Update
Rallies for the release of the American hikers were held all over America yesterday. Today, according to an article in Ha’aretz, it seems that these three American hikers, (“they are like three Rachel Corries” and would have sailed on the Turkish Flotilla had they not been in jail), have long held anti-Israel, pro-PLO, and anti-American politics. Their friend and spokesman, Shon Meckfessel, therefore finds it ironic that they have been held by the Iranians with whom they agree on many things. In fact, Meckfessel is blaming their non-release on a Zionist controlled American media and leadership.
“Meckfessel, who was traveling with them when they were taken captive, is frustrated that so little is being done to get them released. ‘It just does not feel like a priority for the U.S. administration,’ he complains. Is it because they are Americans who were critical of U.S. and Israeli actions? ‘I definitely wonder about that,’ he says.”
I am still saddened by their capture and prolonged detention. But now I really wonder what, if anything, they, their families, and their supporters will choose to learn from it. If they do not “get it” afterwards, it is clear that reality has absolutely no power over left political programming.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
One year ago, Shane Michael Bauer/Bower, Joshua Fattal (whose father is of Iraqi descent), and Sarah Emily Shourd, three young American hikers, were arrested by Iranian forces for having wandered too close to the Iranian border. Charged with “espionage,” they remain in the dreadful Evin Prison. Today, Amnesty International has finally demanded their release. Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s International Middle East and North Africa Program director says:
“It appears clear that the Iranian authorities do not have substantial grounds to prosecute these three individuals, and we fear that they may be held on account of their nationality.”
Has Mr. Smart–have people–forgotten that in 1979, Khomeini’s young Iranian thugs (Ahmadinejad was probably among them) arrested and detained 52 American diplomats and Embassy personnel and held them hostage for 444 days? And that President Carter did not rescue them nor did he seem to understand that this was the outbreak of the Third Wave of Islamic Jihad against the West?
I am haunted by the fate of these three Americans. I have been told that the woman is being kept in solitary while the two men, one her fiancee, share a cell. But what am I saying? All three are in the notorious Evin Prison, (where so many brave Iranian dissidents are being tortured and murdered). a facility which is apparently as hard to penetrate as Iran’s nuclear facilities.
But, I am also haunted by the fates of journalist Daniel Pearl and business entrepreneur Nicholas Berg who were both beheaded for daring to penetrate Islamist space. And neither Pearl nor Berg were “politicals”; they viewed themselves as world citizens who believed that they’d be safe in enemy territory and in war zones.
The Americans being held captive range in age from 27 to 36; they are all graduates of the University of California at Berkeley. They apparently flew to Turkey, entered Iraq, traveled to Sulaymaniyah, a Kurdish capital and, after two nights in a hotel, traveled on to Ahmed Awa, in the mountains, where caves, waterfalls, an unmarked border—and the Iranian police awaited them.
University of California of Berkeley graduates? Oh, let me think a moment…these poor young idealists probably had No Idea that Iraq, Kurdistan, or nearby Iran were potentially dangerous. Their politics were probably liberal, left, and postcolonial; perhaps they viewed American Empire as The Bad Guy and the simple, God-fearing (or sophisticated and warm) peoples of Turkey, Iraq, Kurdistan and Iran as oppressed freedom fighters in a war launched by the Americans, etc.
Make no mistake: Although I may be second-guessing, even misstating their politics, I in no way think they deserve captivity. Whether the captives like it or not, and whatever their politics may be, Iranian leaders probably view all Americans as infidel enemies, spies, perhaps even as “Zionists.”
Where is President Obama on this? Or Secretary of State Clinton? Yes, I know: America has no diplomatic relations with Iran (see above), but the Swiss represent us in Iran.
Gilad Shalit
And, by the way: Why is Amnesty not demanding the release of Gilad Shalit, who has been held in captivity and allowed no Red Cross visits for 1, 496 days—or for more than four years? Where are all the humanitarian flotillas on Shalit’s behalf, bearing food, clothing, letters, medical supplies, newspapers from home, human contact?
Is the world really interested?
No sympathy for these left-wing idiots, they went overseas to engage in Israel-bashing & anti-American propaganda. Now, they are experiencing the reality of what they support. Leftists deserve to spend some time in Gaza or Iran with their Islamic friends.
Terry,
I suspect if they went over there to Israeli bash, the Ayatollahs would be bending over for them twice a day.
I happen to agree. It is my understanding that these three worked for extremely anti-Israel organizations and denounced Israel regularly. BTW I also understand that they are Jewish, considering they have all rejected their Jewish heritage it is ironic that they are probably under suspiscion because of their Jewish heritage. I say let their anti-Semitic anti-Israel leftist friends rescue them.Maybe Hamas which they support should speak up for them when receiving missiles from their Iranian masters.
To also put them in the same breath as Daniel Pearl,Nick Berg and Gilad Shalit, men who were proud of their Jewish heritage is just rude.
We also know why AI has not called for the release of Gilad, since when is it a crime to harm Jews according to AI. Remember AI endorsed “defensive Jihad” earlier this year, murdering Jews is a right according to AI. Why is this is news to anyone?
Well, Terry — at least you and the people imprisoning and probably torturing these guys see eye-to-eye on this one!
They “deserve” it! They deserve prolonged imprisonment, solitary confinement,and possibly torture — simply for having misguided political views! Let them rot in jail for a lifetime! Right on !!
Naive ”useful idiots” need reality contact – these dummies supported causes with no real knowledge or understanding of what they support, empty heads full of BS slogans, self-righteous dolts with ”trendy” ideas, sorry, I can’t be sympathetic to fools.
I strongly suspect that these three purported leftist whack jobs are flabbergasted by their incarceration. They view themselves as good people and not “ugly Americans”. How could the Iranians treat their allies in such a manner? Those who hate Israel supposedly have so much in common.
A possible solution to this problem, and I know it will
never be implemented, is for the United States to play
the Iranian game asd arrest all the Iranian employees at
the United Nztions as spies. Also, the next time the idiot, Ahmadinejad, comes to address the UN he should be
thrown in jail.
Unfortunately, our government does not have the guts to
do any of this.
The Iranian government has committed an act of war and should suffer the consequences. Unfortunately, no one int he American government has the guts to do what should and must be done.
Amnesty International says, “…..we fear that they may be held on account of their nationality….” Aw, gee, ya think??????????
I sure hope that Amnesty International didn’t have to blow any budgets because of overtime incurred because of the number of meetings and reviews required for them to come to this sterling conclusion.
The entire world has gone completely insane, and the only sure thing is that anyone who still claims the shortest distance between two lines is a straight will be attacked and vilified.
I’m sorry for these individuals, too, along the lines of what Ms. Chesler says. However, I also agree with Terry’s comment: what did they think would happen? If they are really that ignorant, there is a limit to what any nation or group can do to protect thems from themselves.
Why on earth is that I, who only had one year of college, would fight my grandchildren tooth and nail if they ever thought they wanted to hike the Iranian border countryside?? These fools thought they would be protected because their progressive brains were more powerful to them than historic reality.
The fools who got out of NK last year (at the behest of B. Clinton apparently) were very, very, very fortunate.
It is also completely predictable that the obaMadministration hasn’t lifted a finger, made a statement to help them. obama would probably wet his pants publicly if he tried to read such a statement out loud.
I, too, am a UC Berkeley graduate. From that fact alone you can ascertain my politics?
Waht more do we need to know about these Islamic Theocratic Thugs? We should invade that country and hang all the Ayatollahs, Imoms and Mullahs from the highest pillars and leave them there for all to see until they rot. Any country’s leaders that stone women to death in public deserve no less. Oh yeah… Amidinajad gets it too…. upside down like Mussolini.
Before anyone gets all teary-eyed for these three you should know a bit of their background.Shane & Sarah were living in Damascus for a year while he reported for al Jazeera & Mother Jones. Here is a quote (on one of his many blogsites)to his mother while she visited him in Tehran(sorry for the length:”We want people to know that we are opposed to the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan.We oppose the US hegemonic policies in the Middle East.We are pro-Palestinian & against the Israeli occupation.Sarah & I met while organizing demonstrations against the Iraq war.We have protested AIPAC.We oppose aggressive US policies against Iran”.
Sorry, but I for one save my tears for Danny Pearl & Nick Berg.Since Shane & Sarah support Iran so much, I say to them…enjoy your hosts’ hospitality.and you know the minute they are released they will somehow blame it all on Israel!
One more note: a friend of theirs, Shon Meckfessel, who was to accompany them on their “hike” but wasn’t feeling well just stated “They are really like three Rachel Corries. In fact Shane was working on an expose of the IDF which would have been released by now if it weren’t for their arrest”. This friend is quite upset that the Iranians consider Tristan Anderson (a friend of theirs) a hero while these three are under arrest while they supported the Iranians. What a shame, huh?
Where is the MSM on Shane and Sarah’s work for leftist and jihad ‘journalism’in its reportage? Wouldn’t sharing this with the American public help in their release ? Surely Al-Jazeera would vouch for them with proof about his contributions to Al-Jazeera itself. It’s been a year and this hasn’t been mentioned in the press. Why not?
Meckfessel actually said much more about these three idiots. He said that they were supporters of Rachel Corrie. You will have to Google his name to find the direct quotes but what was, at first, a case of three stupids hiking in hostile territory, may turn out to be a case of three stupid Iranian sympathizers who got hoisted by their on petard by their “friends.”
As I was taught in Vietnam, you don’t walk off on your own. It could get you killed.
Useful idiots by any other name are still both useful to Iran and idiotic in their naive acting-out. They are just three of thousands of anti-American citizens who foolishly believe their own self-hatred will give them any status in the eyes of a criminal state.
Sad and silly people. I feel sorry for their grievous suffering at the hands of their torturers, and for their parents’ grief. But it’s at the same level that I would feel sympathy for the parents of toddlers who ran in front of a speeding train…
Well, if Amnesty decided to act on their Behalf, they must probably are very -ists;
recently Amnesty (or similar Organizations) often takes Care of Islamists only:
Sunni?
Anway, I feel profoundly sorry for those young People being held in Evil … sorry … Evin Prison, under that -ist brainwashed misogynist occidentalophobe sadist Regime (of islam-ist-ized Iran).
It really is a Naqba/Catastrophe … that such Inhumanity (officially) exists in the Islamic/-ist World.
But maybe Leftists see it folkloristic; for Sunnis, on the other Hand, the dreadful Thing is just the “Shia” Variant -
People’s Treatement in Evil/-n Prison, itself, doesn’t Matter a Lot. Isn’t it?
[I don't forget what did Mosab Yousef Hassan reported about Islamic/-ist Gazian Prisoners of Hamas in Israeli Prison(s):
they - themselves - ... torture each other (in a very brutal horrible Way), in Case they suspect one of them being an (Israeli) Spy.]
In the courtroom: “We were spying FOR you, not AGAINST you!”
“OK, you admit to being a spy! Guilty as charged!”
I’m not required to save idiots from the effects of their idiocy. Call somebody who cares.