I wonder how it could be possible for anyone to cross the Iranian border by mistake? The American hikers who got caught, seem to be quite intelligent, so I cannot understand how they could have made a mistake like this? Surely in the light of sensitive relations with Iran, and a good example of what had happened in North Korea, they would have been a little more careful? Does not make sense to me:
| Quote: |
PHILADELPHIA – Three American hikers detained in Iran for nearly two weeks entered the country by mistake and their families are hoping for a quick resolution that will reunite them with their children, the families said in a statement Tuesday.
Joshua Fattal, freelance journalist Shane Bauer and Bauer's girlfriend, Sarah Shourd, were hiking near a waterfall on a mountain in Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region on July 31 when they accidentally crossed the border into Iran, according to family members.
They contacted a colleague to say they had entered Iran by mistake and were surrounded by troops, according to a Kurdish official in Iraq. Iran's state television said the Americans were arrested after they did not heed warnings from Iranian border guards.
|
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090812/ap_on_re_us/us_iran_missing_americans;_ylt=AsNUoYMvnkn5kX2edTHLVw0Gw_IE;_ylu=X3oDMTJzN2RqbWRnBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwODEyL3VzX2lyYW5fbWlzc2luZ19hbWVyaWNhbnMEY3BvcwMzBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDZmFtaWxpZXNhbWVy
Last edited by deanhills on Wed Aug 12, 2009 7:44 am; edited 1 time in total International borders are not always well marked in remote regions. It does seem very careless to be hiking in that area without being sure of your position, though. The Iranians were no doubt concerned that it might be a deliberate border violation, so it is no surprise that they were detained.
The hikers were lucky Iran had no reason to suspect them of foul play and that they had no need to falsely accuse them for propaganda reasons, otherwise their visit might have been quite lengthy.
I know of one case where a government much more friendly to the US than Iran held some US citizens for almost a year, apparently because at least one of them was a friend of a person that government had a serious issue with.
| SonLight wrote: |
International borders are not always well marked in remote regions. It does seem very careless to be hiking in that area without being sure of your position, though. The Iranians were no doubt concerned that it might be a deliberate border violation, so it is no surprise that they were detained.
The hikers were lucky Iran had no reason to suspect them of foul play and that they had no need to falsely accuse them for propaganda reasons, otherwise their visit might have been quite lengthy.
I know of one case where a government much more friendly to the US than Iran held some US citizens for almost a year, apparently because at least one of them was a friend of a person that government had a serious issue with. |
I thought they were still being detained, did you think they were freed already? I would have imagined the whole of that area, which is notoriously a conflict area between the Kurds and Iranians would have been a very high-risk area to be in.Deanhills, I stand corrected. I didn't know if the hikers had been freed when I wrote my post, but I definitely left the impression that I thought they had been.
Recent stories indicate that Iraq has formally requested they be released, and that the US has received official notification (by way of Switzerland) that they have been detained.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-hikers10-2009aug10,0,739438.story
We can only hope that the Iranians decide to release them after thoroughly investigating the case. If they can turn up any dirt on the hikers, they could feel there is more propaganda benefit than cost to them if they make up some charges against them. | SonLight wrote: |
| We can only hope that the Iranians decide to release them after thoroughly investigating the case. If they can turn up any dirt on the hikers, they could feel there is more propaganda benefit than cost to them if they make up some charges against them. |
Agreed, but if I were the authorities in Iran, and given their dislike of the Kurds and the strained relationship with the US, they probably have very good reason to be suspicious. One wonders how those hikers got to be there in the first place? Does not make sense at all!Haha, personally I wouldnt go hiking remote regions next to crazy countries that chop hands off of thieves and/or kill people for wearing bathing suits etc.
If we stop here for a moment and think objectively, we can also say that may be those hikers were actually U.S. spies sent to find out about Iranian nuclear ambitions. I don't think that would be difficult for U.S. government to set up with adequate backup plan if they actually get caught(which they actually did).
What do all of you think about this hypothesis?
| hunnyhiteshseth wrote: |
If we stop here for a moment and think objectively, we can also say that may be those hikers were actually U.S. spies sent to find out about Iranian nuclear ambitions. I don't think that would be difficult for U.S. government to set up with adequate backup plan if they actually get caught(which they actually did).
What do all of you think about this hypothesis? |
I don't know whetherthey are spies, and wish that they are not, but on the same hand, I won't blame the Iranians for being worried that they are spies. The only part that counts in their favour is that they appear to have "youth" on their side, and they also appear to look "innocent". I hope they really are. 
When watching movies and stuff about spies, I always wonder how much of that stuff that goes on in real life... I mean even if lots of it is going on, we'd never hear about it, unless someone screwed up real big so that it made the news...
| LimpFish wrote: |
| When watching movies and stuff about spies, I always wonder how much of that stuff that goes on in real life... I mean even if lots of it is going on, we'd never hear about it, unless someone screwed up real big so that it made the news... |
Exactly!! The real spies may not be having all those hi-fi stuff of James Bond, but they do have to do many covert operations. | hunnyhiteshseth wrote: |
| LimpFish wrote: | | When watching movies and stuff about spies, I always wonder how much of that stuff that goes on in real life... I mean even if lots of it is going on, we'd never hear about it, unless someone screwed up real big so that it made the news... |
Exactly!! The real spies may not be having all those hi-fi stuff of James Bond, but they do have to do many covert operations. |
You mean to say James Bond was not real?? ... 
yea, you all remember that thing in the media about that "spy-rock" in Russia somewhere? Allegedly, it was an electronic device hidden inside a rock-looking shell, that was put in a park somewhere, might have been Moscow. People (probably some kind of spies) could then download info to it by standing within a few metres of it...
I'm not sure if the thing was entirely true or blown out of proportion by the media..
| LimpFish wrote: |
yea, you all remember that thing in the media about that "spy-rock" in Russia somewhere? Allegedly, it was an electronic device hidden inside a rock-looking shell, that was put in a park somewhere, might have been Moscow. People (probably some kind of spies) could then download info to it by standing within a few metres of it...
I'm not sure if the thing was entirely true or blown out of proportion by the media.. |
Isn't Google doing that anyway? It looks like Putin used the spy-rock incident to further his political purposes. Whether there is any truth to it is unclear. Perhaps the spy-rock itself was planted, or perhaps it was used by someone but not by the accused. This source does not give much credence to the spying charges:
http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Military-and-naval-science/Spy-rock-incident-points-to-Russias-security-state-mentality.html
| Quote: |
| The timing and presentation of the Russian spy rock story suggests an attempt to smear independent non-governmental organizations by suggesting they are tools of foreign influence. |
I hope the hikers don't fall victim to a similar scam. I can hardly blame the Iranians for doing a very thorough investigation of the incident before thinking about whether to release the hikers, however. I've just googled trying to find updates about their imprisonment in Iran and could not find anything. Does anyone else know whether any progress has been made, is there a link available? | deanhills wrote: |
| I've just googled trying to find updates about their imprisonment in Iran and could not find anything. Does anyone else know whether any progress has been made, is there a link available? |
The last stories I could find were all from August 20,2009 which is really not that long ago. I presume that (since the lack of stories on any release) they are still being held in Iran and not a lot of information has been given to the US government.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=8368888 In this article, anyhow, it says that Iran has " disclosed little information about the hikers' status since their July 31 detainment" and this was written in Aug. 20 so... | missdixy wrote: |
The last stories I could find were all from August 20,2009 which is really not that long ago. I presume that (since the lack of stories on any release) they are still being held in Iran and not a lot of information has been given to the US government.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=8368888 In this article, anyhow, it says that Iran has " disclosed little information about the hikers' status since their July 31 detainment" and this was written in Aug. 20 so... |
Thanks missdixy. Looks as though they are still being held, and it must be a great worry, does not look like they know where they are.
