Posted on 01/16/2007 12:37:10 PM PST by nuconvert
U.S. wrestlers receive warm welcome in Iran despite tension with Washington
Associated Press Sports
Jan 16, 2007
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -Twenty U.S. wrestlers received a warm welcome when they arrived in Iran on Tuesday for a tournament, despite the high running tension between Washington and Tehran.
The U.S. wrestling team arrived in Bandar Abbas, a southern Iranian port, only a week after U.S. President George W. Bush called for increased pressure on Iran and Syria as part of his new strategy to defeat the insurgency in Iraq.
Local government officials met the American wrestlers and 12 young girls, dressed in traditional Iranian dresses, gave them bouquets of white and pink flowers. One of the girls greeted the Americans in English.
The Americans were exempted from having their fingerprints taken - a normal requirement for U.S. citizens visiting Iran - and boarded a bus to their hotel. Police escorted the bus as it drove away from the airport.
Bandar Abbas lies on the northern side of the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf, which is patrolled by U.S. warships. American battleships can be seen from the city.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
(sob) The Iranians are always just so nice to us and we're such big meanies!
The Hulkster always gets a round of applause..Hogan Knows Best.
"That's right, brother!!!!"
"In the last decade, USA Wrestling has competed in Iran six times. It's a competitive necessity, wrestlers said.
"To be the best, you have to wrestle the best -- and a lot of the best guys in the world are over there," said Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling."
more here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/13/AR2007011301044.html
This is a bit bizarre, I find. We're on the verge of nuking these guys practically but we still play refereed grab a$$ with them?
Twenty American potential human shields arrive in Iran
The title should be:
Twenty American potential human shields arrive in Iran
____________________________________________________
Here we go again. Hostage crisis redux?
They are not FedGov employees. It's just luck that Iran is such a strong ally of the US$ that this traveling show is perfectly safe.
Also, I dont think the average Iranian gives a bleep what the Mullahs and Ahm-a-nut-job say.
I wouldn't want to take these guys hostage, would you?
"American battleships can be seen from the city."
I thought that was the best line of the story!
W doesn't like wrestlers? What tension with Washington?
why were these people allowed to go to Iran? All it does is promote propaganda.
Fake! It is not fake. Wait until one of the Iron Sheiks guys but the Iranian nuclear atomic drops on one of the members of the Great Satan team, I will show you fake.
What you gonna do when the Iron Sheik runs wild on you!!
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