Last july, coming close to a year ago three hikers were detained after crossing the Iraq/ Iran border unintentionally during a backpacking trip. There mothers are there as I write this to visit their children and hopefully bring them home. They have been charged with espionage because of so called links to American Intelligence. The US state department has said that any charges would be unfounded but with no diplomatic ties to Iran all communication has been routed through Sweden. How does this situation strike you? Do you think that the State Department should be doing more? Would you go to Iraq to hike?
UPDATE: The mothers of all the hikers recently vsited Tehran to try to secure the release of their children. However they were unsuccessful. They did learn that two of them are now engaged. Hmm proposing in one of the most infamous prisons in the world..
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My initial response to this is: why the hell would you go to Iraq to hike?
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that they were in Iran to do K2 and then accidentally meandered over the border...
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time understanding while anyone would go hiking in Iraq and if they were to go hiking in Iraq, wouldn't you be really freaking careful not to cross the border?
ReplyDeletehaha i would agree with cece on this one. why do people chose to go to a hostile part of the world to hike? Also I believe the state department can only do so much if Iran isn't willing to have a diplomatic meeting to resolve this issue.
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ReplyDeleteOkay, for one, why would any American citizen ever go to Iraq to hike when we have much safer, just as beautiful places to hike in our own country?! And two, if Iran isn't willing to make an effort towards resolving this mess, then the state department should really be stepping it up and taking more action to get these innocent people back home.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think that using the cover of a lost hiker is a brilliant plan of attack to plan espionage and spying. Do I think the state department should be doing more? Honestly no. If these three were foolish enough to "wander" across the border they really deserve to be there. Unless they are being mistreated and denied a trial, they should have to deal with the consequences of their idiocy.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...Devon, I have to wonder about whether what Nora said was true even if it may have been said tongue in cheek. The question is beyond "why would you hike in Iraq"...people do lots of dumb things for the thrill and adventure of doing it, but this situation has struck me as odd that the State Department hasn't done more to get involved. Either they are planning to do something completely covertly, working behind the scenes away from the media, or simply don't see this as a major crisis. I have wondered from the beginning though if the lack of significant response to the issue is because they were, in fact, doing more than just hiking. It strikes me still that the lack of significant intervention may mean that there is much more to this story than we really know.
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