• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Three US citizens facing spying charges in Iran

Oftencold

Oftencold

DP Veteran
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Messages
5,044
Reaction score
2,202
Location
A small village in Alaska
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Very Conservative
ARTICLE: AFP: Three US citizens facing spying charges in Iran
AFP) – 1 hour ago TEHRAN — Three American hikers taken into custody by Iranian guards near the border with Iraq on July 31 are facing charges of spying, Iran's judiciary said on Monday.


Tehran chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted by the IRNA news agency as saying the investigations were continuing against the three, Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, and that a statement on their fate would be made in the near future.


"The three Americans arrested near the border of Iran and Iraq are facing charges of spying and the inquiry is continuing," he said.
Click to expand...

Apparently, the Iranians need to have someone explain amnesty for illegal immigrants to them.
 
I'm having a hard time feeling for these three. . . while I don't want their heads lopped off I only feel sorry for their stupidity in thier actions - they thought they'd be able to slip around such a controlled and war-torn area without being swept up into the storm.
 
First off.. Hiking in Iraq... Secondly hiking near the Iranian border...and finally being American and doing so... yea, these guys are either spies or brain dead..
 
Of course they're not spies - but they're dumb as a box of rocks for sure.
They couldn't go sightseeing without nudging the side of prejudice and intolerance?

Poke the sleeping bulldog and he'll wake up to bite your leg off.
 
If you look at their pictures you can see that they're dirty tree huggers from either the northeast or the northwest, probably with hippy tendencies. They probably thought that they could build peace & love by hiking through Iran, and if they were arrested, they'd smoke a bowl and things would be a-okay.

Pacificist fail.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
I'm having a hard time feeling for these three. . . while I don't want their heads lopped off I only feel sorry for their stupidity in thier actions - they thought they'd be able to slip around such a controlled and war-torn area without being swept up into the storm.
Click to expand...
oftencold-albums-pix-posts-picture905-sarcasm.gif
_____They're from Berkley, so obviously smarter than everyone else._____
oftencold-albums-pix-posts-picture905-sarcasm.gif
 
Last edited:
I don't think they were spies. I think they were just some dumbasses who where trying to do something they thought cool. That way next time they were back in America sitting around the bong, they'd have some stories to tell their other yippie (part yuppy, part hippie; see also trustafarians) friends. But still, they are our citizens, and they are being tried for some pretty terrible crimes they didn't commit. We have some duty to try our best to get them back.

And on that note, why does Iran have to be dicks about this? It should be obvious to them by now that these kids are just dumbasses and not spies. They're just trying to be douches because the kids are American.
 
It plays into the need of "I'madinnajacket" to show American involvement with the green revolution.
 
I don't think they're spies, either.
I don't even think that Iran truely considers them spies, either.

I think that's just their blanket-accusation to be able to bring the harshest punishment down on the little people. They're taking 'if you're not for us, you're against us" to the extreme. . .
 
Ikari said:
And on that note, why does Iran have to be dicks about this? It should be obvious to them by now that these kids are just dumbasses and not spies. They're just trying to be douches because the kids are American.
Click to expand...
Would you like some links to the numerous videos of Iran publicly hanging young men in the streets in recent years? For among other things, apparently for homosexual acts between consenting adults.

If you aren't aware of the nature of the current Iranian Regime, I suggest emergency remedial education.

To answer your questing in the Vulgate, they have to act like dicks because they are dicks, and no amount of scruffy beards or head-wound table cloths can conceal this from anyone making a frank appraisal.
 
Last edited:
PeteEU said:
First off.. Hiking in Iraq... Secondly hiking near the Iranian border...and finally being American and doing so... yea, these guys are either spies or brain dead..
Click to expand...

Spies don't go walking around sight seeing in the boonies...lol
 
Its probably all going to end up being a situation like we had in North Korea with the jounalists being snatched. One of our hero politicians will travel to Iran as a private citizen, confess to Ahmadinejad that yes they were spies. Shed a tear, tell him how sorry we are. Ask ever-so politely for a pardon. One will be granted. They'll be sent home and start grooming up for their nail-biting interview with Katie Kouric. Give it two months and the book deal or mini series will come next. The only question is which politician is it going to be to throw America under the bus again: Carter or Clinton?
 
Aunt Spiker said:
I'm having a hard time feeling for these three. . . while I don't want their heads lopped off I only feel sorry for their stupidity in thier actions - they thought they'd be able to slip around such a controlled and war-torn area without being swept up into the storm.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I do feel bad for them in the sense that they were probably raised by parents who did not prepare them for living in the real world.

In the words of one of my favorite old music men:

"Oh baby baby, it's a wild world.
It's hard to get by just upon a smile".
 
Benzin388 said:
Its probably all going to end up being a situation like we had in North Korea with the jounalists being snatched. One of our hero politicians will travel to Iran as a private citizen, confess to Ahmadinejad that yes they were spies. Shed a tear, tell him how sorry we are. Ask ever-so politely for a pardon. One will be granted. They'll be sent home and start grooming up for their nail-biting interview with Katie Kouric. Give it two months and the book deal or mini series will come next. The only question is which politician is it going to be to throw America under the bus again: Carter or Clinton?
Click to expand...

I hope not - we HAVE to stop doing that crap on behalf of people's stupidity.
We can't keep bargaining with other countries - and with Iran, we have no bargaining chips that I see. People realy need to take responsibility for their own actions and own up without a war starting.
 
I do not think the USA should send anyone to bail these dumb asses out, let Iran execute them. This will send a message to any future dumb asses that A do not go into war zones and B do not go anywhere near a country that is ruled by a dictator. Hopefully they do not send in some high ranking politician or former president to go rescue them or risk the lives of troops for those worthless sacks of ****.

Stupid hippies.
 

Attachments

  • CIMG1211.jpg
    CIMG1211.jpg
    76.8 KB · Views: 5
Last edited:
Oftencold said:
ARTICLE: AFP: Three US citizens facing spying charges in Iran


Apparently, the Iranians need to have someone explain amnesty for illegal immigrants to them.
Click to expand...
What were they allegedly spying on?

Funny how the Iranians leave those details out. Usually when you catch spies you know their spies because they have documents, or sophisticated equipment, or a handler. Being vehicle-less in the mountains with only a backpack seems like pretty ****ty spying to me.

With closed trials, though, they can make up whatever verdict they please. No evidence required.
 
Oftencold said:
To answer your questing in the Vulgate, they have to act like dicks because they are dicks, and no amount of scruffy beards or head-wound table cloths can conceal this from anyone making a frank appraisal.
Click to expand...

I think that in the end, all humans are capable of rational, logical thought. That instead of them acting like dicks because they are, it's they act like dicks because they choose to. In which case, they are able to change their actions if they so choose as well. In which case, I believe they should change their behavior. But a lot of this also has to do with the fundamental theocracy which dominates the Iranian government. Theocracies often lead to the abandonment of logic and reason.
 
jamesrage said:
I do not think the USA should send anyone to bail these dumb asses out, let Iran execute them. This will send a message to any future dumb asses that A do not go into war zones and B do not go anywhere near a country that is ruled by a dictator. Hopefully they do not send in some high ranking politician or former president to go rescue them or risk the lives of troops for those worthless sacks of ****.

Stupid hippies.
Click to expand...

I think that on some level we have interest in that our citizens are being prosecuted for things they obviously didn't do. I think Iran is probably going to try to hold on to them as bargaining chips, wanting release of prisoners on our side for their return. To which I say they don't quite understand the type of people they have. We have cities dedicated to worthless yippies such as Boulder (I think one of those guys is actually from Boulder). And to demand the release of actual murders for these guys isn't going to net Iran what they think it will. I do think there is reason to invest effort of some type to get them back. But we also cannot allow ourselves to be bullied because of it.
 
I don't know which is worse, the fact that the Iranian government is using three civilians as pawns like this, or that the victims of detainment "deserved" it according to their fellow Americans. No one deserves it, okay? It might happen because of an error in judgment, but they don't deserve to be captured by a theocracy and locked away forever.

The callousness and lack of compassion of some people is astounding.
 
Orius said:
they don't deserve to be captured by a theocracy and locked away forever.
Click to expand...

What kind of idiot goes into a crazy fundamentalist Islamic theocracy where they believe that all Americans are spies? It sucks that they put themselves into this position, but I don't feel like we should take action to rescue them from the inevitable consequences of their actions. Whether they deserved those consequences is irrelevant, they earned them through stupidity.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
What kind of idiot goes into a crazy fundamentalist Islamic theocracy where they believe that all Americans are spies? It sucks that they put themselves into this position, but I don't feel like we should take action to rescue them from the inevitable consequences of their actions. Whether they deserved those consequences is irrelevant, they earned them through stupidity.
Click to expand...

A reminder for tired, lazy eyes: I said nothing about whether or not action should be taken to rescue, only that they don't deserve to be locked away. Mine is a humanitarian perspective. What ends up happening is separate from my observation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom