Iran Detains 3 Americans

Hikers Reported to Have Mistakenly Crossed Border from Kurdish-Ruled Iraq; No Contact Since Troops Surrounded Them

(AP)  Iran has confirmed it detained three Americans who were in the area of the Iranian border while on a hiking trip, Kurdish officials said Saturday. The U.S. State Department has said it was looking into the situation.

The Kurdish regional government's envoy to Washington, Qubad Talabani, told The Associated Press the three were tourists and are in Iranian custody. He said the Americans mistakenly crossed into Iranian territory Friday at the border town of Ahmed Awaa.

"The Iranians said they have arrested them because they entered their land without legal permission," he said.

Iranian officials have made no comment. Iran's embassy in Baghdad was closed Saturday.

The self-ruled Kurdish region has been relatively free of the violence that plagues the rest of Iraq. Foreigners often feel freer to move around without security guards in the area, and tourists have been known to visit the scenic area. It is relatively easy for tourists to get into the region, particularly if they arrive by airplane. The Kurdish government generally grants visitors to the Kurdish area visas valid for one week when they arrive at the airport.

A senior security official in Sulaimaniyah, near the Iranian border in northern Iraq's oil-rich Kurd region, said Saturday the three were last heard from after they contacted a friend saying they entered Iran by mistake and troops surrounded them. There has been no contact with them since, he said.

He also said Iranian officials have confirmed to Iraqi authorities the three were arrested.

The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the friend they'd contacted, the fourth member of their group, was feeling sick and had stayed behind in Sulaimaniyah. No other details were available.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Friday the U.S. Embassy "is aware of the report and is investigating. We are using all available means to determine the facts in this case."

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said Saturday it was still unable to confirm the report.

U.S. helicopters were buzzing overhead and many U.S. Humvees had moved into the Kurdish city of Halabja to search for the Americans, said a Kurdish border force official.

According to the security official, the missing Americans were tourists hiking near Halabja and Ahmed Awaa.

The four had traveled to Turkey, then entered the Kurdish region Tuesday through the Ibrahim Al-Khalil border point in Zakho, the official said. They visited the Kurdish cities of Irbil and Sulaimaniyah on Wednesday. The next day, three of them took a taxi to Ahmed Awaa where they told their companion that they planned to stay at a nearby resort, the official said.

The mountainous border area is a popular hiking destination and well-known for its thick growth of pistachio trees.

Halabja, 150 miles northeast of Baghdad, was the site of a chemical weapons attack ordered by Saddam Hussein in 1988 as part of a scorched-earth campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion. An estimated 5,600 people were killed in the nerve and mustard gas attacks - the vast majority Kurds - and many still suffer the aftereffects.

[JoePL123]

The "hikers" are from BERKLEY CALIFORNIA!!!! Let the Iranians have them!! They can keep our trash! Berkley-types are the types that we are trying to GET RID OF ANYWAY!! OR. . . Maybe if they get a little tortured, they will come back to America and realize that its actually NOT America thats "making" all these countries into nutjob dictatorships..... Maybe they will realize that America is a force for GOOD and we LIBERATE people from their OPPRESSIVE TYRANTS!! Oh wait, the leftist Berkley eggheads who love to over-analyze everything and therefore come to the incorrect conclusions, are actually in SUPPORT of an oppressive tyrannical regime right here in America! Let Iran do what they may these people. People from Berkley are the problem, maybe handing them to Iran is the solution.

[tmittelstaed]

I've done quite a lot of hiking out in the woods myself. It's tricky enough with a compass and topographical map. I doubt that any of these kids had that with them. It's perfectly probable that if they followed the wrong ridgeline that they could accidentally end up in Iranian territory.

As for the advisability of being in that area in the first place, I agree it was pretty stupid. But lack of common sense among some people who hike in the woods is not uncommon. One of the worst US mountain accidents that happened was without question due to lack of common sense:
http://www.traditionalmountaineering.org/Report_Hood_EpiscopalSchool.htm

The problem is that for too many people, outdoors hiking isn't about enjoying the scenery, it's a he-man contest between themselves and the elements. These kids probably chose to hike next to Iran's borders just for the thrill of being inches away from a totalitarian regime's borders. They probably planned on walking right up to the border and taking a picture of themselves standing a few feet away from it.

In my opinion, one of the best ways that Iran could deflate these dumb kids egos would be for them to treat the kids as nicely as possible, give them a tour of Tehran, then return them to the US along with a statement as how they knew that there's no way any of the three could be spies because real spies would never do something so stupid, and being nasty to mentally handicapped people goes against the Islam faith. Then these kids could't go boast to their girlfriends about what big ******* they have because they dared the evil empire to do something about them.

Unfortunately the Iranians will probably sentence them to 2 years of hard labor or some such then these three will return to the US and go on the talk show circuit and be darlings of the neocons, and make a big pile of money.

[JoePL123]

wrong. they are hippies from berkley who have been indoctrinated their whole lives into thinking that "everyone is the same" and that if we just talk to them and tell them that we come in peace, then they will like us.... These Berkley fools need to be taught a little lesson - and I don't mean a lesson that a professor who works in isolation, lives in isolation, and theorizes in a vacuum called "adademia" can teach them... i mean REAL WORLD lessons. This is what happens when you think that there is no "evil" in the world, you end up in evil's playground and find out that your peacenik philosophy has been wrong your whole life. I bet these Berkley freaks have been anti-war, anti-military their whole lives and NOW they are probably sh*tting themselves hoping to see an American Soldier come and save them.

[searingtruth]

Wow.

Iranians are giving prisoners all the selective rights Americans do.

And torturing and murdering those they claim have no rights, just like Americans.

Perhaps Americans should reclaim our Constitution, and once again swear allegiance to its principles, so we can object to those who violate it.
ST


"When everything is secret everything is legal"
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[lars008-2009]

have u spent time in an iranian prison and an american prison???

didn't think so searing lies,,,

[searingtruth]

"have u spent time in an iranian prison and an american prison???

didn't think so searing lies,,,"
by lars008-2009 August 2, 2009 6:44 AM EDT


No, I've just read both governments statements, and followed their identical kangaroo court procedures, that affirm any and everything they do to anyone they accuse without evidence of being a threat to the state is off limits to any law.

And Obama fervently upholds the same fascist principals as Bush and Ahmadinejad, so I hope you can at least draw some comfort from that.

As Americans withdraw in horror.
ST

"We became evil to fight evil, assuring its victory."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[lars008-2009]

then u r just spreading your earing lies,,,

and don't know crap,,, but we already knew that,,,

[Sloughfoot]

You haven't got a clue!

[searingtruth]

Wow.

Iranians are giving prisoners all the selective rights Americans do.

And torturing and murdering those they claim have no rights, just like Americans.

Perhaps Americans should reclaim our Constitution, and once again swear allegiance to its principles, so we can object to those who violate it.
ST


"When everything is secret everything is legal"
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[lars008-2009]

interesting,,, has islam banned slavery of non-muslims yet???

[bajajohn1]

Illegal aliens?

[frankinaz]

According to the Iranian Government, these three hikers did enter Iran illegally. At least
that country secures it's borders, and doesn't allow illegal immigrants to enter it's domain
illegally.

[Illuminated1]

12 years hard labor for being an American in unfriendly territory...NK
What will Iran do to tourists?

[brianbwb-2009]

Very likely this part of the story was the contribution of "AP Matthew Lee in Washington".

"Halabja, 150 miles northeast of Baghdad, was the site of a chemical weapons attack ordered by Saddam Hussein in 1988 as part of a scorched-earth campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion. An estimated 5,600 people were killed in the nerve and mustard gas attacks - the vast majority Kurds - and many still suffer the aftereffects."

Strange he saw fit to include this irrelevant bit of information, while forgetting to include this bit,

"UN officials confirmed that the UN inspection agency for Iraq, UNMOVIC, and its predecessor agency, UNSCOM, had collected a detailed dossier on Mr van Anraat showing him to be an important middleman in supplying Iraq with chemical materials. However, they said these files had been kept confidential and they could not now discuss their content for fear of undermining the case against him.

The prosecutor, Digna van Boedzelaer, said the man could face a maximum of life imprisonment for complicity in genocide. "We are talking about 36 shipments which amounted to tonnes and tonnes of chemicals to make mustard gas and nerve gas," she said, adding the chemicals were sent from the United States to Belgium and shipped onto Iraq via Jordan."

Or this,

"The provision of chemical precursors from United States companies to Iraq was enabled by a Ronald Reagan administration policy that removed Iraq from the State Department's list State Sponsors of Terrorism. Leaked portions of Iraq's "Full, Final and Complete" disclosure of the sources for its weapons programs shows that thiodiglycol, a substance needed to manufacture mustard gas, was among the chemical precursors provided to Iraq from US companies such as Alcolac International and Phillips. Both companies have since undergone reorganization and Phillips, once a subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum and now part of ConocoPhillips, an American oil and energy company while Alcolac International has since dissolved and reformed as Alcolac Inc.

On 12 March 2008, the democratic government of Iraq announced plans to take legal action against the suppliers of chemicals used in the poison gas attack."

Or this,

"Early U.S. allegations of Iranian involvement

An investigation into responsibility for the Halabja massacre, by Dr Jean Pascal Zanders, Project Leader of the Chemical and Biological Warfare Project at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) concluded in 2007 that Iraq was the culprit, and not Iran. The U.S. State Department, however, in the immediate aftermath of the incident, took the official position based on examination of available evidence that Iran was partly to blame.

A preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) study at the time reported that it was Iran that was responsible for the attack, an assessment which was used subsequently by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for much of the early 1990s. The CIA's senior political analyst for the Iran-Iraq war, Stephen C. Pelletiere, co-authored an unclassified analysis of the war, which contained a brief summary of the DIA study's key points. The CIA altered its position radically in the late 1990s and cited Halabja frequently in its evidence of weapons of mass destructions (WMD) before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Pelletiere claims that a fact that has not been successfully challenged is that Iraq is not known to have possessed the cyanide-based blood agents determined to have been responsible for the condition of the bodies that were examined"

So, Mr. AP writer Matthew Lee in Washington, if you are going to raise irrelevant points, st least have the integrity to tell the whole story, and not just the parts that help your agenda.

To schotzy81

The US, when they deposed the rightful elected ruler of Iran and installed the puppet Reza Pahlavi, and trained his murderous security force SAVAK, started this, it is the fault of US presidents before Bush Sr.

Jr. was just the lying, thieving, cowardly, corrupt idiot that caused the current climate between the US, Iraq, and Iran.

[frankinaz]

As these hikers found out the hard way, Iran and many
other countries around the world don't tolerate people
who enter their countries illegally.

[tincup356]

Maybe the US Border patrol needs to hire from the same group Iran does for border security,,,,,,they do their job over there...unlike the Border patrol here.

[frankinaz]

Agreed, Tincup356. Maybe our entire Homeland Security Department could use people who
actually keep illegal immigrants form entering and remaining in this country!

[erasmus111]

by slownewsday_05 August 1, 2009 2:03 PM EDT
You usually aren't a jerk.


Are you sure? I think he has his days. : )

[schotzy81]

I think we have three new candidates for the Darwin Award.

[shylove2]

Might be CIA I suppose. Might be involved with attempting to destabilize and foment regime change. Might be trying to sell plans for making nuclear weapons with the instructions all wrong.

[SouthwestisBest]

Or it could be just three ivy league liberal goofballs without a grain of common sense to take a compass...

You know, N=North-Turkey, E=East-Iran, S=South Kurdistan, I mean, c'mon it's not rocket science.

[SouthwestisBest]

You know, they could've been trying to find Auschwitz or those lost 57 states that Obama visited.

[SouthwestisBest]

You know, they could've been trying to find Auschwitz or those lost 57 states that Obama visited.

[democracy1]

by SouthwestisBest August 1, 2009 6:10 PM EDT
Or it could be just three ivy league liberal goofballs without a grain of common sense to take a compass...

You know, N=North-Turkey, E=East-Iran, S=South Kurdistan, I mean, c'mon it's not rocket science.
********

Rowdy, considering that you probably wouldn't be able to find your double-wide with both hands, you shouldn't talk.

And by "double-wide", I wasn't referring to your trailer, but then again...that works too.

[curiously1]

I agree, they are probably spies. But the real problem is how will this be handled by both sides. The thugs in Iran would love a confrontation with the U.S. We know what Bush would have been prepared to do to get these individuals back. Do we know what Obama is prepared to do?

[stevex47]

I hope they release the agents soon too. In the spirit of international intrigue.

CIA agents are really in a tough spot. If boosh doesn't out them, they risk their lives spying for us. I commend them.

[tincup356]

Makes you wonder why they would not identify the people.....unless they were CIA.

[jwesel1]

Lets see how CBS gives an anti-Iran spin to this story

[formrusmcsgt]

He said the Americans mistakenly crossed into Iranian territory Friday at the border town of Ahmed Awaa.
----
People who can't read a map should hire a guide who can.

How stupid can one get?

Americans just walking into Iran....

Leave their dumb a$$es there.

[zonkzilla]

I hope they release our CIA agents soon.

[taxchurches]

Stupidity deserves no sympathy.

[formrusmcsgt]

Entirely agreed.

[novamba]

Amen

[Benton09]

Hey Guys, let's go hiking. How about near Iran?...That's a good idea...let's go!

[the_majesty]

I find it extremely hard to believe that 3 Americans were hiking along the Iranian border.Why in the hell would any American be hiking there.

[the_majesty]

For that matter, what the hell would 3 Americans be hiking in Iraq near the Iran border ?

[brianbwb-2009]

To cory2444

Your post is one of twisted logic and negative self-projection. You say their laws are harsh, and they are intolerant, so it must follow that they would kidnap someone from another country and lie about it?

If it sounds familiar, it should. You have actually described one of the features of the Bush/Cheney doctrine, it is exactly what we did to Iraqis, so why is it right for the US to do it, but wrong for others, assuming for a millisecond that you might be correct in your assumption?

Before you pull out the 9/11 lie, I will remind you that Iraqis had nothing to do with it.

What you also seem unable or unwilling to comprehend is that there are probably more sinister motives for Americans go to a country known to be embroiled in a war with American invaders and occupiers, than just for a pleasure hike among the pistachios.

You also similarly fail to understand that any Iranian patriots would be dangerously remiss if they did not consider, and investigate the possibility that these are probably not simple hikers, especially in light of the fact that Bush/Cheney lied, illegally invaded and occupied their next-door neighbors, and now many lunatic US warmongers are threatening the same for Iran.

It would be assumed that the US has issued travel advisories against just such idiocy, going as a tourist to a country with which we are at war. if the "hikers" ignored it, then whatever happens to them is entirely their fault.

"Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520

June 15, 2009

"The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens of the dangers inherent in travel to Iraq and recommends against all but essential travel in country given the fluid security situation. Numerous insurgent groups remain active throughout Iraq. Iraqi Security Forces (ISF)-led military operations continue, and attacks persist against the ISF and U.S. forces in many areas of the country. Turkish government forces have carried out operations against elements of the Kongra-Gel terrorist group (KGK, formerly Kurdistan Worker's Party or PKK) located along Iraq's northern border. This Travel Warning warns U.S. citizens of the current security situation and reiterates the dangers of the use of civilian aircraft and of road travel within Iraq. This replaces the Travel Warning of June 13, 2008, to provide an update on security incidents and additional concerns about travel within Iraq."

Australian Government
Department of Tourism and Trade

"We strongly advise you not to travel to Iraq because of the extremely dangerous security situation and very high threat of terrorist attack. If you are in Iraq and are concerned for your safety, you should consider leaving. Australians who decide to stay should ensure they have appropriate personal security protection measures in place."

New Zealand Government
Department of foreign affairs

"We strongly advise against all travel to Iraq and New Zealanders there should depart.

The security situation is extremely dangerous. Hostage taking is prevalent, especially in urban areas.

Widespread violence and kidnappings continue in Iraq..."

The British Council

"There is a high threat of terrorism throughout Iraq. We advise against all travel to Baghdad and the surrounding area, the provinces of Basra, Maysan, Al Anbar, Salah Ad Din, Diyala, Wasit, Babil, Ninawa, and At-Tamim (At-Tamim is often referred to as "Kirkuk Province"). We advise against all but essential travel to the provinces of Al Qadisiyah, Muthanna, Najaf, Karbala, and Dhi Qar. For more general information see Terrorism Abroad.

Terrorists and insurgents conduct frequent and widespread lethal attacks on a wide range of targets in Iraq, including against British and other international military, political and civilian targets. If you consider your presence in Iraq is essential you should have adequate and continuous professional close security arrangements and ensure they are regularly reviewed."

What's to stop them, you ask? How about the "hikers" using common sense and not being there in the first place?

That is basic common sense, except for neos, for whom it is uncommon to have such sense.

[schotzy81]

Wow. It didn't take long for someone afflicted with BDS to somehow connect Bush/Cheney with these three idiots.

You do realize that if they are CIA agents, they're there because Obama wanted them to be there since he's in charge now. If they are actually stupid student tourists, they're most likely Obama supporters considering his support among college students.

Either way, there's infinitely more connection to Obama over Bush on this issue. Do you really want to continue the Bush bashing on this topic or would you like to act like a rational adult and accept that you can't blame this on President Bush?

[abaur2]

It makes for good publicity which they cannot get from hiking in our National parks.