Posted on 02/16/2011 5:31:12 PM PST by BfloGuy
It started in Tehran, where three hapless American hikers were taken hostage by Iran's revolutionary guards in July 2009. The three Berkeleyites showed no common sense hiking in a region like that, but WikiLeaks revelations last October show that Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd were nabbed by Iranians in Iraqi territory.
That means their detention was a cross-border kidnapping by a state, a provocative act that called for a strong U.S. response. There was none. As of Feb. 6, they're on trial for their lives.
As details of that sorry story seeped out, it unleashed a wave of other bad actors making similar provocations.
On Jan. 6, 2011, the State Department registered a "strong" complaint against Vietnam over a brutal assault on U.S. diplomat Christian Marchant a day earlier. Vietnamese security goons slammed a car door repeatedly on Marchant's legs as he tried to visit Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a prominent dissident.
Nothing seems to have come of it.
On Jan. 27, 2011, a U.S. Embassy employee in Pakistan, Raymond Davis, shot and killed two carjackers in self-defense. Despite having diplomatic immunity, he was arrested the next day to face murder charges — for which he may be hanged.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Bugs Bunny had the right idea: “THIS MEANS WAR!”
President Carter is John Wayne compared to Mr. Obama. The next two years are going to be a very rough ride.
100 DAYS OF BEING A LAUGHINGSTOCK IN PARIS
Paris, France. It is very cool to be a French intel guy. A spectacular meal at a Parisian bistro with $90 entrées and a $200 bottle of Bordeaux? No problem. I’d known this fellow since he got me out of a jam in Sudan years ago. His James Bond days are over, but still, riding a desk for the DGSE — Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (General Directorate for External Security), France’s military intel agency - in Paris has its decided benefits.
One of them is not being infected with Obamamania. “My agency considers him a joke,” he confides. “Every day there is some fresh lunacy that we cannot believe. Mr. Bush would often make us angry. But at this man we just laugh.”
“In truth, it also makes us sad,” he continued. “French resentment towards America is strong, so being able to laugh at your country feels good. But it is such a sad and strange thing to see America - America The Great! - do something so crazy as to elect this ridiculous man.”
“There are many people in America who think he isn’t a legitimate president as he wasn’t born in the US and isn’t a natural citizen. What do you think?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had reason to make an inquiry.”
“There are a lot of people convinced he is a traitor who hates America and is actively determined to destroy it. Any opinion on that?”
He didn’t shrug at this. After a long slow sip of wine, he mused, “I would not go that far. Many of his actions, however, are very puzzling because they are so counter-productive regarding America’s best interests. There seems to be a consistent pattern in that direction.”
“What does Sarkozy think of him?”
“Nothing but contempt.”
After a pause he asked, “And Langley?”
“Well, if you thought the war they waged against Bush was intense, it was nothing compared to how they’re going to screw Obama. He has tried to gut them with the ‘torture memo’ release and slashing their budgets. The morale is depressed, sullen, and enraged. You know what a left-wing outfit Langley is. They thought he was their boy and they feel betrayed. All kinds of damaging stuff on him will be appearing via their media friends.”
He nodded. “And in Tel Aviv City?”
He was referring to the huge underground city complex of Langley’s underneath the US Embassy in the Israeli capital. “That’s an interesting question. You know how vast and deep the relationship is there. Langley is making every effort to overcome the total and massive distrust their Israeli colleagues have for Obama, whom they know is selling them down the Jordan River. So far though this effort is in words. The Israelis are waiting to see what Langley does.”
He said nothing. I smiled. “You guys wouldn’t be Langley’s cutout for thwarting BO regarding Israel, would you? I’d never suspect that...”
He continued to say nothing, gave me only a slight smile in return, and poured me another glass of wine. “The Bordeaux is good, yes?” I nodded.
“You know, the French media worships this man the same as yours in the US. All of this ‘100 days’ talk, it is impossibly stupid. Most anyone in the French elite, the business leaders, Sarko’s people, they all know this. They all think this is some crazy joke of the Americans. But it is a very, very dangerous joke. For 100 days your president has been a laughingstock among the tout le monde No one may be laughing 100 days or 10 months from now.”
He leaned forward. “The world can go - how do you say - sideways with this man very quickly. No one he has working for him knows what they are doing - possibly excepting Mrs. Clinton - and he certainly does not. All of us in our little community are worried - us, our friends in Berlin, London, Tel Aviv, and Langley too as you say. It is not like the barbarians at the gates. It is everythere are no gates. The Somalis, Chavez, Iran, Putin, Beijing, the ‘Norks” as you call them, the list is long and it is growing. We are not sure what to do.”
It took me a moment to respond. “The best thing that has happened now is Obama making Langley his enemy. They will be cooperating with you more, be more a part of your worried community. Working together, you can undermine his efforts more effectively, block and maybe even repair the damage.”
It was my turn to lean forward. “Then again, all together you could be more pro-active. The man is a mystery. Nobody can make public his actual birth certificate, or even the particular hospital he was born in, or his college grades, or how he got into Harvard, or how he made editor of the Harvard Law Review and never wrote a single article for it. It goes on and on. He really is a Zero. I think all of you guys should find all of this out and make it known.”
I added, “The quicker the better, before the laughing stops and the real dangers begin.”
“What is that phrase you use?” he asked. “Something to consider?”
I laughed. “Yes, there is much to consider - and much that you can do. I mean, really, if the Soviet Union could be dismantled, so can this presidency.”
It was a beautiful April afternoon in Paris. He walked me back to my hotel. It could be that the times we live in may get even more interesting.
***It started in Tehran, where three hapless American hikers were taken hostage by Iran’s revolutionary guards in July 2009. The three Berkeleyites showed no common sense hiking in a region like that,****
What do you expect when one of them had a major in Peace and Conflict studies.
Another in environmental studies and Arabic. After all, they were Berkeleyites! Who would dare mess with them!
http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/08/03_hikers.shtml
Wonder if they are sick of rice every day.
No excuse for Bama not laying to with the goodstuff ~ maybe even right on the bad guys themselves.
This is a "teachable moment" where Obama can instruct funny little foreign terrorist guys to keep their hands to themselves no matter what their dictators tell them to do.
The chick was bailed leaving the two guys
to face the court.
“That means their detention was a cross-border kidnapping by a state, a provocative act that called for a strong U.S. response.”
That is an act of war. Were I President, I would have ordered the Air Force to have reduced an Iranian airbase to rubble and pockmarks, then publicly announced that if the hostages (and I would purposely refer to them in those terms) were not released, unharmed, within 12 hours that we would begin to get very upset and act accordingly. I would couple that with scrambling a wing of bombers to Diego Garcia and send an additional carrier toward the Gulf. Guaranteed, the camel jockeys blink, and then don’t F with the US for a good, long while. Nor would anyone else.
reminds me of the guy who liked bears so much he though they reciprocated the feelings. Turned out they did like him--for dinner.
I’m sorry, but whether they were in Iraq or Iran they seriously had no business being there. If it was remote enough for Iranians to grab them, then it was remote enough for some fanatics to cut their heads off.
They’re lucky to be alive, and they probably were spying.
Unfortunately, our "big stick" has been tucked into the back of the closet for a while. But, we still continue to talk softly.
Yea. There's all sorts of state secrets to be found out in the middle of nowhere by young kids in hiking boots.
Are your children backpacking out there? These weren’t 13 year-olds, either; they were old enough to know better. Maybe they had a legitimate reason to be there; I find that highly doubtful. Whatever problems we have with Iran, there is no reason to have these 3 idiots/spies/whatever complicate matters
What evidence do you have that the US government or military had anything to do with these people being where they were, or any knowledge that they were there? What possible government purpose could that serve?
I have no evidence of anything; as an avid backpacker I simply don’t believe that these people really thought this was a great place to break in their new boots. WESTERNERS ARE MURDERED THERE FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN BEING WESTERNERS. Is my suspicion so difficult to fathom? I have no idea who they worked for, if in fact they were spying. I’m sure our State Department warns people away from both of those countries, and that alone is reason to prevent them from playing any role in a diplomatic clash between us & Iran. If they are released they should be jailed in the US for causing this (or do they share no responsibility for their plight?).
What bugs me is that our soldiers were fighting and dying in Iraq while these young hikers are just out to have a good time in the same area, if that happens to be the case. Perhaps they thought they could make peace.
It really is strange; as an American I hope they come out of it OK, but they have some ‘splaining to do. A growing trend in the US is to charge hikers when they need rescue; what would be the bill for this?
They will never be able to repay in $ whoever bails them out or pays their fines. I feel sorrow for them. They have learned reality the hard way. They have been deceived by our educational system and parents. Now, they will hopefully be grateful for America’s freedoms. Some are always going to forfeit their lives getting thrills, like the young Florida cave explorers in Georgia. Thrill seekers should be rescued but not at the expense of their rescuers. IMO
*** If it was remote enough for Iranians to grab them, then it was remote enough for some fanatics to cut their heads off.****
Aw they probably have their Iranian keepers sitting around in a circle singing “Kumbya” while teachng peace and social justice right now.
Or they are being bent over a barrel squeeling “Wee Wee Wee”
Infidel! Can you squeel like a pig?
From the other side of the pond:
What a good thing we no longer have that crass cowboy in the White House
It is a good thing, isn't it? Isn't it? I mean we have now a smart, sophisticated dude who really knows how to make America and Americans popular. Doesn't he? Well, apparently not....
From the other side of the pond:
What a good thing we no longer have that crass cowboy in the White House
It is a good thing, isn't it? Isn't it? I mean we have now a smart, sophisticated dude who really knows how to make America and Americans popular. Doesn't he? Well, apparently not....
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