A liberalish acquaintance took immediately to the Facespace to denounce the sentencing of a pair of Americans apprehended on the Iranian border and accused, along with one lady friend who was later released, of spying. If we were gonna spy on Iran, she wanted to know, why would we send a buncha knuckleheads like these? I don't know, man; sending a trio of ersatz peacenik daytrippers sounds like exactly the sort of plan our agency men under the tutelage of The Neon Pancetta would've come up with. They'd never suspect, etc. etc. etc. One notes that for the deplorable lawless barbarism of the Persians, these yutes have been afforded attorneys and appeals and such, which is more than you can say for this taxicab convention:
Well, Hillary Clinton is disappointed, proving once more that while the poor Persians must make do with the Ghazal, our greatest, infinitely variable native poetic form is sanctimony. It is most likely that these poor nincompoops are exactly the Lonely Planet backpacker assjockeys that they claim to be, and yet for a country that runs several very public infinite interment camps, a country in possession of some of the world's more insane border controls, a country in which a number of internal states have passed hysterical papieren-bitte laws to counter the grave threat of Mexican hedge trimming to go deploring other nations for arresting illegal border-crossers is a bit rich.
21 comments:
But IOZ, some of those fellows in the orange jumpsuits have THE SAME NAME as a guy who used to know some real-life terrorists. Others personally baked bread that some Al-Qaedans later ate. They're lucky we aren't torturing them until they are either insane or dead, or both. Er, hang on...
I've got your secret identity narrowed down to Pittsburgh and Facebook members. Shouldn't take long now for the reveal.
Not supposed to mention the Ghazal. That might lead to questions about Hafiz of Shiraz and other poets and chanteurs.
And then to discovery of all the Persian Islam which isn't scary and bearded with Ajax...
The comparison to illegal aliens is quite rich. America's problem is hardly how severely we abuse our illegals! Hint: it's not the arrests of those backpackers that concern people. It's the sentences and the rigged trial. Iran seeks to use them as de-facto hostages.
(In the old days, behavior like that coming from low-tech natives would likely trigger war.)
When America does decide to put on a show for the Republican rubes, yes, it does arrest a passel of Mexicans and then deports them. We do not have 3 year prison sentences for illegal immigration, although perhaps we should. (It would create some deterrent effect, at least, as well as incapacitation. Perhaps we should set up concentration camps in the desert where illegals can grow their own food for 3 years before deportation.)
We also do not convict illegal aliens of spying (+5 years in prison) on no evidence. At least when the FBI goes to set up some raghead patsies, it actually does entrap them into doing something criminal. And also, when we go to try said patsies for their illegal behavior, we do actually provide the evidence.
Don't knock it, Dude - I lost my virginity at a camp. Not infinite internment, sure, was like two weeks... but the T-shirts they gave us were orange.
I think the best deterrence to illegal immigration would be the collapse of the United States.
Yeah, come to think of it, I lost my virginity to someone I met at camp.
Leonard, how do you know there is no evidence of their guilt? Were you at the trial? Are you familiar with the facts (and hint, reading American propaganda makes you less aware of the facts, not more aware)?
Reverse the facts so that three Iranian students were found entering the U.S. without inspection and found canoeing near the Canadian border on a suppossed sightseeing trip. I'm sure the American press would have been very cynical about the "cover story" of the 3 students and dig up all the culpatory background facts.
Plus, it is indisputable that America is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to spy on Iran. In fact, the U.S. has spies and is engaging in secret wars all over the world on a massive scale (which is largely being hidden from the people). In fact, the U.S. secret armies greatly exceed most countries normal armies. These secret wars are going on all around Iran and the U.S. is clearly hostile to Iran. Even the 'liberals' like Hillary Clinton have threatened to indiscriminately kill Iranian men, women and children with nuclear bombs!
Ioz is exactly correct. The U.S. has no basis to crow about the Iranian legal system. But of course that won't stop the American exceptionalist like Leonard.
If the facts were reversed the three Iranian students were captured, they would be locked up and tortured in Guatanomo and would not have even gotten a trial.
Mexicans are gross. Americans are cool. I don't see how you can draw parallels!
Walter Wit Man...why the focus on brown Mexicans? In leaaonard's world, the truly oppressed are CEOs and American military commanders! FOCUS, MAN, FOCUS.
hysterical papieren-bitte laws
Very fine, that is.
Ahh but crow they will, with bombs if possible. Laser range finders and sat phones, curious. An entire industry of private prisons is in business solely to hold alien deportees. Wanna guess how long the average stay is.
Dude, the backpackers got eight fucking years in a stinkin' Iranian prison. That's literally barbaric.
They were hiking where? The Tribal Areas in Pakistan? Kurdistan? Some other conflict area? I admit I don't often watch Lonely Planet, thus I've missed the episodes where they dodge missiles from drones, artillery, landmines, various violent insurgencies, etc. And, I don't read enough outdoorsy-travel press to have noticed "Hike beautiful Eastern Kurdistan!" or "Iraq Trek" ads.
Er, Myles, the maximum punishment for espionage in the United States is death.
The Greek in me is really larphing at the phrase, "literally barbaric."
Yeah, nasrudin, they were hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan apparently.
it seemed like an odd place to go hiking - what were they thinking?
the towelheads let the girl go - that was sort of nice of them
can we all just get along?
Regarding papieren-bitte laws, the real action is in Voter-ID laws - you gonna need a driver's license to vote - too poor, too old? too bad.
Rick Perry, possibly our next president, signed a law in Texas that does not permit veterans with a government issued photo ID of their veteranness to use it to establish their identity for the purpose of voting
John "Cougar" Mellenkamp, who grew up in the same town as my grandpap, although at different times, wrote "Ooh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone"
for "life" substitute "voting" - we will have "voting" and "elections" for the foreseeable future, however long that is
one does not simply walk into Mordor... but apparently one can accidentally wander in. WHOOPSIE!
but come on, man, it's Smokey. so his toe slipped over a little, it's just a game.
Since their AdventureQwestTrekHike hasn't ended in death -- yet -- they're not eligible for the Darwin Awards.
And Montag...I can getcha a toe. I know a guy.
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