Foggy Bottom has warned Americans to stay away from Iran, since “American citizens may be subject to harassment or arrest while traveling or residing in Iran.”
Such a shocking statement from our diplomatic corps! You’d almost think there was a hostage crisis. But somehow the word “hostage” never appears in official statements or press coverage, even though there are five American hostages in Tehran.
The secretary of state, who has long had a privileged back channel to the mullahs, mildly criticized the seizure of the Americans, several of whom are dual nationals. She lamented that, after all, these people are good citizens of Iran. So, she asks rhetorically, why are the leaders of the Islamic Republic treating them so badly?
Has she not noticed the horrible treatment the regime has reserved for its own citizens?
Meanwhile, the great military blogger Bill Roggio reports on the latest developments in Iraq in the Weekly Standard. Lots of interesting developments–we are obviously getting better intelligence from the Iraqi citizenry, since we’re rounding up terrorists by the score–and you will want to read it all. I just want to flag one paragraph. It will not surprise regular readers of this blog, but it ought to be memorized by all of our leaders:
…Coalition forces captured a “liaison to al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders, who assists in the movement of information and documents from al-Qaeda in Iraq leadership in Baghdad to al-Qaeda senior leaders in Iran.” Al Qaeda leaders such as Saif al Adel and Said bin Laden, Osama’s son, are being sheltered in Iran along with an estimated 100 al Qaeda senior operatives.
So al Qaeda in Iraq’s headquarters are in Tehran. Can we stop talking about “insurgency” yet?
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