Remember those three Americans of questionable judgment who went hiking near the Iraq-Iran border and were arrested by Iranian forces? They have been formally charged with espionage and will stand trial.
There is concern—well-founded, methinks—that the Iranians will attempt to use these prisoners as bargaining chips for their nuclear program. Our esteemed president must avoid even the appearance of this. President Clinton can pry two journalists out of North Korea, but we can’t negotiate the safe return of three hikers?
Actually, whether he’s capable of giving said hope voice or not, President Obama needs to hope that Israel soon decides to solve the Iranian nuclear problem with F-15s. Then he can stand on the sidelines, insufferably tongue-clucking and grandstanding about hope and change and diplomatic channels not given proper time, but the imminent threat of nuclear-armed mullahs will be removed.
Maybe he can even work in a deep bow at the waist to Ahmadinejad.
There are bad answers and worse answers to Iran. The Bush administration said the right things from time to time, but still essentially punted the whole mess.
Sadly, the guy who caught it appears to have a perception of Iran that is totally unburdened by reality.
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Okay — this is not going to be a popular comment, but I have to say it. I think the old adage holds true: you play with fire, you get burned. If these people — old enough to know better, probably firmly convinced that they knew what they were doing, dumb enough to think that backpacking through certain parts of the world is as easy as the giggly hosts of Lonely Planet want you to believe it is — were stupid enough to play chicken with the Iranian border, then they deserve what they get.
Was Iran pouncing on an opportunity to “get something” to use against us? Likely. They aren’t stupid. Will it work? With this TOTUS, who knows? He’s foolish enough to give them what they want for the sake of a PR move.
If it were my kid, I’m sure I’d feel differently. It’s not. So I can sit back here, smug in my objectivity, and say, “sucks to be them.”
OTOH, it’s a good lesson to all these libs who want to be able to hold hands and sing kumbayah with all the pipples of the world. They don’t think the way you do, don’t want to be your friend, and aren’t going to change their ways to accommodate your more “enlightened” thinking.
Dude. Sorry about the tirade.
Ditto kemtee. Kind of the same principle as “nothing good happens after 1am.” – “nothing good happens while backpacking on the Iranian border .”
kemtee: You can “tirade” here anytime, and you’re quite right. My first post on the topic isn’t particularly complimentary of them. 🙂
BamaDan: My dad always told me it was 9:45. Nothing good happens after 9:45. Did I ever tell you what a lonely teenager I was?