were being investigated as spies after they were arrested, allegedly on the Iranian side of the poorly-marked Iraq-Iran border on July 31. Today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad piled on by stressing Iran’s right to punish people who illegally crossed its border and suggesting that the United States was responsible for the kidnapping of an Iranian pilgrim in Saudi Arabia.
Last month an Iranian-American scholar, Kian Tajbakhsh, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison because of alleged subversive activity. Tajbakhsh was arrested during the unrest that broke out after Iran’s sham elections last June and he never received a fair trial, which is par for the course in Iran.
Iran also still has failed to satisfactorily explain the disappearance of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 after meeting with David Belfield, an American convert to Islam who fled to Iran after he assassinated an exiled Iranian opposition leader, Ali Akbar Tabatabai, in 1980 in Bethesda, Maryland. Levinson is believed to be held in a secret prison in Iran. Clearly, President Obama’s engagement policy has done little to help hostage Americans, let alone the millions of Iranians who are being held hostage by Iran’s criminal regime.
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15 Responses to “Iran’s Latest American Hostages”
Ozzy6900, CT on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
Here’s how to deal with this latest incident. Line up the tanks, troops and missels at the Iranian boarder. Give Iran 24 hours to release the 3 Americans. If they do not, move in and obliterate everything in your path. Yes, it is a radical move but we do not need another hostage situation like the one that occurred under President Carter!
Freedom of Speech, TX on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
Iran does not mess around when it comes to border control. One can only imagine the horrors of an Iranian prison…
This radical Islamic Terrorist Theocracy is equivalent to insanity. No regard for any human life.
How can anyone trust, let alone “reason” with such monsters? You can’t. The Israelis learned this, and are still learning this, since their nation’s birth.
There is absolutely NO DOUBT who America should trust and support and it is not the Iranian Mullahs. They have repeatedly said their intent is to strike at and destroy America. What the ____is wrong with us?!
Greg on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
The Iranians do not respect our President, or anyone in our government. Now, they did not respect Carter either, however, soon as my Hero, Ronald Reagan was to take office – Bam! Released the prisoners. So, what to do…
1. I would simply tell them that unless they do not release the prisoners:
a. I will bomb all their nuclear reactor sites
b. If still not released, unharmed, I would then proceed to target all government buildings.
2. If all of that did not work, then regroup and send in some precision weapons to take out power plants, water facilities, and similar.
Craig on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
The hikers who “accidently” “strayed” into a foreign country, and the “scholar” aside for a moment, what exactly was Levinson (a former FBI agent) doing in Iran? Holidaying in Kish?
Craig
EDWARD GERSTEN on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
OUR WEAKNESS IS SHOWING, IF WE DO NOT STAND UP TO IRAN WE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE THEM IN CHARGE, THEY PLAY US, STRING US ALONG AND DO WHATEVER THEY WANT TO DO. IS IT MY COUNTRY WAITING FOR ISREAL TO STAND UP TO IRAN THAT YOUR PRESIDENT IS GOING TO BE NICE. GET SERIOUS WHO’S SIDE IS HE ON
Anita on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
I would think that by now it’s pretty obvious whose side he’s on. It’s certainly not on the side of America. He’s bent over backward to appease everyone except the American public…that’s you, me and all the other regular joes.
Louis L Cesar F Levy DAYTON OH on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
You need a good car to have a good job. You also need a good job to have a good car. So how would you solve this problem?
Tim Az on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
Just another Jimmy Carter through and through. This will not be settled until we elect a real American for President. We should celibrate with acorn stew.
Bob, Portland, OR on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
They can keep the hostages.
These three were looking for their 15 seconds of fame.
They got it, eventually they will be released and guess what, they will write a book, go on TV and radio and make millions.
As an American, I like to say that we have bigger issues in our country than three kids who were knowingly in a place where they shouldn’t be.
No big deal, Mr. Achmadinnerjacket, you can keep them.
Voice of Reason, Suwanee, GA on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
Isn’t it curious, or should we say troubling, that when we have a weak President, Carter for example, the Iranians dump all over us. Then viola Reagan is elected and the hostages are released the day of his inaguration.
So here we go again, just 30 years later and we are just getting started. 3 1/2 more years of weakness and capitulation. Makes you shudder of where it will end.
Dictators and tyrants are only restrained when they see resolute and determined opposition. Strength deters aggression, weakness encourages it. Strength creates respect, weakness creates derision. A paradox for our liberal friends.
Oh, Ronnie, where are you when we need you?
Conservatives United, USA on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
“They have repeatedly said their intent is to strike at and destroy America. What the ____is wrong with us?!”
A big part of it is POLITICAL CORRECTNESS run a muck!!!
Leon, Durango, CO on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
My dear Freedom Of Speech, TX,
What is wrong with us is that our ‘representative’ government has been usurped by actual Cold War Communists who kept on undermining everything American after the cold war was ‘won’. Obama will do exactly the opposite of the American Interest, after all, he is the lackey of genuine Communists. I think if there is a way to lose the war in Afghanistan, Obama will find it. Another loss is just what America needs to demoralize our People and our troops.
Jim, Connecticut on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
Who goes hiking on the Iran/Iraq border? No one is that stupid. I’m starting to wonder if they really were spies.
THE CAPTAIN, New Orleans, La. on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
You play with fire, you get burned. Everyone knows the border is not marked well and the Iranians are not beyond crossing into Iraq to capture Americans for the propaganda and bartering benefits. Golly gee, couldn’t they have hiked the Grand Canyon? What is a Levinson doing in Iran, especially an ex-FBI agent? He may not be, but his name sounds Jewish. The last I heard Mahmoud does not like Jewish people too much. He certainly wouldn’t like Americans who are ex-FBI either. And what is the scholar doing there? Can’t he study somewhere else? When you are outside of America, you risk your freedom. Does Iran have due process? I don’t thing so. Now if they really are spies, we need to work to get them back; otherwise, we can pray for them.
THE CAPTAIN, New Orleans, La. on November 11th, 2009 at 11:00am said:
By the way, I hate to say this but there are no more Ronald Reagan’s. Quit looking and hoping. Neither Bush was; McCain certainly is not. None of the Republicans are. The only one with gonads is Palin, and I am not sure she has the know how. If she gets some smarts or surrounds herself with the kind of people Reagan did, she might be able to do it. But just like Obama is not the hope and change we need, no one on the Republican side is either. It’s pathetic.