Marine to be executed by Iran
A few of you have sent us the link about Amir Mirza Hekmati, 28, dual citizen Iranian and a former Marine Farsi translator who served in Afghanistan. Apparently, he went to visit his grandmother in iran and got himself scooped up by the Iranian government and now he’s been convicted of being a spy for the CIA and sentenced to death;
“If true, we strongly condemn such a verdict and will work with our partners to convey our condemnation to the Iranian government,” White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
The two moves come at a time when new U.S. sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program are causing real economic pain. Tehran has responded with threats to international shipping that have frightened oil markets. And a parliamentary election in two months is widening Iran’s internal political divisions.
Not that it’s his fault, but given the history of the Iran government towards Iranian-Americans and the gutlessness of this White House, I don’t think I’d go to Iran for any reason at this point. But, I’m pretty sure he won’t be killed, but that Iran will miraculously release him just before the November elections here. The Iranians realize what the stakes are in the upcoming elections and they’ve chosen their preferred candidate.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War
Condemnation of the verdict should be shown in the form of a friggn’ JDAM on iminnajihad’s head. Perhaps several.
Imagine if the situation were reversed. If someone had served in the Iranian military and then came here “on vacation.” I can easily see such an individual being scooped up and sent to Gitmo or worse. And I’m ok with that. This guy had to know there were some serious risks with going back into Iran.
Redacted1775 at #1 – What do you think Iran’s response to a targeted bombing campaign would be? Do you really think we could do this Joe Biden style and not send in ground troops? If we are willing to send over a few JDAM’s we have to be willing to send 200,000 troops or more for the next 12-15 years at a minimum. And we have to think about that before sending the first JDAM.
UV i’d say hit their nuke plant and blame it on a meltdown. But being a realist, i’m merely engaging in wishful thinking with that post. This administration won’t do shit, aside from publicly condemning a death sentence for an American citizen. If they do any more than that i’ll be as shocked as the next guy. They’re spineless.
I’m sure as soon as somebody here pays the standard “bribe” that they call bail, they’ll let him go back to the states.
So an American citizen, in Iran, gets snatched up, accused of espionage and sentenced to death.
Where have we heard this before?
And, when was the last time we didn’t trade said hostage for whatever the shitheads wanted?
Last question: how did this Marine get to visit Iran in the first place? Likely, he was set up before he decided to go.
Iran will let you in –through a third party country–if you are a relative of an Iranian living in Iran, part of a tour group, or a Iranian citizen. The former translator met the first and third of those prerequisites. What’s more, Iran does not recognize dual citizenship. Technically speaking, to them he is a Iranian, period. I agree that he will not be executed but I also concede he is as dumb as a brick.
I am not saying that he dserves it. I really do not know.
But I think that he will be executed. Perhaps with a delay to really let the drama linger a little longer. Shit even I would not go to Iran unless I had a letter of diplomatic immunity personally signed by Khameni and Ahmadidijad.
I think that he will be executed because the propoganda benifits towards the local conservatives outweigh any benifits to gained by showing him mercy.
Hey, I finally agree with Iran about something. No, not that this guy works for the CIA or that he should be executed. I think they hit it right on the nose that the concept of dual citizenship is a crock. If you want to be an American, renounce your foreign citizenship, give up your foreign passport, and be and American. If you want to travel the world on an Iranian passport, accept the fact that in your motherland the authorities think nothing of snatching their citizenry off the streets for no legitimate reason, torturing them and executing them.
There is something missing in this story. First of all it pisses me off when some of you are willing to condemn a brother to death when he went to see his grandmother who for all we know could have been on her deathbead. Whatever reason he thought the risk was worth it, maybe he was lied to because the Iranian government has never done that have they? How do we know he calls himself a dual citizen? Maybe it was just a means to an end. For all we know he thought he could sneak in and out without anyone knowing and setting off any radar, but some asshat decided to drop a dime on him. For fucks sake what if he really is a spy and got caught? Or visiting grandma was a way of getting someone else out of that shithole. quit condeming a Marine in a shitty spot.
We didn’t condemn him to death, the government of Iran did.
Writing him off and calling him an idiot then. What ever happened to never leaving a man behind?
#11 You and I must be reading different comments. I don’t see anyone writing him off or calling him an idiot.
Well actually I am guilty. I implied that he was an idiot.
But then I did not consider the possibitly of his grandmother being on her death bed. So I if that turns out to be true I will have to issue an apology.
Curt shouldn’t take that much, but hey you are entitled to your opinion. Too bad our president isn’t man enough to remind Iran we are kind enough to rescue their sailors…
OK, I missed Curt’s comment, mainly because I can’t read his dirt. I should have known.
As for dual citizenship I think that it is often unrealistic not to recognize it. Take the children of couples were one is from say Germany and one from the US, (or Turkey) and they spend much of their childhood in both the US (or Turkey) and they speak both languages and they have freinds and naturally relatives in both countries. Such people are obviously going to have divided loyalties. In a conflict should develope say between Germany and the US (or Turkey) such people will do what people do whenever there is a conflict with in a country.
They will weigh the pros and cons of both sides and go with one or the other or perhaps niether if they do not give a shit what the conflict was about.
Then by my guess about 10% of the people in this world will try to do what they think is right and do not give a shit about the politicians say, or even what thier fellow citizens is the right thing to do. Of course on any given proposition some of those 10% might by coincidence agree with their countries politicians so being a dissident, especially out side of Europe, is a very risky proposition.
In the US it is risky only if you are an effective dissident, like MLK, or Jesse Ventura, or Stan Goff.
The mention of thier names does not mean that I support or oppose anything these people might have said or done in the past or future I only throw thier names out as examples.
Sounds historically familiar . . To the early days of the USofA, the USMC, and the Barbary pirates of Tripoli.
Soooo. . . how much is the ransom?
And when are we sending in the Corps??
“Not that it’s his fault, but given the history of the Iran government towards Iranian-Americans and the gutlessness of this White House, I don’t think I’d go to Iran for any reason at this point.” That’s th same point I’d make Jonn. Why take the risk, putting your life in the hands of some mercurial poltico-theocrats who can arbitrarily use use for fodder in some scuffle.
#2 Why don’t you explain some of your reasons to the Iranians in reverse. Especially what may happen when you try to assinate a diplomat on foreign soil. I’ll point you in the direction of 1914 Serbia.
#8″…the concept of dual citizenship is a crock.” Yes it is.