There are 5 Americans being held hostage in Iran

Cross-posted at Rosemary's Thoughts.

Here we go again. Let's see what this cowboy is going to do. Will he turn out to be another Jimmy Carter to our shame, or will he do the responsible thing and get our citizens back? Only time will tell. It has already been since May.

I do not want to hear anything more about talking to these maniacs. I am ready to go in for our own. Call me whatever you like, I have been holding back from war for a very long time. If we do nothing but talk now, in the eyes of the Middle East, we have lost all credibility. Would you please remind the Left that this is not good for what they call, "Relationships" in the world!

Frankly, I don't give a hoot what the rest of the world thinks except in one sense: Fear us. As long as they fear us, they will not attack us. These are just the simple facts of war. Do you want to stop wars? Make your enemy afraid. It is just that simple.

The three people who the IRG have captured and thrown into jail are Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Kian Tajbakhsh who is a respected Urban Planner and sociologist working for the Open Society Institute, Ali Shakeri, a peace activist, Parnaz Azima, a correspondent working for Radio Farda, the joint Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty–Voice of America Persian-language radio broadcast to Iran, and Robert Levinson who disappeared in early March during a visit to Iran's Kish Island and is believed to be held by the Iranian authorities. Levinson, a retired FBI agent, reportedly had traveled to Iran to investigate a matter on behalf of a private client.

The charges are as follows:

While on the way to airport after a visit with her 93 year old mother, some thugs (IRG probably) stole her passport. This 67 year old grandmother has been charged with being involved with a propaganda campaign to foment a "soft revolution" against the brutal clerical regime.

Kian Tajbakhsh has been charged with "seeking the overthrow of the Iranian government. He and Esfandiari are being held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, which contains many other Iranian political prisoners and dissidents."

Ali Shakeri and Parnaz Azima may be joining them soon due to trumpt-up charges. Panaz has been charged (because she works for RFE) of "an institution that spreads propaganda against the Islamic Republic." (And the Europeans still want to have more talks?)

At least Radio Free Europe did not sit on their hands. They used some very strong 'words' toward the Iranian regime. How about you, Mr. President?

The Iranians are hoping to use this former FBI Agent as a pawn to gain leverage in the release of the bastards we caught.

While some may think this is related to Bush in some way, let me make this clear. These arrests started in December of last year, and they got worse when the Iranian regime started cracking down on any dissent. Not every damn thing is George Bush' fault.

Remember. All of these people had passports which were confiscated, and most of them have dual-citizenship.

Sources: The Jawa Report, Iran's Growing List of Hostages and The Invisible Crisis: What if Iran took hostages and no one noticed? (I highly recommend all of these, especially the last two. I found them through google, but you have to add the year 2007, or you will get Jimmy Carter stuff.)

Trackback. (@ My Newz 'n Ideas.)