Watch where you step, readers.
"Hikers’ release still up in air; Iran’s judiciary will make decision" by Ali Akbar Dareini Associated Press / September 18, 2011
TEHRAN - The Americans say they may have mistakenly crossed into Iran when they stepped off a dirt road while hiking near a waterfall in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
They were told don't go that way and yet did anyway.
And who vacations in a f***ing war zone?
Watch your step, readers, if you know what I mean.
Related: Spies Playing Reporter
Is that the best cover story they could crap out?
Considerably more stable and peaceful than other parts of Iraq, the Kurdish north has attracted some adventurous foreign tourists keen to see its scenic mountains.
And if you believe that I've got a bridge to sell ya'!
International efforts recently intensified to seal the bail deal for the two Americans. Mediators from Iraq and Oman have asked Iran to free them, and an Omani plane is in Tehran to carry the pair out of Iran if a deal is reached....
The mixed signals could reflect the internal political feuds between Ahmadinejad and the country’s ruling clerics, who control the courts. Ahmadinejad and his allies are accused of trying to challenge the power of Iran’s Islamic establishment.
Related: Ahmadinejad the Moderate
Say what?
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I'm moving as fast as I can, readers.
"Hikers reunited with families; Release from Iran after days of uncertainty" by Alan Cowell and J. David Goodman, New York Times / September 22, 2011
LONDON - By allowing the release yesterday after a delay, analysts said Iran’s hardliners were able to deliver a message to Ahmadinejad that he is not fully in charge while still allowing Iran to project a magnanimous image as it takes to the world stage.
“In the end, they were not going to undermine completely the president of the country, but they made their point,’’ said Vali Nasr, a professor at Tufts University and an expert in Iranian affairs. “Ahmadinejad got what he wanted - these guys were released before his speech tomorrow. But the judiciary got what they wanted as well in showing that it was not entirely his call.’’
Nasr added that the larger decision to release the prisoners appeared to have the backing of the entire Iranian government and that the public squabbling was over the smaller question of who would announce the news, and when....
Yeah, those Iranians are so petty.
But Nasr said the outcome was not yet so certain. Their release could be considered an olive branch meant to thaw relations with the United States, he said, or it may have been timed simply to interject Iran into a Western news cycle dominated by a vote for Palestinian statehood at the United Nations. “We don’t know what the game plan is here,’’ he said. “We don’t know what they’re trying to get.’’
Maybe they are just trying to avoid an attack.
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Iran’s detention of the Americans has aggravated relations with the United States, which are at odds over Iran’s nuclear program and its hostility toward Israel....
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I noticed there was nothing about Iranians being held by AmeriKa in the article.
"US walks out as Iran delivers anti-US speech" by Edith M. Lederer Associated Press / September 22, 2011
UNITED NATIONS—American diplomats led a walkout at the U.N. General Assembly Thursday as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fiercely attacked the United States and major West European nations as "arrogant powers" ruled by greed and eager for military adventurism....
Last year, Ahmadinejad provoked a walkout by the U.S., EU, and others when he said a majority of people in the United States and around the world believe the American government staged the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in an attempt to assure Israel's survival....
Think what you want of him, but he is the only world leader with the balls to speak the truth.
Ahmadinejad attacked the United States and European colonial powers for abducting tens of millions of Africans and making them slaves, for their readiness "to drop thousands of bombs on other countries," and for dominating the U.N. Security Council. He singled out the U.S. for using a nuclear bomb against Japan in World War II and imposing and supporting military dictatorships and totalitarian regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America....
The Iranian leader accused the U.S. of threatening to place sanctions on anyone who questions the Holocaust and the Sept. 11 attacks with sanctions and military action.
Related: "They threaten anyone who questions the Holocaust and the September 11 event with sanctions and military action"
Without naming the United States, he asked: "Who imposed, through deceits and hypocrisy, the Zionism and over 60 years of war, homelessness, terror and mass murder on the Palestinian people and on countries in the region?"
Ahmadinejad accused some unidentified European countries of still using the Holocaust "as the excuse to pay fine or ransom to the Zionists." He also said any question about the foundation of Zionism is condemned by the U.S. "as an unforgivable sin."
Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said: "Mr. Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people's aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead he again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories."
When the idea of an independent fact-finding investigation of "the hidden elements" involved in the Sept. 11 attacks was raised last year, he said, "my country and myself came under pressure and threat by the government of the United States."
"Instead of assigning a fact-finding team, they killed the main perpetrator and threw his body into the sea," Ahmadinejad said, referring to the U.S. military's killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in early May.
"Would it not have been reasonable to bring to justice and openly to trial the main perpetrator of the incident in order to identify the elements behind the safe space provided for the invading aircraft to attack the twin world trade towers?," he asked.
Yeah, WHO WAS BEHIND the STAND DOWN ORDER and DIRECTING WAR GAMES from the White House basement?
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Related: Israel did 9/11 - ALL THE PROOF IN THE WORLD
