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U.S. Hikers Detained in Iran Are Like 'Three Rachel Corries', Says Friend
Shon Meckfessel says he and his friends have spent their life fighting injustice in the Middle East.
If Sarah Shourd, 31, could have, she would have set sail on the recent flotilla to Gaza. Same for her boyfriend Shane Bauer, 28 and their friend Josh Fattal, 28. And they would probably be out there right now, demonstrating against Israel's reaction, the blockade in general, and well, Israel in general.
In this May 20, 2010, file photo, American hikers Shane Bauer, left, Sarah Shourd, center, and Josh Fattal, sit at the Esteghlal Hotel in Tehran, Iran. The mothers of three Americans detained on Iran since last July 31, are again pleading for their release as the one-year anniversary of their capture approaches. (AP Photo/Press TV, File) That's the kind of thing they believe in. Those are the sorts of activities they do. "These are like three Rachel Corries," says their friend Shon Meckfessel, comparing them to the activist killed in Gaza who has become something of a symbol of the pro-Palestinian movement, "...we have spent out whole adult lives contesting injustices in the Middle East."
Detained U.S. hikers in Iran
Except for now, none of those three young Americans is doing much of anything. On Saturday, it will be a year since they were taken into captivity in Iran, where they remain, in Evin prison, with almost no contact with the outside world.
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.
Swiss diplomats, who represent the U.S. in Tehran have managed only three visits with the captives. An Iranian lawyer has had no access. And Shourd, in solitary confinement, is said to be increasingly depressed.
The three are accused of being spies who entered the country to gather information and incite resistance to the regime - but no official charges have been made, and there is no trial date scheduled. All of which leaves the "American hikers" as they are called, in total limbo.
A year ago, the four friends had set out from Syria, where they were living and teaching in a Palestinian refugee camp, on a hiking trip to Kurdistan, in Northern Iraq, recounts Meckfessel. Staying in picturesque Suleymania, the plan was to go hiking and camping in the Zagros Mountains.
On the morning of the proposed trip, Meckfessel felt unwell and stayed behind, telling the other to go on without him - he would catch up the next day. That evening, he spoke on the mobile with the group twice, and they told him about a beautiful waterfall they visited near the village of Ahmed Awa. The group had maps, insists Meckfessel, but they were not detailed.
The last time Meckfessel heard from them was the next day, July 31, 2009, at 1:13 P.M., when Bauer called him, whispering down the line that they were being held by Iranians - and that he should immediately contact the U.S. embassy.
It seems the three either crossed the border into the Islamic Republic, or wandered close enough to it to be picked up by Iranian soldiers. "It was the last thing I expected," says Meckfessel. "The breath went out of my chest I was so shocked. We had no interest in Iran. We did not even know we were that close."
He admits there has been a lot of negative reaction to this story. "A lot of people really think they are spies, or, if not, then some idiots, going on an extreme silly adventure. But no, we have a deep involvement in the region. The irony is we were even doing work on some of the issues that Iran speaks about."
Just weeks before the three were taken captive, for example, he says, they were in Israel to visit another friend, Tristan Anderson, who was hospitalized for a year after being shot with a teargas canister in the head - by the IDF - while taking photos during a demonstration against the wall in Ni'lin.
"Often, when checking the Iranian press to see if there is any news about my friends I have seen coverage of Tristan's situation, which is, of course, very sympathetic...They keep calling him a hero for standing up to Israeli and U.S. aggressions," says Meckfessel. "The irony is they are celebrating Tristan as a hero, but holding his like-minded friends as spies."
Anderson's parents themselves have written to the Iranian authorities, imploring them to release the Americans. "With Tristan, they share common principles, projects and community," they wrote. "They are not instruments of their government, but independent thinkers."
At the time he was abducted, Bauer, a freelance journalist, was almost finished with an expose article on the IDF's use of purportedly non-lethal weapons against protesters like Anderson. "He would have published it long ago if he had not been arrested...You would say the Iranians are standing in the way," says Meckfessel. "How ironic is that?"
51 Comments so far
Show All//If Sarah Shourd, 31, could have, she would have set sail on the recent flotilla to Gaza. Same for her boyfriend Shane Bauer, 28 and their friend Josh Fattal, 28. //
As spies, perhaps?
Sounds like the Israelis had all the spies they needed on the flotilla. Can't say I blame the Iranians for taking them. Who knows if they are spies or not.
Granola-crunching permaculturists interning at intentional eco communities are not going to spy for the US government.
Right. Everyone must immediately trust every granola-crunching permaculturist interning at international eco communities because they are not going to spy for the US government. All spies for the US government look exactly like James Bond - THOSE are the guys you can't trust.
Yours and others' disgusting judgmental comments on individuals you know nothing about shows that there are a lot of people on Common Dreams who are merely posing as humanitarians and progressives.
Educate yourself about a particular subject before you pass commentary on it.
Maybe they're spies; maybe they're not. To me the bottom line is that the Iranians are treating them no worse, and probably better, than we treat the folks we seize in that part of the world.
This is pure propaganda--printed in a Jewish newspaper. Like "three Rachel Corries"? This idiot doesn't know what he's talking about, and he's dishonoring one of the true martyrs of the Palestinian resistance. Rachel Corrie was murdered--crushed to death--by a Jewish soldier, member of the Israeli Defense Force, who mowed over her deliberately with a bulldozer as she was trying to prevent this Jew from demolishing the home of a Palestinian. Now, I challenge Meckfessel to produce any proof that the Iranians are crushing to death the American hikers, or even mistreating them. We hold spies in this country in worse conditions; Israel tortures their POWs. To compare the hikers to Rachel Corrie is as insane as comparing the peaceful Iranians to the Jews in Israel who are destroying the Middle East in order to grab more Arab land.
What really sickens me is the attempt to appropriate and diffuse the memory of that beautiful soul Rachel Corrie.
These guys are NOTHING like Rachel Corrie. There is no comparison so why is the comparison being made?
After she was brutally murdered, the Zionistic propaganda did everything to vilify her and justify her murder. Now that this disgusting attempt failed, they are going to try to use it wherever they can to diffuse and redirect the memory of her.
See, I personally have no idea how similar in mind and spirit these folks are to Rachel Corrie.
I would love it if they are -the world needs more like her.
But Rachel-Corrie-the-living-person is not all that is important about Rachel Corrie. Also important is What-happened-to-Rachel-Corrie-and-why, if you know what I mean.
And as for that, even the injustice being perpetuated by the IRI on these three does not nearly APPROACH what was done to Corrie by the IDF!
Held in prison for a year for a technical border-crossing violation and trumped up "spy" charges versus being rolled over TWICE (the bastard backed up folks!) by a giant bulldozer for "illegally" standing in front of a family home that was targeted for demolition by an occupying foreign army in violation of MANY UN resolutions?
I think I'd take the former, wouldn't you all?
If these young people are anything like Rachel-Corrie-the-living-person it only makes this nasty and pathetic attempt to conflate their situation with What-happened-to-Rachel-Corrie-and-why that much WORSE!
When the hikers and the house-protectors are in charge and the snatchers, imprisoners, and Greener Girl-crushers are finally removed from power... then the world will have peace.
-matti.
Sadly, we won't be able to get the truth out of these CIA agents because the Iranians won't lower themselves to the point where they use US "enhanced interrogation techniques."
Two thoughts stood out to me while reading this article.
The lack of effort on the part of the U.S. "government" on behalf of these people is probably because their imprisonment is perfect PR for warmongering. The longer they are imprisoned, the more the warmongerers can use them.
Shon Meckfessel mentions an article which was being written by Shane Bauer at the time of Mr. Bauer's capture.
Is it possible for this draft of an article to be shown to the Iranians as an indicator of Mr. Bauer's history?
This article is just plain nasty.
If these three really are the innocent peace and justice activists that they say they are, that just makes it NASTIER!
"Look! Iran is mean to 'Rachel Corries' too!"
Pathetic.
yeah,...I feel, which is to say my first instinct is that the comparison was intended to minimize Rachel Corrie more than to ennoble the three young assholes who thought that the "duh" defense would see them through the outcome of another of their stupid ideas.
Only Americans and Brits it would seem, vacation in war zones.
This is tit for tat on the part of the Iranians. This is retaliation by the Iranian Government on the US Government for US troops invading and grabbing five mid-level Iranian diplomats from the Iranian Liaison Office in Arbil, Iraq back on 11, January 2007. The five diplomats were held by the US military without charge until 9, July 2009. So the three hikers should just kick back and relax, they probably aren't going anywhere for another year and a half or so. Like I have said before, who the Hell in their right mind goes hiking in a war zone. By the way, hasn't anybody told these three that you can get a pretty damn good hand held GPS unit for about a hundred dollars?
A comment thread on a "progressive" web site full of paranoid anti-Semitic ranting: what a surprise!
I sincerely wish Rachel Corrie had lived to return to the US and rethink some of her political positions. Alas, her passion moved her to do something inherently dangerous: get in the path of a large bulldozer. I don't think she was murdered by the IDF; I think she fell victim to her own reckless daring, and died far too young as a result.
Ya, right people make a big mistake; it is inherently dangerous to face down an IDF bulldozer and get in the way of the Zionist ethnic cleansing machines.
Anti-Semitic, call it anything you like. Who can take your opinion seriously? Here, take a look at some Semitic people being terrorized by mostly Jews of likely northern European extraction who believe in a Zionist myth, very similar to the story of the Arian race and its superiority. That time it was the Nazis that used the racist line to justify similar persecutions, which you may be surprised to know the Zionists supported. This time it is the Zionists justifying their own terrorism to continue their colonial expansion of an apartheid state designed, build on, and furthering its expansion on the basis of ethnic cleansing. Jews that cannot abide to live with Semites in peace on a land they stole and continue to steal.
http://warincontext.org/2010/07/28/israels-latest-act-of-ethnic-cleansing/
You have a right to self-delusion as long as you do not hurt others. You can believe whatever you like, but I know Rachel Corrie was murdered and by people just like you, who with their myths and beliefs, would take away the responsibility from the IDF and their soldiers for the innumerable and continuing crimes in support of the Zionist nightmare build on terror and lies.
For any future rants in which you wish to libel Zionism by comparing it to Nazism, please note that "Arian" refers to a 4th century CE Christian heresy, which is probably not what you have in mind.
I will admit your fantasy regarding Israel being run by "northern European" Jews is amusing.
Imagine that you had a child who, purely for the thrill of it--no politics involved--liked to go to demolition sites and get in front of large Caterpillar bulldozers. Is it possible that you might be worried for your child's safety, even if they wore an orange vest?
Please accept my apology for the spelling error I am obviously referring to the Aryan race myth and Nazi-Germany, and comparing it with the Zionist myth of Judaism and the land “given” by “god”….. to which all Jews have a right…. To “return” to, etc. etc.
In fact it might interest you to know that the Zionists not only supported the Nazi Aryan race myth used by German nationalists but saw it as an opportunity to foster in Jews the “race” myth and the nationalism of their own, dreamed up originally by Theodor Herzl. By so doing Zionists not only enhanced but deliberately exacerbated any persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, while making agreements with the Nazis to relocate cooperative “Zionist” supporters to Ersatz Israel.
The official SS newspaper, Das Schwarze Korps, proclaimed its support
for Zionism in a May 1935 front-page editorial: "The time may not be too far off when Palestine will again be able to receive its sons who have been lost to it for more than a thousand years. Our good wishes, together with official goodwill, go with them." Four months later, a similar article appeared in the SS paper:
The recognition of Jewry as a racial community based on blood and not on religion leads the German government to guarantee without reservation the racial separateness of this community. The government finds itself in complete agreement with the great spiritual movement within Jewry, the so-called Zionism, with its recognition of the solidarity of Jewry around the world and its rejection of all assimilationist notions. On this basis, Germany undertakes measures that will surely play a significant role in the future in the handling of the Jewish problem around the world.
A leading German shipping line began direct passenger liner service from Hamburg to Haifa, Palestine, in October 1933 providing "strictly kosher food on its ships, under the supervision of the Hamburg rabbinate." With official backing, Zionists worked tirelessly to "reeducate" Germany's Jews. As American historian Francis Nicosia put it in his 1985 survey, The Third Reich and the Palestine Question: "Zionists were encouraged to take their message to the Jewish community, to collect money, to show films on Palestine and generally to educate German Jews about Palestine. There was considerable pressure to teach Jews in Germany to cease identifying themselves as Germans and to awaken a new Jewish national identity in them."
Georg Kareski, the head of both the "Revisionist" Zionist State Organization and the Jewish Cultural League, and former head of the Berlin Jewish Community, declared in an interview with the Berlin daily Der Angriff at the end of 1935:
“For many years I have regarded a complete separation of the cultural affairs of the two peoples [Jews and Germans] as a pre-condition for living together without conflict... I have long supported such a separation, provided it is founded on respect for the alien nationality.
The Nuremberg Laws ... seem to me, apart from their legal provisions, to conform entirely with this desire for a separate life based on mutual respect... This interruption of the process of dissolution in many Jewish communities, which had been promoted through mixed marriages, is therefore, from a Jewish point of view, entirely welcome.
Zionist leaders in other countries echoed these views. Stephen S. Wise, president of the American Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Congress, told a New York rally in June 1938: "I am not an American citizen of the Jewish faith, I am a Jew... Hitler was right in one thing. He calls the Jewish people a race and we are a race."
The Interior Ministry's Jewish affairs specialist, Dr. Bernhard Loesener, expressed support for Zionism in an article that appeared in a November 1935 issue of the official Reichsverwaltungsblatt:
“If the Jews already had their own state in which the majority of them
were settled, then the Jewish question could be regarded as completely
resolved today, also for the Jews themselves. The least amount of opposition to the ideas underlying the Nuremberg Laws have been shown by the Zionists, because they realize at once that these laws represent the only correct solution for the Jewish people as well. For each nation must have its own state as the outward expression of its particular nationhood.”
(Quoting from Zionism and the Third Reich by Mark Weber)
It seems the political philosophy of Zionists and Nazis was not only quite similar but parallel as they cooperated openly and saw eye to eye then. Now it seems that the Nazi methods are acceptable too where they help achieve the Zionist nationalist ends.
I am very impressed with your familiarity with the work of Holocaust denier Mark Weber. Are you a David Irving fan as well, or does your taste in neo-Nazis run more toward David Duke?
Although I did consider replying to some of your falsehoods, I have recalled the words of the American Jewish sage Barney Frank, to the effect that arguing with some people is as useful as arguing with a dining room table.
Holocaust denier; Anti Semitic; Your just full of these meaningless broad strokes like a delinquent spray painting over the truth, followed by innuendo and name calling, without a single, not a single, fact at your disposal to deny one iota of what I quoted.
You cannot reply to falsehoods that are not false and that is what defines your inability and limitations, nothing else. I’m glad you learned a little history of the Zionists you seem to support blindly in your ignorance. And thank you for the opportunity to enlighten you. I hope you do some reading and research in future.
And by the way just look up “The Transfer (Haavara) Agreement" (which promoted the emigration of German Jews to Palestine) implemented in 1933 and abandoned at the beginning of WWII. It represented an important example of the cooperation between Hitler’s Germany and international Zionism. Through this agreement, Hitler’s Third Reich did more than any other government during the 1930’s to support Jewish development in Palestine and further the Zionist goals. It boosted the Nazi economy at a time when Jews worldwide were encouraged by other Zionist organizations to boycott German goods. Goods worth a total of 139.5 million Reich mark were transferred by 1939. The Agreement also made it possible to settle a large number of German Jews in Palestine.
My taste in Neo Nazis indeed, name calling is for the ignorant who know nothing better. Do you deny the German, etc. articles I quoted? That is the only question. Would you like the complete references of Der Angriff, Dec. 23, 1935, in: E. Kern, ed., Verheimlichte Dokumente; or "Dr. Wise Urges Jews to Declare Selves as Such," New York Herald Tribune, June 13, 1938, p. 12. or Lucy Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945 (New York: Bantam, pb., 1976), pp. 253-254.;
Max Nussbaum, "Zionism Under Hitler," Congress Weekly (New York: American Jewish Congress), Sept. 11, 1942.;
F. Nicosia, The Third Reich (1985), pp. 58-60, 217.; Edwin Black, The
Transfer Agreement (1984), p. 175. ?
Google "Mark Weber" and "Institute for Historical Review" and see what you get, though it does seem as if Weber has recently backed away from "Revisionism" as a lost cause and decided to devote himself to other forms of anti-Semitic propaganda.
Yes, 60,000 German Jews left Nazi Germany for Mandate Palestine/Eretz Israel in 1933-39, at a time when Nazi policy was to force Jewish emigration. As a result, these people were not murdered in 1941-45. Do you think this was a good or a bad thing?
It is true that Zionism believes Jews are a nation as well as a religious community. This does not mean that Zionism shared Nazi racial ideology. The laws of slavery and Jim Crow considered persons with a white parent and a black parent to be black. Reportedly, President Obama identified himself as black on his 2010 Census form, even though his mother was white. This does not mean that Obama supports slavery or Jim Crow.
It is also true that in 1933-39 Zionist organizations worked with the Nazis to arrange for Jewish immigration to the Yishuv. The Soviet Union had a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany in 1939-41, then fought Germany in an alliance with Britain and the US in 1941-45. This did not make the USSR either a fascist or a liberal democratic state.
You write : Yes, 60,000 German Jews ....at a time when Nazi ... [Here you could add; AND ZIONIST..] policy was to force Jewish emigration. As a result, these people were not murdered in 1941-45.
You ask " Do [I] ... think this was a good or a bad thing?"
Firstly thank you for acknowledging the facts I present, secondly to correct your figures: The Zionists had limited success in their drive to relocate German Jews to Palestine. Of the two and a half million Jews seeking refuge from the Nazis between 1935 and 1943, less than 9% went to settle in Palestine. Quoting The Order of the SS (1981), Professor Frederic Reider, "By the end of 1939, 150,000 Austrian Jews had left, by choice, to go to live in Palestine, as had also 120,000 German Jews and 78,000 from Bohemia/Moravia. This emigration had been organised by the Third Reich, with Hagannah’s approval, and was carried out clandestinely by boat, despite the draconian measures taken by Britain to stop it."
But what a stupid question! You should be asking who and what set up the parameters of how many, and who, were saved from the holocaust and what were the criteria. Of course it is a good thing that peoples' lives were saved from such a horror, but when you have Zionists in power who care more about their power and the future of their state enterprise for power, than the lives of the people that they pretend to represent, and they deliberately use the carrots and sticks in collaboration with the Nazis, then shouldn't it bring them and their whole movement into question?
Quoting Rabbi Moshe Shonfeld, in his book The Holocaust Victims Accuse (1977):
The rescue committee of the Jewish Agency falsely bore the name 'rescue'. It would be more appropriate to call it the Committee for Covering Up, Ignoring and Silencing . . . the thoughts of Zionist officials and especially the chairman, Greenbaum, were steeped in plots and schemes to use the holocaust and its consequences to build up the national home and to realize the demands for establishing a Jewish State.”
If you want to talk about callous calculation: Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist leader who had arranged the Balfour Declaration and was to become the first president of Israel, made this Zionist policy very explicit: "The hopes of Europe's six million Jews are centred on emigration. I was asked: 'Can you bring six million Jews to Palestine?' I replied, 'No.' ... From the depths of the tragedy I want to save ... young people [for Palestine]. The old ones will pass. They will bear their fate or they will not. They are dust, economic and moral dust in a cruel world. ... Only the branch of the young shall survive. They have to accept it."[Chaim Weizmann reporting to the Zionist Congress in 1937 on his testimony before the Peel Commission in London, July 1937. Cited in Yahya, p. 55.]
The Zionist leader Yitzhak Greenbaum, said in a speech in Tel Aviv, Palestine, on February 18th, 1943 “One should resist this wave to push Zionist activities to secondary importance”. He said 'One cow in Palestine is more important than all the European Jews'. The motto of the Zionists was Rak B'Dam (Only by blood will we get the land).
So now the Zionists milk the Holocaust as well as the selected “Jewish” cows that they moved to Israel for their blood and treasure, to feed their power all accomplished with a similar philosophy as well as the help and collaboration of the Nazis!
Come back to today and just take a little look at "Zionist shared Nazi racial ideology" that is being taught to Israeli youth:
http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/07/
the-summer-camp-of-destruction-israeli-high-schoolers
-join-in-the-destruction-of-a-bedouin-town/
Your arguments are simply putting up "straw men" comparisons, but not looking at the facts, either present or historical. "A" does not mean "B" even if you suggest it. "A" is a fact and mean exactly what it is, not what you may try to imply. There is no "rationality" in racism; following the X or Y chromosome... Zionism is a most explicit form of racism suggesting a nationalist right based on a mythical tribe/race/religion/ritual/traditional/indoctrination or whatever, denying the humanity of any who do not accept the "god given” right of the Jewish people. Be a "Mench" first, and accept the rest of humanity as your equal without more or less rights, without excuses, without threats, and without fear and see where it gets you.
"Quoting The Order of the SS (1981), Professor Frederic Reider, 'By the end of 1939, 150,000 Austrian Jews had left, by choice, to go to live in Palestine, as had also 120,000 German Jews and 78,000 from Bohemia/Moravia. This emigration had been organised by the Third Reich, with Hagannah’s approval, and was carried out clandestinely by boat, despite the draconian measures taken by Britain to stop it.'"
I do not know or trust your source, and these figures are not to be believed. They report 348,000 Jews from Austria, Germany, and Czechoslovakia immigrating by the end of 1939. The total legal Jewish immigration to Palestine in 1933-39, from all countries, was recorded by the British at 204,076. Historian Benny Morris estimates illegal immigration in this period at 50,000.
The "quote" from Weizmann looks suspect, since there were more than six million Jews in Europe in 1937, while at the same time there is no reason why Weizmann would have believed all of them to be at risk.
"Zionism is a most explicit form of racism suggesting a nationalist right based on a mythical tribe/race/religion/ritual/traditional/indoctrination or whatever, denying the humanity of any who do not accept the "god given” right of the Jewish people."
Zionism is not racism; the connection between Jews and Eretz Israel is historic, not mythical; Zionism does not deny the humanity of non-Jews, nor assert a belief in racial superiority. It is Jewish nationalism, which many people simply cannot abide. As you already know, I am not one of them.
Where is your bridge sir?
And how much does net connection cost under it anyway?
Schilling is just trying to get everyone's eye off the ball.
From origin he could be nurtured and schooled to do so. Alternatively he could be a man twisted by some misfortune and even seduced by an innately selfish and cruel disposition, as in an eye for an eye.
Indeed he is most likely all of this.
After all millions of Israelis and their supporters are the same. Millions of US citizens are the same. Millions of Westerners are the same. For that matter all of man kind have been and can be the same.
This is why it is the deed that counts. Crushing Rachel Corrie was was the action of a man who denies his own humanity; the action of an upright walking animal who probably got a hard on in doing so. Those who deny the significance of this are the same.
Given what Schilling writes, he is such an animal.
"Schilling is just trying to get everyone's eye off the ball.
From origin he could be nurtured and schooled to do so."
I have no recollections of receiving "eye off the ball" lessons at home or at school.
"Alternatively he could be a man twisted by some misfortune and even seduced by an innately selfish and cruel disposition, as in an eye for an eye."
Though I do like the Richard III imagery, I don't understand how "an eye for eye" enters into it.
"Indeed he is most likely all of this.
After all millions of Israelis and their supporters are the same. Millions of US citizens are the same. Millions of Westerners are the same. For that matter all of man kind have been and can be the same."
Glad to see you realize that non-Westerners can be bad.
"Crushing Rachel Corrie was was the action of a man who denies his own humanity;"
Or it might have been a tragic accident. The crews of IDF combat bulldozers have a limited field of vision. See these photos:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:D9R_rpg-armor06a.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:D9-idf_pic660.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/IDF-D9L001.jpg
This image shows Ms. Corrie (uninjured) on the day of her death, with IDF bulldozers in the background. It looks to me as if they have anti-RPG screens on their side windows, but perhaps not to the front:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rachel_Corrie_2003_March_16_cropped.jpg
"the action of an upright walking animal"
All humans are upright walking animals (Homo sapiens).
"who probably got a hard on in doing so."
This seems overly speculative, at best.
"Those who deny the significance of this are the same.
Given what Schilling writes, he is such an animal."
Yes, I am a Homo sapiens. No, I do not get sexually aroused by women being crushed to death, and might be offended by the implication, if I took your rhetorical performance seriously.
Maybe these "students" are like illegals who get caught in the US and can be put in prison for months on end until they are deported.
While I would like to see them released and unharmed, this case has been very troubling to me. Apparently we have three students with unlimited resources to travel where they want in the world and they decide to hike in a dangerous country (Iraq) along the border of a country that is more or less in some form of war with the US and Israel. They either have very poor judgement or they are agents for the CIA or some other agency.
If you look behind what is being put out by the American media, this thing just does not add up.
I don't understand these comments and attitudes; like you have to be EITHER Pro-Israel or Pro-Iran. I don't care much for either (or any) monotheistic, patriarchal and repressive regimes that imprison and/or execute non-violent political protesters.
And haven't you people got the memo yet that they were captured by Iranian police illegally on the IRAQ side of the border; a police officer later arrested by Iran?
Free the Hikers!
Well not quite as simple as you put it but, it is quite interesting to read the whole article of June 24 by By Babak Sarfaraz in The Nation on the capture and the capturors of these hikers:
http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/investigations/
international/1338/us_hikers_were_seized_in_iraq/?page=entire
I think especially relevant is:
“These new revelations,[refer to capture on the Iraqi side of the border] if indeed true, show the hikers have been victims of political machinations and manipulation,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. “The fact that they have been held for so long without prosecution strongly supports this trend. Under Iranian laws, they have committed no crime and should be released immediately. Their Iranian lawyer, who has studied the judicial files against them, has consistently maintained the only charge against them is illegal entry, which is subject to a fine and not arbitrary detention for so long. With this new information, even that charge appears fabricated, and there is no basis for holding them.”
I don't see how these "hikers" are like Rachel Corrie, except that they are U.S. citizens.
Rachel Corrie was murdered by the Israeli "Defense" Forces as she stood peacefully in front of a Palestinian home, trying to prevent it from being bulldozed. Rachel Corrie was wearing a bright orange vest, and was clearly visible. Unfortunately, she believed that a spark of divinity in the soul of the IDF soldier would prevent him from killing someone in cold blood.
But IDF soldiers have no problem with murder in cold blood, and the IDF soldier driving the bulldozer drove right over Rachel Corrie, and then, for good measure, backed over her body. Rachel Corrie is dead. This is an important difference between Rachel Corrie and the "hikers."
These "hikers" are alive, and are not being mistreated by the Iranians, who have as much right to arrest illegal aliens as any other country, such as the U.S. And how lucky for the "hikers"that they are not like, say, Tristan Anderson or the art student from NYC, both U.S. citizens, both of whom suffered permanent head injuries when IDF soldiers shot metal tear gas cannisters straight at their heads. The art student lost one of her eyes as a result, and Tristan Anderson is permanently brain-damaged.
So much better to be at the mercy of the Iranians than of the Israelis. The "hikers" will eventually be released and write books and possibly become rich. But U.S. citizens at the mercy of the Israelis can expect death or disability, inflicted with the weapons that our taxes pay for.
Wow - I cannot believe the reactions on this article. Why the venom, the commentor was clearly not comparing their detention situation to Rachel Corrie's murder. I believe that is crystal clear.
He is comparing their work for peace and justice for Palestinians.
And since I would guess everyone commenting has never met either Ms. Corrie or these three, you probably should refrain from the venomous comments.
Also, I do not see the issue with a trip to the mountains after witnessing the horrors of the Israeli occupation. Yes, being Americans perhaps they had the money and privelage for a trip that most, if not all, Palestinians could not take.
But at least they are using their money, time, and privelage to work for justice and place themselves as witnesses to humanitarian crimes. Which is a lot more than I can say, and a lot more than many of you here can say as well.
Let's take a step back and get a grip folks.
We got a grip on the reality of the situation and the analysis and implications are pretty well delineated below.
Wow.
Is your bridge anywhere that other fellow's?
Or do you maybe even SHARE one?
"A lot of people really think they are spies, or, if not, then some idiots, going on an extreme silly adventure. But no, we have a deep involvement in the region. The irony is we were even doing work on some of the issues that Iran speaks about."
_______________________
The Corrie comparison is unfortunate, at best, because it's too easily misunderstood.
Otherwise, it's nice that their friend loyally supports the three strayed lambs, but not especially persuasive.
Meckfessel is mistaken to think that his assertion that they all have "a deep involvement in the region" refutes or somehow definitively settles the open question of whether the detainees are spies or idiots. Perhaps this vague reassurance is the result of bad editing.
This article doesn't add anything of substance to the story.
C'mon, the quote you select and -even more so- the "three Rachel Corries" line just SCREAM of leading questions by the interviewer.
The mid-sentence cropping of the Corrie line and the way he says "REALLY think they are spies" shows this quite well in my opinion.
The editor may have been responsible for the ridiculously editorializing headline and the general skewing of the kid's words, but the interviewer (and writer?) are clearly involved too.
I myself am not at all "misunderst(anding)" the activist kid's comparison of his friends to Rachel Corrie. I would say I am properly understanding the journalist's and editor's obviously intentional propaganda-misuse -and likely inducement- of that comparison.
I don't think I'm unique in this, or in not particularily caring whether these guys are "spies or idiots" OR in not trusting anything on the subject from Governments of Iran, the U.S., AND "Israel", or the Corporatist "media" for that matter.
I just don't like Haaretz attempting to start a "Look! Iran is mean to idealistic activists (too)!" campaign by invoking the murder of Rachel Corrie by the IDF.
Y'know, 'cause its nasty and wrong?
-matti.
I'm puzzled by your scolding tone, matti, since apart from some very minor divergence in our respective guesswork we don't seem to be in disagreement.
This apparent typo caught my eye, "...no official charges have been made, and there is no trial date scheduled. All of which leaves the "American hikers" as they are called, in total limbo."
Clearly it should have read, "...in total Gitmo."
I see no comparison to Rachel Corrie, other than their claimed solidarity with Palestinians. A very loose basis for such a comparison and insulting to someone who intentionally put her life on the line for Palestine, not someone who took a walk in the woods one day and inadvertently stepped over a line.
These 'hikers' could be anything from agents through simplistic bloody fools to hikers. Nobody can be certain.
But beside the stupidity of bringing Corrie's name into it, one thing is certain: Detention without trial should always be strenuously questioned. Justice cannot be guaranteed but the record can be examined and questioned in turn.
I feel bad for these so called “hikers” I don’t agree with their detention. Charges should be brought against them ASAP by the Iranian government and if they are innocent they should be released.
Just imagine if three Iranian kids or hikers cross the US border by mistake from Mexico with sympathies towards Palestinian cause. They will be sent to Gitmo for indefinite detention and labeled as the hardcore terrorist!
Under the new USA rules of internationl law.
Mr. Ahmed got a $2,000 bounty for each of these terrorists.
And since they might return to the battlefield they will be held indefinetly.
Luckily in Iran they have had contact with relatives and have avoided waterboarding and other tortures.
Of course everyone should follow the Geneva Conventions, but once a nation goes rouge as the USA has it has no standing to demand protections it denies others.
I do hope if innocent they are released.
"... a country that has little use for their idealism"
I couldn't agree more! It's a country in which idealism is mocked in empty campaign marketing and reduced to inane slogans like "Yes, We Can!" and "Hope and Change".
I still can't understand how so many people fall into this dualistic logic that they are either spies OR stupid hikers.
Imagine, if you would, that US relations with Canada had gotten extremely chilly/hostile. Would that make people any less interested in seeing Niagara Falls in NY just because it borders Canada? Would the natural splendor of the sight be any less because of troubled foreign relations?
Now imagine in this scenario, while taking a boat tour at the base of the falls on the American side, dastardly Canadian mounties crossed that invisible line, captured the sightseers, and brought them to Ottawa, all the while claiming they were on the Canadian side.
It's quite plausible to me.
Also, I wasn't alive during the last Iranian hostage crisis, but it seemed to foster a lot of patriotism, the good kind and the redneck variety... A meme I have been detecting from the rednecks this time around is that the hikers, being from liberal/hippie/commie Berkeley, aren't REAL Americans, and therefore don't deserve support like the embassy hostages did. Despicable!
Free the Hikers!
See here:
http://www.aprovecho.net/Assets/NFA_Fall09_WEB.pdf
http://freethehikers.org/josh/journey2000_slide2.html
Learn something about these kids before you go talking dirt about them.
Nice try,Dud.
I hope these three are released soon.
Three Jewish 30 somethings sneak into Iran,with no visas, against advice from locals.(Iraqi Kurds)
This is beyond credulity.
Analysis: Iran has every right to investigate& try them.
As a Palestinian I think I'd feel a certain amount of frustration with everyday life. I can only think of the added desperation knowing these three are on my side. And all of these rallies to argue for their release. It's ironic that the government they turn to to for help is the same one whose policies they deride. C'mon, you can't have it both ways. I do hope they are released soon.